cube-js/cube

Option to add cache control headers based on `refreshKey` values

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#2,368 opened on Mar 14, 2021

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 (5 comments) (5 reactions) (0 assignees)Rust (19,563 stars) (1,965 forks)batch import
backend:serverhelp wanted

Description

I want to replace a custom-build, public query API by Cube.js. The current API server makes heavy use of HTTP caching. Because it is behind 2 proxies (Cloudflare + nginx) and the requests have a very high cache hit ratio, I am able to serve a high volume of requests per second with a small server.

Using the vanilla Cube.js client, I can see that a response from the Cube.js server has an ETag header and the client sends If-None-Match accordingly on the next request - which would be great for caching. Unfortunately though, the response does not set Cache-Control, causing it to bypass/miss both caches, returning the full JSON. To reproduce, open http://cubejs-stripe-dashboard-example.s3-website-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ in Chrome and check the network tab. All requests have status 200 (instead of 304) and the header x-cache: Miss from cloudfront.

For my app I'd like to set Cache-Control: public, max-age=60 because my data is not realtime and a cache duration of 60s reduces the maximum amount of cache misses per unique query to 1 per minute. stale-while-revalidate=…, stale-if-error=… would be nice to have too.

I checked the server's source code and it does not seem to be possible to set custom server headers with the new Docker-based architecture.

Contributor guide

Tech stack
javascripttypescriptnodejsrest api
Domain
backendapiperformance
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Node.js experienceHTTP caching basicsCube.js server internals
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
65
Research direction
Investigate the Cube.js server's response pipeline, specifically where the ETag header is added (likely in response middleware). Identify where refreshKey values are used and determine appropriate mapping to Cache Control directives. Consider adding configuration options for cache duration. Review existing test files for response headers to understand testing patterns.
Option to add cache control headers based on `refreshKey` values · cube-js/cube#2368 | Good First Issue