--- description: Cache responses based on origin HTTP status codes. title: Cache by status code image: https://developers.cloudflare.com/og-docs.png --- [Skip to content](#main-content) > Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.cloudflare.com/cache/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Cache by status code Last updated Aug 25, 2026|Copy as Markdown|[View as Markdown](https://4f1c5cd2.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/cache/how-to/configure-cache-status-code/index.md)|[Agent setup](https://4f1c5cd2.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/agent-setup/) Customers can set cache time-to-live (TTL) based on the response status from the origin web server. Cache TTL refers to the duration of a resource in the Cloudflare network before being marked as `STALE` or discarded from cache. Status codes are returned by a resource's origin. Setting cache TTL based on response status overrides the [default cache behavior (standard caching)](https://4f1c5cd2.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/cache/concepts/default-cache-behavior/) for static files and overrides cache instructions sent by the origin web server. To cache non-static assets, set a [Cache Level of Cache Everything using a Cache Rule](https://4f1c5cd2.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/cache/how-to/cache-rules/create-api/#example-requests). Setting `no-store` **Cache-Control** or a low TTL (using `max-age`/`s-maxage`) increases requests to origin web servers and decreases performance. ## Caching limits The maximum caching limit for Free, Pro, and Business customers is 512 MB per file, and the maximum caching limit for Enterprise customers is 5 GB per file. If you need to raise the limits, contact your Customer Success Manager. ## Edge TTL By default, Cloudflare caches certain HTTP response codes with the following Edge Cache TTL when a `cache-control` directive or `expires` response header are not present. | HTTP status code | Default TTL | | ---------------- | ----------- | | 200, 206, 301 | 120m | | 302, 303 | 20m | | 404, 410 | 3m | All other status codes are not cached by default. ## Set cache TTL by response status via the Cloudflare dashboard To set cache TTL by response status, [create a Cache Rule](https://4f1c5cd2.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/cache/how-to/cache-rules/) for [**Cache TTL by status code**](https://4f1c5cd2.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/cache/how-to/cache-rules/settings/#edge-ttl). ## Set cache TTL by response status via the Cloudflare API ```bash curl --request PUT \ "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/{zone_id}/rulesets/{ruleset_id}" \ --header "Authorization: Bearer " \ --header "Content-Type: application/json" \ --data '{ "rules": [ { "expression": "(http.host eq \"www.example.com\")", "description": "set cache TTL by response status", "action": "set_cache_settings", "action_parameters": { "cache": true, "edge_ttl": { "status_code_ttl": [ { "status_code_range": { "to": 299 }, "value": 86400 }, { "status_code_range": { "from": 300, "to": 499 }, "value": 0 // no-cache }, { "status_code_range": { "from": 500 }, "value": -1 // no-store } ], "mode": "respect_origin" } } } ] }' ``` ### Syntax Provide a JSON object containing status codes and their corresponding TTLs. Each key-value pair in the cache TTL by status cache rule has the following syntax: * `status_code`: An integer value such as 200 or 500\. `status_code` matches the exact status code from the origin web server. Valid status codes are between 100-999. * `status_code_range`: Integer values for `from` and `to`. `status_code_range` matches any status code from the origin web server within the specified range. * `value`: An integer value that defines the duration an asset is valid in seconds or one of the following strings: `no-store` (equivalent to `-1`), `no-cache` (equivalent to `0`). ## Set cache TTL by response status via a Cloudflare Worker The **cacheTtlByStatus** option is a version of the **cacheTtl** feature that designates a cache TTL for a request’s response status code (for example, `{ "200-299": 86400, 404: 1, "500-599": 0 }`). ## TTL handling for 304 and 200 status codes 1. If a TTL is not explicitly set for status code `304`, we automatically set it to match the TTL of status code `200` (if the user has defined one for `200`). 2. If a user explicitly sets a different TTL for `304` than for `200`, the following behavior will occur: * When a `200` response is received, the asset is cached with the TTL specified for status `200`. * Once the asset expires and we revalidate with the origin, if the origin returns a `304`, the cache TTL is updated to the value set for `304`. For example, if a user specifies a TTL of one hour for status `200` and 0 seconds (cache and always revalidate) for status `304`, the asset will be cached for 1 hour. After it expires, we revalidate with the origin. If the origin returns a `304`, each subsequent request will trigger revalidation. If the origin continues to return `304`, this cycle will persist. This behavior is likely undesirable unless the user has a specific use case. Therefore, users should ensure that the TTL for `304` matches the TTL for `200` unless they intentionally require this behavior. Was this helpful? YesNo ## On this page [![](https://4f1c5cd2.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/_astro/logo.te5VL_aD.svg)Docs](https://4f1c5cd2.previews.developers.cloudflare.com/) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","@id":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/cache/how-to/configure-cache-status-code/#page","headline":"Cache by status code · Cloudflare Cache (CDN) docs","description":"Cache responses based on origin HTTP status codes.","url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/cache/how-to/configure-cache-status-code/","inLanguage":"en","image":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/og-docs.png","dateModified":"2026-08-25","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Cloudflare","description":"One platform for your apps, agents, and workforce. 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