rails-caching-strategy

What problem does it solve?

AI coding agents frequently implement incorrect Rails caching strategies that lead to stale data, cache stampedes, unnecessary infrastructure overhead, and wasted development time debugging avoidable caching bugs.

Core Features & Use Cases

• Full cache layer guidance: Covers the entire Rails caching hierarchy from CDN/edge caching down to DB query cache, with clear rules for when to use each layer.
• Rails 8 default conventions: Recommends Solid Cache as the default cache store for greenfield Rails 8 apps, with clear criteria for when Redis is still the right choice.
• Robust cache key design: Teaches versioned, content-addressed cache keys to eliminate invalidation bugs, plus Russian doll fragment caching for nested views.
• Anti-pattern protection: Explicitly warns against common mistakes like caching before fixing slow queries, using TTL-only invalidation, and leaking per-user data via unscoped cache keys.
• Use case example: If asked to speed up a slow /posts endpoint, this skill ensures the agent first diagnoses N+1 queries and missing indexes before considering caching, and implements proper stampede prevention with race_condition_ttl if caching is warranted.

Quick Start

Consult this skill whenever you need to implement, debug, or optimize caching for a Ruby on Rails 8 application, including selecting the appropriate cache layer, designing robust cache keys, preventing cache stampedes, or configuring HTTP caching for public endpoints.