---
title: Invalidate Cached Content
---
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# Invalidate Cached Content
POST/zones/{zone\_id}/invalidate\_cache
Marks cached content as stale in every Cloudflare data center and cache tier, including Cache Reserve. The content stays in cache. The next request for it makes Cloudflare revalidate it with your origin, using the `ETag` and `Last-Modified` values it was cached with:
- If your origin answers `304 Not Modified`, Cloudflare serves the cached copy without downloading it again, and `CF-Cache-Status` is `REVALIDATED`.
- If your origin sends a full response, Cloudflare serves and caches the new content, and `CF-Cache-Status` is `EXPIRED`.
With Tiered Cache, each tier revalidates with the tier above it, so a visitor can see `EXPIRED` even when your origin answered `304`.
Until content is revalidated, your `stale-while-revalidate` and `stale-if-error` directives still apply, counted from the time you invalidated it. For example, if your origin fails during revalidation, Cloudflare can keep serving the stale copy for the `stale-if-error` window.
### Invalidate or purge?
- **Invalidate** when content may not have changed, for example after a deploy. Unchanged content costs your origin a `304` instead of a full response. That saving needs an origin that sends `ETag` or `Last-Modified` and answers conditional requests. Otherwise, every revalidation downloads the full response.
- **Purge**, with `POST /zones/{zone_id}/purge_cache`, when content must not be served again, for example content you removed for legal or security reasons.
Invalidating takes the same request bodies as purging, needs the same permission, and counts against the same rate limits. After a broad invalidation, such as `purge_everything`, expect more conditional requests to your origin while visitors request the invalidated content again.
### Choose what to invalidate
Send one of these fields in the request body:
- `files`: specific URLs. If your cache key includes request headers, send each URL with the header values it was cached with.
- `tags`: all content whose `Cache-Tag` response header contains one of the tags.
- `hosts`: all content cached for the hostnames.
- `prefixes`: all content whose URL starts with one of the prefixes.
- `purge_everything`: all cached content in the zone.
### Check the result
A `200` response with `success: true` means Cloudflare accepted the request. To check, request an invalidated URL and confirm that the `CF-Cache-Status` response header is `REVALIDATED` or `EXPIRED`.
### Availability and limits
Rate limits and the number of items you can send in one request depend on your plan. See [Purge cache: availability and limits](https://developers.cloudflare.com/cache/how-to/purge-cache/#availability-and-limits).
##### Security
API Token
The preferred authorization scheme for interacting with the Cloudflare API. Create a token.
**Example:**Authorization: Bearer Sn3lZJTBX6kkg7OdcBUAxOO963GEIyGQqnFTOFYY
API Email + API Key
The previous authorization scheme for interacting with the Cloudflare API, used in conjunction with a Global API key.
**Example:**X-Auth-Email: user@example.com
The previous authorization scheme for interacting with the Cloudflare API. When possible, use API tokens instead of Global API keys.
**Example:**X-Auth-Key: 144c9defac04969c7bfad8efaa8ea194
##### P ath ParametersExpand Collapse
zone\_id: string
maxLength32
[Link to this property](<#(resource)%20cache%20%3E%20(method)%20invalidate%20%3E%20(params)%200%20%3E%20(param)%20zone_id%20%3E%20(schema)>)
##### Body ParametersJSONExpand Collapse
body: object {tags } or object {hosts } or object {prefixes } or 3 more
One of the following:
CachePurgeFlexPurgeByTags object {tags }
tags: optional array of string
Cache tags. Targets all content whose Cache-Tag response header contains at least one of these tags. See Purge cache by cache-tags.
Link to this property
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CachePurgeFlexPurgeByHostnames object {hosts }
hosts: optional array of string
Hostnames, such as www.example.com. Targets all content cached for these hostnames. See Purge cache by hostname.
Link to this property
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CachePurgeFlexPurgeByPrefixes object {prefixes }
prefixes: optional array of string
URL prefixes, each a hostname followed by a path, such as www.example.com/blog/. Targets all content whose URL starts with one of these prefixes. Do not include a scheme, query string, or fragment. See Purge cache by prefix.
