Data Cache is a cache storage that stores the return of a function call or a data fetching operations in the server. The Data Cache persists the result of those function across incoming server requests and deployments by storing it into a persistent caching semantics made by Next.js.

Currently, there are two ways to store data in the Data Cache:

• Fetching via the native fetch api will store their result in the Data Cache
• Using 3rd party libraries and wrapping them in unstable_cache so that the return of the function will be cached into the Data Cache

Usage Notes

• The Data Cache is stored in the .next folder.

• The Data Cache can be invalidated either by on-demand or using time based revalidation.

• Invalidations on the data cache can invalidate the whole page on statically generated sites.

• The cache for rendering dynamic route is different from the cache for static builds (cache from statically generating a route).

• By default, the fetch function will not utilize the Data Cache on a dynamically rendered route. This includes both using Server Component and Route Handlers.

• Furthermore, the return of the fetch function will not be cached in Server Action by default. However, unstable_cache will still return the cached result by default.