Cache Stale-While-Revalidate in Laravel

Caching is an essential part of optimising web applications, and Laravel provides powerful tools to manage it effectively. One useful caching strategy is Stale-While-Revalidate (SWR), which helps serve fast responses while ensuring data freshness in the background. This blog will explore how to implement SWR in Laravel using the core functionality introduced in Laravel 11.

What is Stale-While-Revalidate (SWR)?

Stale-While-Revalidate is a caching strategy where:

1. The application serves stale (cached) data immediately if available.
2. In the background, the cache is revalidated (refreshed) asynchronously.
3. Subsequent requests will get fresh data once revalidation is complete.

This approach provides the best of both worlds: instant responses and fresh data without making users wait for database or API queries.

Why Use SWR in Laravel?

• Improves Performance: Serving cached data reduces load times and database queries.
• Enhances User Experience: Users get near-instant responses without waiting for data processing.
• Ensures Fresh Data: The background update ensures that stale data is replaced as soon as possible.
• Reduces Server Load: Decreases the burden on external APIs or databases by caching responses.

Implementing SWR in Laravel

Step 1: Configure Cache

Ensure Laravel’s caching system is properly configured in .env:

CACHE_DRIVER=redis  # Or file, memcached, etc.

Redis is highly recommended for efficient cache management.

Step 2: Using Laravel's Core SWR Functionality

With Laravel 11, implementing SWR is now built-in and can be utilised directly using the Cache::flexible() method.

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Cache;
use App\Models\Post;

public function getPopularPosts()
{
    return Cache::flexible('popular_posts', [5, 10], function () {
        return Post::orderBy('views', 'desc')->take(10)->get();
    });
}

Step 3: Setting Up Queue for Background Updates

Since Laravel 11 automatically handles background updates when using Cache::flexible(), ensure Laravel’s queue system is running:

php artisan queue:work

If using Redis queues, configure .env:

QUEUE_CONNECTION=redis

Conclusion

Stale-While-Revalidate (SWR) is a great strategy for improving Laravel app performance while ensuring data freshness. With Laravel 11’s built-in Cache::flexible() method, implementing this caching pattern is now easier and more efficient.

Start using SWR in your Laravel projects today and enjoy faster responses with minimal database load!

For more details, check out the official Laravel documentation: Laravel SWR Caching.