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Purge cache

You can purge cached resources by single-file (recommended), hostname or cache-tag (Enterprise plans only), or all cached content. All users can purge by single-file (by URL) or purge all cached assets. Cloudflare Enterprise users can also purge using hostnames and cache-tags.

Purge by single-file (by URL)

With purge by single-file, cached resources are immediately removed from the stored assets in your Content Delivery Network (CDN) across all data centers. New requests for the purged asset receive the latest version from your origin web server and add it back to your CDN cache within the specific Cloudflare data center that served the request.

The single-file purge rate limit for the Free subscription is 1000 urls/min. The rate limit is subject to change.

A single-file purge performed through your Cloudflare dashboard does not clear objects that contain any of the following:

You can purge objects with these characteristics using an API call ( Purge files by URL). In the data/header section of the API call, you must include all headers and cache keys contained in the cached resource, along with their matching values.

  1. Log in to your Cloudflare dashboard.
  2. Click Caching > Configuration.
  3. Under Purge Cache, click Custom Purge. The Custom Purge window appears.
  4. Under Purge by, select URL.
  5. Enter the appropriate value(s) in the text field using the format shown in the example.
  6. Perform any additional instructions to complete the form.
  7. Review your entries.
  8. Click Purge.

Purge everything

To maintain optimal site performance, Cloudflare strongly recommends using single-file (by URL) purging instead of a complete cache purge.

Purging everything immediately clears all resources from your CDN cache in all Cloudflare data centers. Each new request for a purged resource returns to your origin server to validate the resource. If Cloudflare cannot validate the resource, Cloudflare fetches the latest version from the origin server and replaces the cached version. When a site with heavy traffic contains a lot of assets, requests to your origin server can increase substantially and result in slow site performance.

  1. Log in to your Cloudflare dashboard.
  2. Click Caching > Configuration.
  3. Under Purge Cache, click Purge Everything. A warning window appears.
  4. If you agree, click Purge Everything.

Cache-Tags (Enterprise Only)

Cache-tag purging makes multi-file purging easier because you can bulk purge by adding cache-tags to your assets, such as web pages, image files, and more. Note that Hostname and Tag purges are only available for Cloudflare Enterprise.

General workflow for cache-tags

  1. Add tags to the Cache-Tag HTTP response header from your origin web server for your web content, such as pages, static assets, etc.
  2. Ensure your web traffic is proxied through Cloudflare.
  3. Cloudflare associates the tags in the Cache-Tag HTTP header with the content being cached.
  4. Use specific cache-tags to purge your Cloudflare CDN cache of all content containing that cache-tag from your dashboard or using our API.
  5. Cloudflare forces a cache miss on content with the purged cache-tag.

Add Cache-Tag HTTP response headers

You add cache-tags to your web content in Cache-Tag HTTP response headers to allow the client and server to pass additional information in requests or responses. HTTP headers consist of a specific case-insensitive name followed by a colon : and the valid value, for example, Cache-Tag:tag1,tag2,tag3. Use commas to separate the tags when you want to use multiple cache-tags.

When your content reaches our edge network, Cloudflare:

  • Removes the Cache-Tag HTTP header before sending the response to your website visitor. Your end users never see Cache-Tag HTTP headers on your Cloudflare-enabled website.
  • Removes whitespaces from the header and any before and after cache-tag names: tag1, tag2 and tag1,tag2 are considered the same.
  • Removes all repeated and trailing commas before applying cache-tags: tag1,,,tag2 and tag1,tag2 are considered the same.

A few things to remember:

  • A single HTTP response can have more than one Cache-Tag HTTP header field.
  • The minimum length of a cache-tag is 1 byte.
  • Individual tags don’t have a maximum length, but the aggregate Cache-Tag HTTP header cannot exceed 16 KB after the header field name, which is approximately 1000 unique tags. Length includes whitespace and commas but does not include the header field name.
  • For cache purges, the maximum length of cache-tags in an API call is 120 characters.
  • The Cache-Tag HTTP header must accept all valid characters allowable in HTTP headers, as specified in RFC-5987.
  • Spaces are not allowed in cache-tags.
  • Case does not matter. For example, Tag1 and tag1 are considered the same.

Purge using cache-tags

  1. Log in to your Cloudflare dashboard.
  2. Click Caching > Configuration.
  3. Under Purge Cache, click Custom Purge. The Custom Purge window appears.
  4. Under Purge by, select URL.
  5. In the text box, enter your tags to use to purge the cached resources. To purge multiple cache-tagged resources, separate each tag with a comma or have one tag per line.
  6. Click Purge.

Purge cache by prefix (Enterprise Only)

Enterprise customers can purge their cache by URL prefix or path separators in their URL. For an example URL like https://www.example.com/foo/bar/baz/qux.jpg, valid purge requests include:

  • www.example.com/
  • www.example.com/foo/
  • www.example.com/foo/bar/
  • www.example.com/foo/bar/baz/
  • www.example.com/foo/bar/baz/qux.jpg

Purging by prefix is useful in different scenarios, such as:

  • Purging everything within a directory
  • Increasing control over cached objects in a path
  • Simplifying the number of purge calls sent
  1. Log in to your Cloudflare dashboard.
  2. Select the appropriate domain.
  3. Click Caching > Configuration.
  4. Under Purge Cache, click Custom Purge. The Custom Purge window appears.
  5. Under Purge by, select Prefix.
  6. Follow the syntax instructions.
    • One prefix per line.
    • Maximum 30 prefixes per API call.
  7. Enter the appropriate value(s) in the text field using the format shown in the example.
  8. Click Purge.

Limitations

There are several limitations regarding purge by prefix:

  • Path separators are limited to 31 for a prefix (example.com/a/b/c/d/e/f/g/h/i/j/k/l/m…).
  • Purge requests are limited to 30 prefixes per request.
  • Purge rate-limits apply
  • URI query strings & fragments cannot purge by prefix:
    • www.example.com/foo?a=b (query string)
    • www.example.com/foo#bar (fragment)

Purge cache key resources

Purge resources that use Cache Keys via the Cloudflare API. If you use Cloudflare’s Purge by URL, include the headers and query strings that are in your custom Cache Key.

To purge device_type or geo, use CF-Device-Type or CF-IPCountry. lang cannot currently be purged. Purge by Tag / Host & Purge Everything are not impacted by the use of custom Cache Keys.

Purge by device type

For a Cache Key based on device type, purge the asset by passing the CF-Device-Type header with the API purge request (valid headers include mobile, desktop, and tablet).

See the example API request below to purge all mobile assets on the root web page.

    curl -X POST "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/{zone_tag}/purge_cache"
    -H "X-Auth-Email: user@example.com" -H "X-Auth-Key: c2547eb745079dac9320b638f5e225cf483cc5cfdda41"
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" --data '{"files":[{"url":"http://my.website.com/","headers":{"CF-Device-Type":"mobile"}}]}'

Purge by geo

Purge resources for a location-based Cache Key by specifying the two-letter country code. Spain is used in the example below.

    curl -X POST "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/{zone_tag}/purge_cache"
    -H "X-Auth-Email: user@example.com"
    -H "X-Auth-Key: c2547eb745079dac9320b638f5e225cf483cc5cfdda41" -H "Content-Type: application/json" --data '{"files":[{"url":"http://my.website.com/", "headers":{"Cf-Ipcountry":"ES"}}]}'

Purge varied images

Purging varied images purges all content variants for that URL. This behavior occurs so that if an image changes, you can easily update the cache with a single purge request instead of trying to determine the potential number of out-of-date variants. The behavior is true regardless of purge type used, such as single file, tag, or hostname.