Link to this property
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CachePurgeEverything object {purge\_everything }
purge\_everything: optional boolean
Set to true to target all cached content in the zone, or in the environment for the environment endpoints. Must be the only field in the request. See Purge everything.
Link to this property
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CachePurgeSingleFile object {files }
files: optional array of string
Full URLs, such as https://www.example.com/css/styles.css. Targets the content cached for each URL. If your cache key includes request headers, send objects with url and headers instead. See Purge by single-file.
Link to this property
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CachePurgeSingleFileWithURLAndHeaders object {files }
files: optional array of object {headers, url }
URLs with the request headers your cache key uses. Use this form when your cache key includes request headers, or the visitor’s device type, country, or language: send the header values each URL was cached with, such as CF-Device-Type, CF-IPCountry, or Accept-Language.
When you send the Origin header, include the scheme and hostname. Include the port unless it is the default for the scheme: 80 for http, 443 for https.
See Purge by single-file.
headers: optional map\[string]
Request headers and the values the content was cached with.
Link to this property
url: optional string
Full URL of the content.
Link to this property
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[Link to this property](<#(resource)%20cache%20%3E%20(method)%20invalidate%20%3E%20(params)%200%20%3E%20(param)%20body%20%3E%20(schema)>)
##### ReturnsExpand Collapse
errors: array of ResponseInfo { code, message, documentation\_url, source }
code: number
minimum1000
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message: string
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documentation\_url: optional string
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source: optional object {pointer }
pointer: optional string
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[Link to this property](<#(resource)%20cache%20%3E%20(method)%20invalidate%20%3E%20(network%20schema)%20%3E%20(property)%20errors>)
messages: array of ResponseInfo { code, message, documentation\_url, source }
code: number
minimum1000
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message: string
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documentation\_url: optional string
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source: optional object {pointer }
pointer: optional string
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[Link to this property](<#(resource)%20cache%20%3E%20(method)%20invalidate%20%3E%20(network%20schema)%20%3E%20(property)%20messages>)
success: boolean
Indicates the API call’s success or failure.
[Link to this property](<#(resource)%20cache%20%3E%20(method)%20invalidate%20%3E%20(network%20schema)%20%3E%20(property)%20success>)
result: optional object {id }
id: string
maxLength32
Link to this property
[Link to this property](<#(resource)%20cache%20%3E%20(method)%20invalidate%20%3E%20(network%20schema)%20%3E%20(property)%20result>)
### Invalidate Cached Content
HTTP
HTTPTypeScriptPythonGoTerraform
```
curl https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/$ZONE_ID/invalidate_cache \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN" \
-d '{
"tags": [
"product-1234",
"homepage"
]
}'
```
200 example
4XX example
4XX example
```
{
"errors": [],
"messages": [],
"result": {
"id": "023e105f4ecef8ad9ca31a8372d0c353"
},
"success": true
}
```
```
{
"errors": [
{
"code": 1092,
"message": "Request cannot contain \"purge_everything\" and any of \"files\", \"tags\", \"hosts\" or \"prefixes\""
}
],
"messages": [],
"result": null,
"success": false
}
```
```
{
"errors": [
{
"code": 1134,
"message": "Unable to purge, rate limit reached. Please wait and consider throttling your request speed"
}
],
"messages": [],
"result": null,
"success": false
}
```
##### Returns Examples
200 example
4XX example
4XX example
```
{
"errors": [],
"messages": [],
"result": {
"id": "023e105f4ecef8ad9ca31a8372d0c353"
},
"success": true
}
```
```
{
"errors": [
{
"code": 1092,
"message": "Request cannot contain \"purge_everything\" and any of \"files\", \"tags\", \"hosts\" or \"prefixes\""
}
],
"messages": [],
"result": null,
"success": false
}
```
```
{
"errors": [
{
"code": 1134,
"message": "Unable to purge, rate limit reached. Please wait and consider throttling your request speed"
}
],
"messages": [],
"result": null,
"success": false
}
```