Cache Profiles

About 1130 wordsAbout 4 min

What are Cache Profiles?

Cache profiles are reusable, predefined cache configurations that allow you to define complex caching strategies once and reuse them throughout your application.

Overview

Cache profiles eliminate the need to repeatedly configure the same caching settings across your application. Define your caching strategy once in configuration, then apply it with a single method call.

Benefits

Consistency: Ensure the same caching strategy is used across your application
Maintainability: Update caching behavior in one place
Simplicity: Clean, readable code without repetitive configuration
Environment-specific: Different profiles for development, staging, and production

Basic Usage

Defining Profiles

Define cache profiles in config/filterable.php:

// config/filterable.php
return [
    'cache' => [
        'profiles' => [
            'quick' => [
                'ttl' => 300, // 5 minutes
                'tags' => ['quick-cache'],
            ],

            'standard' => [
                'ttl' => 3600, // 1 hour
                'tags' => ['standard-cache'],
            ],

            'long_term' => [
                'ttl' => 86400, // 24 hours
                'tags' => ['long-term-cache'],
            ],
        ],
    ],
];

Using Profiles

Apply a profile to your filterable query:

use App\Filters\PostFilter;
use App\Models\Post;

// Use the 'standard' profile
$posts = Post::filter()
    ->cacheProfile('standard')
    ->get();

// Use the 'quick' profile for frequently changing data
$recentPosts = Post::filter()
    ->cacheProfile('quick')
    ->apply(['status' => 'published'])
    ->get();

Profile Configuration

Profile Structure

Each profile can contain the following settings:

'profile_name' => [
    'ttl' => 3600,                    // Time to live in seconds
    'tags' => ['tag1', 'tag2'],       // Cache tags
    'scopes' => ['user', 'tenant'],   // Auto-apply scopes
    'enabled' => true,                 // Enable/disable this profile
],

Configuration Options

Option	Type	Description
`ttl`	int\|null	Cache duration in seconds (null = forever)
`tags`	array	Cache tags for organization
`scopes`	array	Scopes to automatically apply
`enabled`	bool	Whether this profile is active

Common Profile Examples

Short-lived Data

For data that changes frequently:

'realtime' => [
    'ttl' => 60,  // 1 minute
    'tags' => ['realtime'],
    'enabled' => env('CACHE_REALTIME', true),
],

// Live dashboard data
$stats = DashboardFilter::filter()
    ->cacheProfile('realtime')
    ->get();

User-specific Data

For user-scoped queries:

'user_personalized' => [
    'ttl' => 1800,  // 30 minutes
    'tags' => ['users', 'personalized'],
    'scopes' => ['user'],  // Auto-apply user scope
],

// User's personalized feed
$feed = Post::filter()
    ->cacheProfile('user_personalized')
    ->apply(['feed_type' => 'personalized'])
    ->get();

Heavy Reports

For expensive queries and reports:

'heavy_reports' => [
    'ttl' => 21600,  // 6 hours
    'tags' => ['reports', 'analytics'],
    'enabled' => env('CACHE_REPORTS', true),
],

// Sales analytics report
$report = SalesFilter::filter()
    ->cacheProfile('heavy_reports')
    ->apply(['year' => 2024])
    ->get();

Static Content

For rarely changing data:

'static_content' => [
    'ttl' => null,  // Forever
    'tags' => ['static', 'content'],
],

// Categories, tags, settings
$categories = Category::filter()
    ->cacheProfile('static_content')
    ->get();

Multi-tenant Data

For SaaS applications:

'tenant_isolated' => [
    'ttl' => 7200,  // 2 hours
    'tags' => ['tenants'],
    'scopes' => ['tenant'],
],

// Tenant-specific products
$products = Product::filter()
    ->cacheProfile('tenant_isolated')
    ->apply(['status' => 'active'])
    ->get();

Environment-specific Profiles

Development Profile

'development' => [
    'ttl' => 10,  // Very short cache
    'tags' => ['dev'],
    'enabled' => app()->environment('local'),
],

Staging Profile

'staging' => [
    'ttl' => 300,  // 5 minutes
    'tags' => ['staging'],
    'enabled' => app()->environment('staging'),
],

Production Profile

'production' => [
    'ttl' => 3600,  // 1 hour
    'tags' => ['production'],
    'enabled' => app()->environment('production'),
],

Usage

// Automatically uses the right profile for the environment
$data = Model::filter()
    ->cacheProfile(config('app.env'))
    ->get();

Advanced Patterns

Profile Inheritance

Create base profiles and extend them:

// config/filterable.php
'profiles' => [
    // Base profile
    'base' => [
        'ttl' => 3600,
        'tags' => ['base'],
    ],

    // Extended profiles
    'posts' => [
        'ttl' => 3600,
        'tags' => ['base', 'posts'],
    ],

    'products' => [
        'ttl' => 3600,
        'tags' => ['base', 'products'],
    ],
],

Dynamic Profile Selection

class PostFilter extends Filterable
{
    protected function getCacheProfile(): string
    {
        // Select profile based on filter criteria
        if ($this->filters['category'] === 'news') {
            return 'quick';  // News changes frequently
        }

        if ($this->filters['type'] === 'report') {
            return 'heavy_reports';
        }

        return 'standard';
    }

    public function apply(array $filters = []): Builder
    {
        return parent::apply($filters)
            ->cacheProfile($this->getCacheProfile());
    }
}

Conditional Profiles

$profile = auth()->user()->isPremium()
    ? 'premium_cache'  // Better caching for premium users
    : 'standard';

