Agent skill

Caching

Caching strategies — invalidation, TTL guidelines, cache keys, cache layers, and when not to cache.

Install Caching

skills CLI

$ npx skills add zebbern/claude-code-guide --skill caching -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install zebbern/claude-code-guide caching --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/zebbern/claude-code-guide.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/caching .claude/skills/caching && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Paste into Claude Code

Install the "caching" agent skill from https://github.com/zebbern/claude-code-guide/tree/main/skills/caching into .claude/skills/caching/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "caching", then confirm the skill loads.

Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

$skill-installer

$skill-installer install https://github.com/zebbern/claude-code-guide/tree/main/skills/caching

Type this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add zebbern/claude-code-guide --skill caching -a codex

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install zebbern/claude-code-guide caching --agent codex

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/zebbern/claude-code-guide.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/caching .agents/skills/caching && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.

Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/

Paste into Codex

Install the "caching" agent skill from https://github.com/zebbern/claude-code-guide/tree/main/skills/caching into .agents/skills/caching/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "caching", then confirm the skill loads.

Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add zebbern/claude-code-guide --skill caching -a cursor

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install zebbern/claude-code-guide caching --agent cursor

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/zebbern/claude-code-guide.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/caching .cursor/skills/caching && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.

Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/

Paste into Cursor

Install the "caching" agent skill from https://github.com/zebbern/claude-code-guide/tree/main/skills/caching into .cursor/skills/caching/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "caching", then confirm the skill loads.

Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

gemini skills install

$ gemini skills install https://github.com/zebbern/claude-code-guide.git --path skills/caching

--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add zebbern/claude-code-guide --skill caching -a gemini-cli

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install zebbern/claude-code-guide caching --agent gemini-cli

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/zebbern/claude-code-guide.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/caching .gemini/skills/caching && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.

Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into Gemini CLI

Install the "caching" agent skill from https://github.com/zebbern/claude-code-guide/tree/main/skills/caching into .gemini/skills/caching/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "caching", then confirm the skill loads.

Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install zebbern/claude-code-guide caching

Installs for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

skills CLI

$ npx skills add zebbern/claude-code-guide --skill caching -a github-copilot

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/zebbern/claude-code-guide.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/caching .github/skills/caching && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.

GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into GitHub Copilot

Install the "caching" agent skill from https://github.com/zebbern/claude-code-guide/tree/main/skills/caching into .github/skills/caching/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "caching", then confirm the skill loads.

GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add zebbern/claude-code-guide --skill caching -a opencode

OpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install zebbern/claude-code-guide caching --agent opencode

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/zebbern/claude-code-guide.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/caching .opencode/skills/caching && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.

OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into OpenCode

Install the "caching" agent skill from https://github.com/zebbern/claude-code-guide/tree/main/skills/caching into .opencode/skills/caching/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "caching", then confirm the skill loads.

OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

Facts

Skill name: caching
GitHub stars: 4.6k
Token cost: ~1.5k tokens
SKILL.md length: 482 words
Files: 1
Skills in repo: 46
Repo updated: Oct 7, 2026
First seen: Oct 7, 2026
Licence: MIT

At a glance

Caching strategies — invalidation, TTL guidelines, cache keys, cache layers, and when not to cache.

Reviewing caching logic
SKILL.md covers WHEN_TO_USE, INVALIDATION, TTL_GUIDELINES and CACHE_KEYS, plus 4 more sections
Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
Tasks that involve Caching

What it does

Caching is an agent skill from zebbern/claude-code-guide. Caching strategies — invalidation, TTL guidelines, cache keys, cache layers, and when not to cache. Use when implementing or reviewing caching logic.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.5k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Backend & APIs, covering Caching. It works with Redis. The repository describes itself as: Claude Code Guide - Setup, Commands, workflows, agents, skills & tips-n-tricks from beginner to power user! The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

Reviewing caching logic
Tasks that involve Caching

Example prompts

“/caching”

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 4698e3b. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are typescript).
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md.
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Caching loads about 1.5k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 39 tokens; SKILL.md has 482 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it: ~39
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches: ~1.5k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from zebbern/claude-code-guide at commit 4698e3b, republished under its MIT licence (© zebbern). 482 words, ~1,549 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/caching/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).

name: caching
description: Caching strategies — invalidation, TTL guidelines, cache keys, cache layers, and when not to cache. Use when implementing or reviewing caching logic.

