APEX FLOW WEB SCRAPER / REFERENCE LIBRARY
How caching and ETags reduce repeat work
A cache can reuse a recent response. Conditional requests can ask whether a cached representation changed, using validators such as ETag or Last-Modified.
Three different measurements
A cold request downloads content without a cached result. A fresh cache hit avoids that download. A conditional request contacts the origin and may return 304 Not Modified. Report these separately in performance results.
Keep validators with content
Store the response body with its validator and freshness information. Sending an old validator without the matching body leaves nothing useful to return after a 304 response. Apex tests the cache and revalidation path using controlled fixtures.
Apex defaults
The current cache has a one-hour default TTL and a 256 MB size budget. These are cache limits, not limits on the entire saved-job database. Dynamic pages and source changes can still require an uncached run.
When a cache is the wrong tool
Do not use cached content to imply a live price check. Include the fetched-at timestamp and cache status in downstream records. If freshness is essential, define its maximum acceptable age before collecting.
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