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+date = 2022-02-20
+title = "Caching Static Content with Nginx"
+description = "Learn how to enable the static content cache in Nginx."
++++
+
+## Update Your Nginx Config to Cache Static Files
+
+If you run a website on Nginx that serves static content (i.e., content
+that is not dynamic and changing with interactions from the user), you
+would likely benefit from caching that content on the client-side. If
+you're used to Apache and looking for the Nginx equivalent, this post
+should help.
+
+Luckily, setting up the cache is as easy as identifying the file types
+you want to cache and determining the expiration length. To include more
+file types, simply use the bar separator (`|`) and type the
+new file extension you want to include.
+
+```config
+server {
+    ...
+
+    location ~* .(css|js|jpg|jpeg|gif|png|ico)$ {
+        expires 30d;
+    }
+
+    ...
+}
+```
+
+I have seen some people who prefer to set `expires` as
+`365d` or even `max`, but that is only for stable,
+infrequently changing websites. As my site often changes (i.e., I'm
+never content with my website), I need to know that my readers are
+seeing the new content without waiting too long.
+
+So, I went ahead and set the expiration date at `30d`, which
+is short enough to refresh for readers but long enough that
+clients/browsers won't be re-requesting the static files too often,
+hopefully resulting in faster loading times, as images should be the
+only thing slowing down my site.
+
+## Testing Results
+
+To test my changes to the Nginx configuration, I used the [HTTP Header
+Live](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/http-header-live/)
+extension on my Gecko browser and used the sidebar to inspect the
+headers of a recent image from my blog.
+
+In the image below, you can see that the `Cache-Control`
+header is now present and set to 2592000, which is 30 days represented
+in seconds (30 days \_ 24 hours/day \_ 60 minutes/hour \* 60
+seconds/minute = 2,592,000 seconds).
+
+The `Expires` field is now showing 22 March 2022, which is 30
+days from the day of this post, 20 February 2022.
+
+![Image
+Headers](https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20220220-caching-static-content-with-nginx/image_headers.png)
+
+## Caveats
+
+Remember that this caching system is **client-side**, which means that
+content is only cached for as long as a client allows it. For example,
+my browser purges all caches, data, etc. upon exit, so this caching
+policy will only work as long as my browser remains open and running.
+
+If you need to test updates to your site, you'll need to clear the
+cache to see updates for any file extension you configured. This can
+often be done with the `Shift + F5` or `Ctrl + F5`
+key combinations in most browsers.