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Cache-Control in REST query caching

For REST endpoints, you can influence how Data API builder (DAB) uses its internal query result cache with the Cache-Control request header.

Important

If caching is disabled in the runtime configuration, these directives are ignored and queries run normally.

Supported Cache-Control values

Value Behavior
no-cache Forces DAB to bypass both L1 and L2 caches, fetch fresh data from the database, and update the caches with the new result.
no-store Tells DAB not to cache the response at all (does not store in L1 or L2, and does not attempt to fetch from cache).

Behavior

  • Directive matching is case-insensitive.
  • DAB doesn't interpret other standard Cache-Control directives such as max-age or max-stale.
  • Applies only to REST query operations. Not used for GraphQL request-level cache directives.
  • The Cache-Control request HTTP header values control both L1 and L2 cache.

Note

DAB does not set cache-control response headers for any cache operation.

Directive: no-cache

Forces a fresh read and updates the cache layers.

Request

GET /api/Books
Cache-Control: no-cache
Accept: application/json

Response (example)

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json

[
  { "id": 1, "title": "The Hobbit" },
  { "id": 2, "title": "The Silmarillion" }
]

Effect: Cache now holds this fresh result (subject to configured TTL).

Directive: no-store

Uses an existing cached value if present; otherwise queries the database but doesn't populate (or refresh) the cache with the new result.

Request

GET /api/Books
Cache-Control: no-store
Accept: application/json

Response (example)

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json

[
  { "id": 1, "title": "The Hobbit" },
  { "id": 2, "title": "The Silmarillion" }
]

Effect: If this result wasn't already cached, it won't be stored. A later only-if-cached request could fail if no earlier request populated the cache.

Review

  • Use no-cache when you need to force a refresh from the database and also update the cache.
  • Use no-store when you want the data but don't want this response to change the cache (though it may read an existing cached value).
  • Omit the header for normal caching behavior.
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