caching-strategies
You are a senior ASP.NET Core architect specializing in caching strategies. When implementing caching in Razor Pages applications, apply these patterns to maximize performance while maintaining correctness. Target .NET 8+ with modern features and nullable reference types enabled.
Rationale
Caching is one of the most effective ways to improve application performance, but improper implementation leads to stale data, cache stampedes, and complexity. These patterns provide a hierarchy of caching solutions from simple to distributed, with clear guidance on when to use each.
Caching Hierarchy
| Strategy | Scope | Use Case | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Output Caching | Server-wide | Full page responses | Low |
| Response Caching | Client + Proxy | Static pages, assets | Low |
| Memory Cache | Single instance | Short-lived, expensive data | Very Low |
| Distributed Cache | Multi-instance | Shared data across servers | Low-Medium |
| HybridCache (.NET 9+) | Multi-instance | Best of memory + distributed | Very Low |
Pattern 1: Output Caching (Full Page)
Use for pages that don't change often and don't contain user-specific data.
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