Caching

Debug a cached response

Inspect freshness, validators, age, and transferred size to explain whether a response came from a browser cache, CDN, or origin.

10 minute lesson

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Open the Network panel and reload a page twice. Select the same static resource after each load.

Look for:

  • Cache-Control and its freshness lifetime
  • ETag or Last-Modified
  • Age, which may reveal time spent in a shared cache
  • a 304 status after conditional validation
  • “memory cache” or “disk cache” in the transferred-size column

Developer tools often include a Disable cache option. It works while the tools are open and is useful for comparing cached and uncached behavior.

Be careful when testing. A hard reload, normal reload, disabled cache, and private window can produce different results. Record exactly which one you used.

Quick check

Result

You got of right.

Lesson completed