A small Next.js-oriented cache setup for low-latency responses without heavy abstractions.
Published 01.01.2024, 00:00Updated 01.01.2024, 00:001 min read
Cache the response that hurts users, not every response by default. A good first pass is to identify the route with repeated reads, define how stale the answer is allowed to be, and make invalidation explicit.For Next.js and API services, keep the fast path boring: normalize cache keys, include the current user or tenant when data is private, and set short TTLs until the data model is stable. Add longer-lived edge or Redis caches only after the route has clear ownership and observability.Production caching should be easy to turn off. Ship metrics for hit rate, latency, and stale responses so the cache can be treated as infrastructure rather than mystery state.