Overview
Caching strategies fail when cache invalidation is treated as an afterthought. A cache that serves stale data is often worse than no cache — it produces bugs that are intermittent and hard to reproduce because they only manifest when cached data diverges from the source of truth. Every caching decision must be made alongside its invalidation strategy, and the invalidation strategy must be as deliberately designed as the cache population strategy.
The Caching Strategy Framework designs caches layer by layer from CDN to database, defines the invalidation strategy per cache layer, and implements the patterns that prevent cache stampede, cache avalanche, and stale data bugs.
Key Features
Four-layer cache hierarchy
Cache key design format
Four invalidation strategies with code examples
Cache stampede prevention with probabilistic early expiration