nocache

What is nocache?

The nocache package is a middleware for Node.js applications that sets headers to disable client-side caching. This is particularly useful for ensuring that sensitive or frequently updated content is not stored in the user's cache, thereby enforcing content freshness and enhancing security.

What are nocache's main functionalities?

Disabling Caching

This code demonstrates how to use the nocache middleware in an Express application to disable client-side caching for all routes. By calling `app.use(nocache());`, all responses from the server will include headers that instruct the browser not to cache the content.

const express = require('express');
const nocache = require('nocache');

const app = express();

app.use(nocache());

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Hello, World!');
});

app.listen(3000, () => {
  console.log('Server is running on port 3000');
});

Other packages similar to nocache

helmet

Helmet is a collection of 14 smaller middleware functions that set HTTP response headers. One of its components, `helmet.noCache()`, offers similar functionality to nocache by setting headers to disable client-side caching. Helmet provides a broader range of security features beyond just disabling caching, making it a more comprehensive security solution.

cache-control

The cache-control package allows for fine-tuned control over the cache behavior of Node.js applications by setting the `Cache-Control` HTTP header. While nocache focuses on disabling caching altogether, cache-control offers more granular control, enabling developers to specify exactly how and when their content can be cached.

README

Middleware to turn off caching

This Express middleware sets some HTTP response headers to try to disable client-side caching.

To use it:

const nocache = require("nocache");

// ...

app.use(nocache());

This sets four headers, disabling a lot of browser caching:

• Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, proxy-revalidate
• Pragma: no-cache
• Expires: 0
• Surrogate-Control: no-store

You may wish to do this if you want to ensure that users have up-to-date resources, or if you want to clear out an old version for some reason.

Changelog

3.0.0 - 2021-06-03

Changed

• Updated documentation

Removed

• Dropped support for old Node versions. Node 12+ is now required