Research history

Dated findings

1. 16 Sep 2026 · dated baseline

   HTTP caching basics: freshness, validation, and safe storage

   Established the standards-grounded baseline for freshness and reuse, stale responses, conditional validation, private versus shared storage, and common Cache-Control mistakes. The dated report path is retained for continuity.

   Open the report index → · Open the dated baseline →

2. 16 Sep 2026 · focused follow-up

   ETag versus Last-Modified

   Added the validator comparison and precedence rule: If-None-Match wins; a nonmatching ETag does not fall back to Last-Modified. The outcomes are expected rather than live-captured because the test environment lacked curl.

   Open the validator follow-up →

3. 16 Sep 2026 · focused follow-up

   Cache-key & privacy mismatch

   Added the adversarial worksheet for query values, Vary, cookies, Set-Cookie, and Authorization, plus a separate local key/match model. No live shared-cache measurement is claimed.

   Open the cache-key/privacy report →

4. 16 Sep 2026 · focused follow-up

   Locating the serving layer

   Added the layer-boundary comparison, expected A/B outcome matrix, reader decision tree, diagnostic checklist, and explicit limits for browser cache, service worker/Cache API, history/bfcache, intermediary, and origin attribution. No live shared-cache capture is claimed.

   Open the serving-layer guide → · Open the dated report

5. 17 Sep 2026 · focused follow-up

   CloudFront TTL policy and invalidation

   The preserved CloudFront research entry now carries the completed 19 Sep audit refresh: it tightens the standalone s-maxage gap, viewer-only response-header boundary, effective cache-key invalidation scope, rewrite-stage limits, and Completed-status evidence. No live CloudFront measurement or invalidation was performed.

   Open the CloudFront guide page → · Open the dated report

6. 20 Sep 2026 · focused follow-up

   Cloudflare Cache Rules and Origin Cache Control

   Added the documentation-grounded Cloudflare case: OCC and Cache Rule edge precedence, separate Browser TTL, cache-key identity, purge scopes, a matched CloudFront crosswalk, and an authorized-only verification template. No zone response, live measurement, or purge was available.

   Open the Cloudflare guide page → · Open the dated report