Cache Invalidation playbook (nextjs 15 / RSC)

nextjs-cache-invalidate.md

1. Tell Next.js not to cache anything in this route

Add either (they are equivalent):

// src/app/components/page.tsx ─ very top of the file
export const revalidate = 0;            // Renders on **every** request
// --- or ---
export const dynamic = 'force-dynamic'; // Opt-out of Full-Route + Data cache

revalidate = 0 / dynamic = 'force-dynamic' skips both the Full Route Cache and the Data Cache, so the server calls your RSC again each hit. Only the tiny client-side Router cache is left, and that clears on hard-reloads.

---

2. Make external data calls “no-store”

Next only auto-caches fetch() calls. Because you’re using the Contentful SDK (client.getEntries()), mark the segment as uncached yourself:

// src/lib/contentful/client.ts
import { unstable_noStore as noStore } from 'next/cache';

export const getPremierPartners = async () => {
  noStore();                // <- forces fresh call each request
  return (await client.getEntries({ content_type: 'marketplaceBlockPremierPartner' })).items;
};

If you ever switch to plain fetch, add { cache: 'no-store' } or revalidate: 0 to the fetch options instead.

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3. Disable Netlify’s build-time cache when you redeploy staging

Netlify persists .next/cache, node_modules, etc. between builds. For a truly clean rebuild:

• One-off: Deploys → Trigger deploy → “Clear cache and deploy site” in the UI (or run netlify deploy --build --clearCache --context=staging from the CLI).

• Every build: set an env var to skip the cache:

  # netlify.toml
  [build.environment]
    NETLIFY_NEXT_PLUGIN_CACHE = "false"   # plugin won’t restore .next/cache

(If you also use the community netlify-plugin-cache-nextjs, remove or disable it.)

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4. Purge Netlify’s CDN cache for SSR / API functions (optional)

Static assets are fingerprinted, so they don’t need purging. For SSR responses you can invalidate on demand via the Netlify API:

curl -X POST \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $NETLIFY_AUTH_TOKEN" \
     -d '{}' \
     https://api.netlify.com/api/v1/sites/<site_id>/purgeCache

This avoids a full redeploy and clears the edge cache in seconds.

---

5. Automate it just for staging

Put the opts behind an env check so production can still use ISR if you want:

export const revalidate = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_STAGE === 'staging' ? 0 : 3600 // 1 h in prod

---

TL;DR

• Next: export const revalidate = 0 or dynamic = 'force-dynamic' + noStore()
• Netlify build cache: “Clear cache and deploy” or NETLIFY_NEXT_PLUGIN_CACHE=false
• Netlify CDN cache (SSR): optional purgeCache API call

With those switches flipped, your staging environment will always render the very latest Contentful / RaaS data on every request, no manual hard-refreshes required.