Cloudflare

Cloudflare Cache Reserve

Persistent cache storage built on R2 for long-term content retention

Smart Shield Integration

Cache Reserve is part of Smart Shield, Cloudflare's comprehensive security and performance suite:

• Smart Shield Advanced tier: Includes 2TB Cache Reserve storage

• Standalone purchase: Available separately if not using Smart Shield

• Migration: Existing standalone customers can migrate to Smart Shield bundles

Decision: Already on Smart Shield Advanced? Cache Reserve is included. Otherwise evaluate standalone purchase vs Smart Shield upgrade.

Overview

Cache Reserve is Cloudflare's persistent, large-scale cache storage layer built on R2. It acts as the ultimate upper-tier cache, storing cacheable content for extended periods (30+ days) to maximize cache hits, reduce origin egress fees, and shield origins from repeated requests for long-tail content.

Core Concepts

What is Cache Reserve?

• Persistent storage layer: Built on R2, sits above tiered cache hierarchy

• Long-term retention: 30-day default retention, extended on each access

• Automatic operation: Works seamlessly with existing CDN, no code changes required

• Origin shielding: Dramatically reduces origin egress by serving cached content longer

• Usage-based pricing: Pay only for storage + read/write operations

Cache Hierarchy

Visitor Request
    ↓
Lower-Tier Cache (closest to visitor)
    ↓ (on miss)
Upper-Tier Cache (closest to origin)
    ↓ (on miss)
Cache Reserve (R2 persistent storage)
    ↓ (on miss)
Origin Server

How It Works

1. On cache miss: Content fetched from origin �� written to Cache Reserve + edge caches simultaneously

2. On edge eviction: Content may be evicted from edge cache but remains in Cache Reserve

3. On subsequent request: If edge cache misses but Cache Reserve hits → content restored to edge caches

4. Retention: Assets remain in Cache Reserve for 30 days since last access (configurable via TTL)

When to Use Cache Reserve

Need persistent caching?
├─ High origin egress costs → Cache Reserve ✓
├─ Long-tail content (archives, media libraries) → Cache Reserve ✓
├─ Already using Smart Shield Advanced → Included! ✓
├─ Video streaming with seeking (range requests) → ✗ Not supported
├─ Dynamic/personalized content → ✗ Use edge cache only
├─ Need per-request cache control from Workers → ✗ Use R2 directly
└─ Frequently updated content (< 10hr lifetime) → ✗ Not eligible

Asset Eligibility

Cache Reserve only stores assets meeting ALL criteria:

• Cacheable per Cloudflare's standard rules

• Minimum 10-hour TTL (36000 seconds)

• Content-Length header present

• Original files only (not transformed images)

Eligibility Checklist

Use this checklist to verify if an asset is eligible:

• [ ] Zone has Cache Reserve enabled

• [ ] Zone has Tiered Cache enabled (required)

• [ ] Asset TTL ≥ 10 hours (36,000 seconds)

• [ ] Content-Length header present on origin response

• [ ] No Set-Cookie header (or uses private directive)

• [ ] Vary header is NOT * (can be Accept-Encoding)

• [ ] Not an image transformation variant (original images OK)

• [ ] Not a range request (no HTTP 206 support)

• [ ] Not O2O (Orange-to-Orange) proxied request

All boxes must be checked for Cache Reserve eligibility.

Not Eligible

• Assets with TTL < 10 hours

• Responses without Content-Length header

• Image transformation variants (original images are eligible)

• Responses with Set-Cookie headers

• Responses with Vary: * header

• Assets from R2 public buckets on same zone

• O2O (Orange-to-Orange) setup requests

• Range requests (video seeking, partial content downloads)

Quick Start

# Enable via Dashboard
https://dash.cloudflare.com/caching/cache-reserve
# Click "Enable Storage Sync" or "Purchase" button

Prerequisites:

• Paid Cache Reserve plan or Smart Shield Advanced required

• Tiered Cache required for optimal performance

Essential Commands

# Check Cache Reserve status
curl -X GET "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/$ZONE_ID/cache/cache_reserve" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_TOKEN"

# Enable Cache Reserve
curl -X PATCH "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/$ZONE_ID/cache/cache_reserve" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"value": "on"}'

# Check asset cache status
curl -I https://example.com/asset.jpg | grep -i cache

In This Reference

Files:

• configuration.md - Setup, API, SDKs, and Cache Rules

• api.md - Purging, monitoring, Workers integration

• patterns.md - Best practices, cost optimization, debugging

• gotchas.md - Common issues, limitations, troubleshooting

See Also

• r2 - Cache Reserve built on R2 storage

• workers - Workers integration with Cache API