$posts = Post::filter()
    ->cacheProfile($profile)
    ->get();

Overriding Profile Settings

You can override specific profile settings:

// Use profile but override TTL
$posts = Post::filter()
    ->cacheProfile('standard')
    ->cache(7200)  // Override TTL to 2 hours
    ->get();

// Use profile but add more tags
$posts = Post::filter()
    ->cacheProfile('standard')
    ->cacheTags(['custom-tag'])  // Adds to profile tags
    ->get();

Real-world Examples

Blog Platform

// config/filterable.php
'profiles' => [
    'posts_list' => [
        'ttl' => 1800,  // 30 minutes
        'tags' => ['posts', 'listings'],
    ],

    'post_detail' => [
        'ttl' => 3600,  // 1 hour
        'tags' => ['posts', 'details'],
    ],

    'author_posts' => [
        'ttl' => 1800,
        'tags' => ['posts', 'authors'],
        'scopes' => ['user'],
    ],
];

// In controllers
class PostController
{
    public function index()
    {
        return Post::filter()
            ->cacheProfile('posts_list')
            ->get();
    }

    public function show($id)
    {
        return Post::filter()
            ->cacheProfile('post_detail')
            ->apply(['id' => $id])
            ->first();
    }

    public function authorPosts($authorId)
    {
        return Post::filter()
            ->cacheProfile('author_posts')
            ->scopeByUser($authorId)
            ->get();
    }
}

E-commerce Platform

// config/filterable.php
'profiles' => [
    'product_catalog' => [
        'ttl' => 7200,  // 2 hours
        'tags' => ['products', 'catalog'],
    ],

    'product_search' => [
        'ttl' => 600,  // 10 minutes
        'tags' => ['products', 'search'],
    ],

    'inventory_check' => [
        'ttl' => 60,  // 1 minute
        'tags' => ['inventory'],
    ],

    'pricing' => [
        'ttl' => 300,  // 5 minutes
        'tags' => ['pricing', 'products'],
        'scopes' => ['user'],  // User-specific pricing
    ],
];

SaaS Application

// config/filterable.php
'profiles' => [
    'tenant_data' => [
        'ttl' => 3600,
        'tags' => ['tenants'],
        'scopes' => ['tenant'],
    ],

    'user_dashboard' => [
        'ttl' => 600,
        'tags' => ['dashboards', 'users'],
        'scopes' => ['user', 'tenant'],
    ],

    'tenant_reports' => [
        'ttl' => 10800,  // 3 hours
        'tags' => ['reports', 'tenants'],
        'scopes' => ['tenant'],
    ],
];

Profile Management

Disabling Profiles

Temporarily disable a profile:

'profile_name' => [
    'enabled' => false,  // Profile is disabled
    'ttl' => 3600,
    'tags' => ['example'],
],

Or use environment variables:

'profile_name' => [
    'enabled' => env('ENABLE_PROFILE_NAME', true),
    'ttl' => 3600,
    'tags' => ['example'],
],

Profile Fallback

Handle missing profiles gracefully:

class BaseFilter extends Filterable
{
    protected function applyCacheProfile(string $profile): self
    {
        try {
            return $this->cacheProfile($profile);
        } catch (\InvalidArgumentException $e) {
            // Fallback to default caching
            Log::warning("Cache profile not found: {$profile}");
            return $this->cache(3600);
        }
    }
}

Best Practices

1. Use Descriptive Names

// ❌ Bad
'p1', 'p2', 'fast', 'slow'

// ✅ Good
'user_dashboard', 'product_catalog', 'heavy_reports'

2. Document Your Profiles

'profiles' => [
    // Quick cache for frequently updated data (dashboards, live feeds)
    'quick' => [
        'ttl' => 300,
        'tags' => ['quick'],
    ],

    // Standard cache for typical queries (listings, searches)
    'standard' => [
        'ttl' => 3600,
        'tags' => ['standard'],
    ],
],

'product_listing' => [
    'ttl' => 1800,
    'tags' => ['products', 'listings', 'catalog'],  // Easy to invalidate
],

4. Use Environment Variables

'heavy_reports' => [
    'ttl' => env('CACHE_REPORTS_TTL', 21600),
    'tags' => ['reports'],
    'enabled' => env('CACHE_REPORTS_ENABLED', true),
],

5. Consider User Experience

// Shorter cache for user-facing features
'user_dashboard' => [
    'ttl' => 600,  // 10 minutes
],

// Longer cache for admin features
'admin_analytics' => [
    'ttl' => 3600,  // 1 hour
],

6. Test Profile Performance

// Use cache tracking to monitor profile effectiveness
'profiles' => [
    'test_profile' => [
        'ttl' => 1800,
        'tags' => ['test'],
    ],
],

// In your code
Log::info('Testing profile performance', [
    'profile' => 'test_profile',
    'cached' => Cache::has($key),
]);

Troubleshooting

Profile Not Found

// Error: Cache profile 'xyz' is not defined

// Solution: Check config/filterable.php
'profiles' => [
    'xyz' => [  // Add missing profile
        'ttl' => 3600,
    ],
],

Profile Not Working

// Check if caching is globally enabled
// config/filterable.php
'cache' => [
    'enabled' => true,  // Must be true
],

// Check if profile is enabled
'profiles' => [
    'profile_name' => [
        'enabled' => true,  // Must be true
    ],
],

Tags Not Working

// Ensure you're using a driver that supports tags
// config/cache.php
'default' => env('CACHE_DRIVER', 'redis'),  // Use redis or memcached

Next Steps

Annotations

Cache Profiles