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Cache Invalidation

A cache must decide when stored copies are stale — by time-to-live, versioning, or explicit invalidation on writes. Choosing when to refetch versus serve cached data is the central tradeoff of any server-state cache.

Questions this Concept answers

Why is cache invalidation genuinely hard rather than merely fiddly?

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Cache Invalidation Strategies for Keeping a Cache Consistent with the Database

Introducing a cache creates a second copy of data alongside the authoritative store, so any write to the source of truth can leave the cached copy stale; cache invalidation is the discipline of decid…