WHEN_TO_USE

When implementing a cache layer (in-memory, Redis, CDN) for an API or service.
When choosing TTL values or invalidation strategies for cached data.
When designing cache key schemas to avoid collisions or stale-data bugs.
When reviewing code that reads from or writes to any cache.
When debugging stale data, cache stampedes, or inconsistent responses.
When configuring TanStack Query staleTime/gcTime for client-side caching.

INVALIDATION

[P0-MUST] Define an invalidation strategy for every cache. Stale data is worse than no cache.
[P0-MUST] Invalidate caches when the underlying data changes — do not rely solely on TTL expiry.
[P1-SHOULD] Prefer event-driven invalidation (on write/update/delete) over time-based expiry alone.
[P1-SHOULD] Use cache versioning (include a version key) when data schemas change.

TTL_GUIDELINES

[P1-SHOULD] Set TTLs based on data volatility: static config (hours/days), user profiles (minutes), real-time data (seconds or no cache).
[P1-SHOULD] Use stale-while-revalidate: serve stale data immediately while refreshing in the background.
[P2-MAY] Use shorter TTLs in development and longer TTLs in production.

CACHE_KEYS

[P0-MUST] Include all query parameters that affect the result in the cache key.
[P1-SHOULD] Use a consistent key format: <entity>:<id>:<variant> (e.g., user:123:profile, products:list:page=2).
[P1-SHOULD] Namespace keys by service or module to prevent collisions.
[P2-MAY] Hash long or complex keys to keep storage efficient.

CACHE_LAYERS

[P1-SHOULD] Use the appropriate cache layer for the use case:

Layer	Best For	TTL Range
In-memory (Map, LRU)	Hot data, single-instance apps	Seconds to minutes
Redis / Memcached	Shared cache across instances, sessions	Minutes to hours
CDN / Edge	Static assets, public API responses	Hours to days
HTTP cache headers	Browser caching, API responses	Varies by resource

[P1-SHOULD] Layer caches: check memory → Redis → origin. Write-through on miss.

Show full SKILL.md (213 more words)Show less

WHEN_NOT_TO_CACHE

[P0-MUST] Do not cache user-specific sensitive data (auth tokens, payment info) in shared caches.
[P1-SHOULD] Do not cache rapidly changing data where staleness causes incorrect behavior (inventory counts, real-time pricing).
[P1-SHOULD] Do not cache error responses — use short TTL or skip caching on failure.
[P2-MAY] Avoid caching when the computation is cheap and the data set is small.

CODE_EXAMPLES

In-memory LRU cache with TTL

const cache = new Map<string, { value: unknown; expires: number }>();
const MAX_SIZE = 500;

export function getOrSet<T>(key: string, ttlMs: number, compute: () => T): T {
  const entry = cache.get(key);
  if (entry && entry.expires > Date.now()) return entry.value as T;

  const value = compute();
  if (cache.size >= MAX_SIZE) {
    // Evict oldest entry (first inserted)
    const oldest = cache.keys().next().value!;
    cache.delete(oldest);
  }
  cache.set(key, { value, expires: Date.now() + ttlMs });
  return value;
}

Redis stale-while-revalidate with ioredis

import Redis from "ioredis";
const redis = new Redis(process.env.REDIS_URL);

export async function swr<T>(
  key: string,
  freshSec: number,
  staleSec: number,
  fetcher: () => Promise<T>,
): Promise<T> {
  const raw = await redis.get(key);
  if (raw) {
    const { value, createdAt } = JSON.parse(raw) as { value: T; createdAt: number };
    const ageMs = Date.now() - createdAt;
    if (ageMs < freshSec * 1000) return value; // Fresh — return immediately
    if (ageMs < staleSec * 1000) {
      // Stale — return cached, refresh in background
      fetcher().then((v) =>
        redis.set(key, JSON.stringify({ value: v, createdAt: Date.now() }), "EX", staleSec),
      );
      return value;
    }
  }
  const value = await fetcher();
  await redis.set(key, JSON.stringify({ value, createdAt: Date.now() }), "EX", staleSec);
  return value;
}

HTTP cache headers in Express/Hono

// Immutable assets (hashed filenames)
app.use("/assets", (_, res, next) => {
  res.setHeader("Cache-Control", "public, max-age=31536000, immutable");
  next();
});

// API responses — short cache with revalidation
app.get("/api/products", (_, res) => {
  res.setHeader("Cache-Control", "public, max-age=60, stale-while-revalidate=300");
  res.json(products);
});

TanStack Query cache configuration

tsx

import { QueryClient, QueryClientProvider } from "@tanstack/react-query";

const queryClient = new QueryClient({
  defaultOptions: {
    queries: {
      staleTime: 5 * 60 * 1000, // Data fresh for 5 minutes
      gcTime: 30 * 60 * 1000,   // Garbage-collect after 30 minutes
      retry: 2,
      refetchOnWindowFocus: false,
    },
  },
});

