Cache-Control Header Generator
Build Cache-Control headers with max-age, s-maxage, immutable, and stale-while-revalidate. Get matching nginx, Apache .htaccess, and Express.js snippets instantly.
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What is Cache-Control Header Generator?
A Cache-Control Header Generator that assembles standards-compliant Cache-Control values from every directive — max-age, s-maxage, public/private, no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate, proxy-revalidate, immutable, stale-while-revalidate, and stale-if-error — and emits matching nginx, Apache, and Express.js snippets.
Key Benefits
- Correct header syntax without memorizing the RFC
- One strategy across server, CDN, and app layers
- Presets tuned for static, API, SPA, and CDN workloads
- Works offline in a static export — nothing uploaded
Common Use Cases
- •Setting year-long immutable caching for fingerprinted JS/CSS bundles
- •Adding stale-while-revalidate windows to API responses
- •Configuring s-maxage for a CDN in front of an origin
- •Pasting consistent rules into nginx.conf, .htaccess, or Express middleware
Generate a Cache-Control Header
- Start from a preset: Choose Static Assets, API Response, SPA / HTML, or Immutable CDN — each fills the fields with proven values, and any tweak flips the selector to Custom.
- Tune lifetimes and directives: Set max-age and s-maxage in seconds, add stale-while-revalidate or stale-if-error for CDN resilience, and tick directives like no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate, or immutable.
- Choose visibility: Use the public / private dropdown — private tells shared caches like CDNs not to store the response, which matters for personalized or authenticated content.
- Copy the header and snippets: Copy the Cache-Control value directly, grab the nginx, Apache .htaccess, or Express.js snippet you need, or Download everything as cache-control.txt.
Key Features
- Full Cache-Control directive builder with max-age, s-maxage, public/private, no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate, proxy-revalidate, immutable, stale-while-revalidate, and stale-if-error.
- Four production presets: static assets, API responses, SPA HTML, and immutable CDN content.
- Ready-to-paste nginx, Apache .htaccess, and Express.js middleware snippets generated from your current settings.
- Human-readable duration hints for every seconds field, so 31536000 reads as 365d.
- Everything runs client-side in a static export — no API calls, no uploads, works offline.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which preset should I use?
Static Assets caches hard (public, max-age=31536000, immutable) for fingerprinted files, API Response forces revalidation with private, SPA / HTML sends no-cache so HTML always revalidates, and Immutable CDN adds s-maxage with stale-while-revalidate for CDN-fronted assets.
What is the difference between max-age and s-maxage?
max-age is the lifetime in browsers, while s-maxage only applies to shared caches like CDNs and proxies. Setting both lets a CDN cache longer than end-user browsers.
How do I deploy the header on my server?
Below the header you get ready-to-paste snippets for nginx, Apache .htaccess, and Express.js middleware, each with its own copy button — the nginx snippet switches to a fingerprinted-asset location block when max-age is a day or more.
no-cache and no-store look similar — which do I want?
no-store forbids saving the response at all, while no-cache allows storing but requires revalidation before reuse. Use no-store for truly sensitive data and no-cache for content that must always be checked against the origin.