Optimize caching with stale-while-revalidate

Introduction

The stale-while-revalidate directive is a powerful mechanism for improving user experience and application performance. Instead of making users wait for a slow response, it allows the browser or CDN to serve a stale, but still usable response immediately, while asynchronously revalidating the cache in the background. Once the validation is complete, the next requests will receive the updated cached response instantly.

How does it work?

To use the stale-while-revalidate caching strategy, you need to include two directives in the Cache-Control header: max-ageandstale-while-revalidate.

Cache-Control: max-age=X, stale-while-revalidate=Y

• max-age=X defines how long the cached response is considered fresh. If a request is made within this time (X seconds), the cached response is returned immediately without needing validation.
• stale-while-revalidate=Y defines how long a stale response can still be served while a background revalidation fetches a fresh response.

Let’s take a look at some request scenarios.

For the examples below, we assume caching is handled by a CDN, and we use the following Cache-Control header:

Cache-Control: max-age=60, stale-while-revalidate=60

1. No Cache Available

If this is the first request, there is no cached response, so the data must be retrieved from the origin server.

1. The client makes a request.
2. The CDN has no cached response, so it fetches the data from the server.
3. The CDN caches the response for future requests.
4. The client receives the response.

2. Fresh Cache (within max-age)

If the cached response is less than 60 seconds old, it is considered fresh and returned immediately. No request to the server is made.

1. The client makes a request.
2. The cached response is still fresh, so the CDN serves it immediately.

3. Stale Cache but Still Valid (max-age expired, but within stale-while-revalidate)

If the cached response is older than 60 seconds but less than 120 seconds (60 < time < 120), it is considered stale but still valid. The stale response is served immediately, and in the background, the CDN fetches an updated response from the origin server.

1. The client makes a request.
2. The stale response is immediately returned from the CDN.
3. A background request is sent to fetch an updated response.
4. The CDN updates its cache with the fresh response for future requests.

4. Cache Expired (beyond max-age + stale-while-revalidate)

If the cached response is older than 120 seconds, it is no longer valid. The request must wait for a fresh response from the server before anything is returned. Avoiding this scenario as much as possible helps maintain better performance.

1. The client makes a request.
2. The cache is expired, so the CDN fetches data from the server.
3. The CDN updates its cache with the fresh response.
4. The client receives the response.

Use cases

Here are two use cases that can benefit from stale-while-revalidate, along with possible configurations. Keep in mind that these values are just examples, and other options may also be suitable.

1. Frequent updates, but slightly stale content is acceptable

Goal: Ensure fast page loads while reducing unnecessary API calls.

Cache-Control: max-age=60, stale-while-revalidate=120

2. Expensive requests that are frequently accessed

Goal: Deliver instant responses while ensuring data remains fresh.

Cache-Control: max-age=1, stale-while-revalidate=59

Conclusion

The stale-while-revalidate directive ensures users rarely have to wait for a response, at the cost of occasionally serving slightly outdated data. It balances performance and freshness, improving page speed, user experience, and server efficiency.