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Glossary Term
Technical

Cache Invalidation

The process of removing or updating cached content when source data changes, ensuring users see fresh content.

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Cache Invalidation: The Hardest Problem in Computer Science

There's a famous joke: "There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things." Cache invalidation is the process of telling the system: "The old version is wrong; delete it and fetch the new one."

Why it breaks websites

  • Stale Content: You published a breaking news story, but users still see the old headline.
  • Broken Layouts: You updated the CSS file, but the browser cached the old one, making the site look scrambled.
  • Inventory Errors: The product page says "In Stock" (cached), but checkout says "Sold Out" (real-time).

How to handle it

  • Fingerprinting: Changing the filename (e.g., style.v2.css) forces the browser to download the new one.
  • Time to Live (TTL): Setting a short expiry (e.g., 60 seconds) for volatile content.
  • Purge/Ban: Manually clearing the CDN cache when you deploy a new version of the site (Netlify/Vercel do this automatically).

More Technical terms

Browse related definitions in the same glossary category.

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