// Usage in a component
const { data } = useQuery({
  queryKey: ["products", { page, category }], // Cache key includes params
  queryFn: () => fetchProducts({ page, category }),
});

ANTI_PATTERNS

Cache-and-forget — Caching data with no invalidation strategy. Data goes stale permanently.
- Instead: define explicit invalidation (event-driven on write, or bounded TTL) for every cache key.
Uniform TTL — Using the same TTL (e.g., 1 hour) for all data regardless of volatility.
- Instead: match TTL to data change frequency — seconds for prices, minutes for profiles, hours for configs.
Missing key parameters — Cache key omits user ID, locale, or query params, serving wrong data.
- Instead: include every parameter that affects the result: products:list:page=2:locale=en.
Caching errors — Storing error responses (500s, timeouts) with long TTLs.
- Instead: skip caching on failure, or use a very short TTL (5-10 seconds) to allow fast retry.
Cache stampede — All instances hit the origin simultaneously when a popular key expires.
- Instead: use stale-while-revalidate, jittered TTLs, or a mutex lock to let one instance refresh.

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/caching of zebbern/claude-code-guide.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 4698e3b

Compare with similar skills

Caching next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Caching compared with similar skills
Skill	Stars	Used in	Tokens	Auto-check	Licence	Repo updated
Caching this skillzebbern/claude-code-guide	4.6k	—	~1.5k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	today
Stripe Projectsfossasia/eventyay	1.7k	5 repos	~2k	Automated safety check: Notes	Apache-2.0	today
FoundatioFoundatioFx/Foundatio	2.1k	—	~3.9k	Automated safety check: Pass	Apache-2.0	today
FastAPI-Redis SDK Developmentredis/fastapi-redis-sdk	404	—	~2.5k	Automated safety check: Notes	MIT	5 days ago
Caching Patternsdilolabs/nosia	213	1 repos	~1.9k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	27 days ago
Cachingcodewithmukesh/dotnet-claude-kit	751	1 repos	~1.4k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	2 mo ago

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Official
Guides development on the fastapi-redis-sdk library itself - its connection lifecycle, dependency-injected caching, and async/sync bridging.
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Works with

Redis

Questions about Caching

What does Caching do?

Caching strategies — invalidation, TTL guidelines, cache keys, cache layers, and when not to cache. Caching is an agent skill from zebbern/claude-code-guide. Caching strategies — invalidation, TTL guidelines, cache keys, cache layers, and when not to cache.

When should I use Caching?

Caching fits situations like: reviewing caching logic; tasks that involve Caching.

How do I install Caching in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add zebbern/claude-code-guide --skill caching -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/caching in zebbern/claude-code-guide) into .claude/skills/caching in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Caching in Codex?

Run `npx skills add zebbern/claude-code-guide --skill caching -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/caching in zebbern/claude-code-guide) into .agents/skills/caching in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Caching in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add zebbern/claude-code-guide --skill caching -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/caching, .gemini/skills/caching, .github/skills/caching and .opencode/skills/caching in your project.

What does Caching need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Caching is instructions for the agent only.

Does Caching access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Caching safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Caching use?

Caching is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Caching use?

About 1.5k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 6.2k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Caching?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Caching: Stripe Projects (fossasia/eventyay, 1.7k stars), Foundatio (FoundatioFx/Foundatio, 2.1k stars), FastAPI-Redis SDK Development (redis/fastapi-redis-sdk, 404 stars) and Caching Patterns (dilolabs/nosia, 213 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Caching?

zebbern (a GitHub user) maintains it in zebbern/claude-code-guide, which has 4,648 GitHub stars. The repository holds 46 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 7, 2026.

Source: zebbern/claude-code-guide on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.

Install Caching

Facts

At a glance

What it does

When your agent uses it

Example prompts

What it can do on your machine

Tool permissions

Runs code

Network

Credentials

Context cost

Safety

SKILL.md

WHEN_TO_USE

INVALIDATION

TTL_GUIDELINES

CACHE_KEYS

CACHE_LAYERS

WHEN_NOT_TO_CACHE

CODE_EXAMPLES

In-memory LRU cache with TTL

Redis stale-while-revalidate with ioredis

HTTP cache headers in Express/Hono

TanStack Query cache configuration

ANTI_PATTERNS

Files

Compare with similar skills

Similar skills

More from zebbern/claude-code-guide

Related

Questions about Caching