Laravel Caching: Tags, Stampede Locks & Cache-Aside | Mohamed Said [ ![Mohamed Said](https://cdn.msaied.com/01KT78WE565VEMM3PSNQAAB0MH.png) Mohamed Said Laravel Backend Engineer ](https://msaied.com) [ Home ](https://msaied.com) [ Projects ](https://msaied.com/projects) [ Articles ](https://msaied.com/articles) [ Certificates ](https://msaied.com/certificates) [ Contact ](https://msaied.com#contact-section) [ ](https://github.com/EG-Mohamed) [ Home ](https://msaied.com) [ Projects ](https://msaied.com/projects) [ Articles ](https://msaied.com/articles) [ Certificates ](https://msaied.com/certificates) [ Contact ](https://msaied.com#contact-section) [ home ](https://msaied.com) [ articles ](https://msaied.com/articles) Laravel Caching Strategies: Tags, Stampede Prevention, and Cache-Aside at Scale On this page 1. [ Beyond remember(): Production Caching in Laravel ](#beyond-coderemembercode-production-caching-in-laravel) 2. [ 1. Cache Tags for Granular Invalidation ](#1-cache-tags-for-granular-invalidation) 3. [ 2. Preventing Cache Stampedes with Atomic Locks ](#2-preventing-cache-stampedes-with-atomic-locks) 4. [ 3. The Cache-Aside Pattern in a Service Class ](#3-the-cache-aside-pattern-in-a-service-class) 5. [ Key Takeaways ](#key-takeaways) ![Laravel Caching Strategies: Tags, Stampede Prevention, and Cache-Aside at Scale](https://cdn.msaied.com/351/ac186f395c8b0f7ae2e8ff230c61e323.png) #laravel #caching #performance #redis Laravel Caching Strategies: Tags, Stampede Prevention, and Cache-Aside at Scale ================================================================================= 3 Jul 2026 3 min read ![Mohamed Said](https://cdn.msaied.com/01KT78WE565VEMM3PSNQAAB0MJ.jpg) Mohamed Said Table of contents 1. [ 01 Beyond remember(): Production Caching in Laravel ](#beyond-coderemembercode-production-caching-in-laravel) 2. [ 02 1. Cache Tags for Granular Invalidation ](#1-cache-tags-for-granular-invalidation) 3. [ 03 2. Preventing Cache Stampedes with Atomic Locks ](#2-preventing-cache-stampedes-with-atomic-locks) 4. [ 04 3. The Cache-Aside Pattern in a Service Class ](#3-the-cache-aside-pattern-in-a-service-class) 5. [ 05 Key Takeaways ](#key-takeaways) Beyond `remember()`: Production Caching in Laravel -------------------------------------------------- Most Laravel applications start with `Cache::remember()` and never look back. That works until you hit real traffic, shared cache keys across tenants, or a deployment that invalidates half your cache simultaneously. This article covers three concrete techniques that separate hobby caching from production caching. --- 1. Cache Tags for Granular Invalidation --------------------------------------- Cache tags let you group related entries and flush them as a unit without touching unrelated keys. They require a tag-aware driver — Redis or Memcached. ```php // Storing tagged entries Cache::tags(['products', 'tenant:42'])->put( "product:{$product->id}", $product, now()->addHour() ); // Retrieve with the same tag set $product = Cache::tags(['products', 'tenant:42']) ->get("product:{$product->id}"); // Flush only tenant 42's product cache on a write Cache::tags(['tenant:42', 'products'])->flush(); ``` The key insight: tag `tenant:{id}` on every cache write scoped to that tenant. A single `flush()` call after a bulk import clears exactly what needs clearing — nothing more. > **Gotcha:** `Cache::tags()->flush()` in Redis does not delete keys immediately; it invalidates the tag reference, making tagged keys unreachable. Key memory is reclaimed by Redis's eviction policy. Monitor `used_memory` if you flush large tag sets frequently. --- 2. Preventing Cache Stampedes with Atomic Locks ----------------------------------------------- A stampede happens when a hot key expires and dozens of workers simultaneously miss the cache, all hitting the database at once. Laravel's `Cache::lock()` solves this cleanly. ```php use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Cache; function getExpensiveReport(int $id): array { $key = "report:{$id}"; $cached = Cache::get($key); if ($cached !== null) { return $cached; } // Only one worker rebuilds; others wait up to 5 seconds return Cache::lock("lock:{$key}", 10)->block(5, function () use ($key, $id) { // Re-check after acquiring the lock if ($hit = Cache::get($key)) { return $hit; } $data = DB::table('reports')->where('id', $id)->first(); Cache::put($key, $data, now()->addMinutes(30)); return $data; }); } ``` The double-check inside the lock is mandatory. Without it, every worker that was queued behind the lock rebuilds the cache anyway. `block(5)` throws `LockTimeoutException` if the lock is not acquired within 5 seconds — catch it and fall back to a direct DB read rather than letting the request fail. --- 3. The Cache-Aside Pattern in a Service Class --------------------------------------------- Inlining cache logic in controllers couples your caching strategy to your HTTP layer. Extract it into a dedicated repository or service: ```php final class CachedProductRepository { public function __construct( private readonly ProductRepository $inner, private readonly Repository $cache, ) {} public function findById(int $id): ?Product { return $this->cache ->tags(['products']) ->remember( "product:{$id}", now()->addMinutes(60), fn () => $this->inner->findById($id) ); } public function invalidate(int $id): void { $this->cache->tags(['products'])->forget("product:{$id}"); } } ``` Bind it in a service provider: ```php $this->app->bind(ProductRepository::class, function ($app) { return new CachedProductRepository( inner: $app->make(EloquentProductRepository::class), cache: $app->make('cache.store'), ); }); ``` Now your controllers depend on `ProductRepository` — the caching layer is invisible to them and trivially swappable in tests. --- Key Takeaways ------------- - **Cache tags** enable surgical invalidation; always tag by tenant and entity type in multi-tenant apps. - **Atomic locks with `block()`** prevent stampedes; always re-check the cache after acquiring the lock. - **Cache-aside in a dedicated class** keeps controllers clean and makes the caching strategy testable in isolation. - Catch `LockTimeoutException` and degrade gracefully — never let a lock failure become a 500. - Prefer `now()->addMinutes()` over integer TTLs; it reads clearly and respects `Carbon` timezone config. Found this useful? [ ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmsaied.com%2Farticles%2Flaravel-caching-strategies-tags-stampede-prevention-and-cache-aside-at-scale-1&text=Laravel+Caching+Strategies%3A+Tags%2C+Stampede+Prevention%2C+and+Cache-Aside+at+Scale) [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmsaied.com%2Farticles%2Flaravel-caching-strategies-tags-stampede-prevention-and-cache-aside-at-scale-1) Frequently Asked Questions ---------------------------- 3 questions Q01 Which Laravel cache drivers support cache tags? Only Redis and Memcached support cache tags. The file, database, and array drivers do not. If you call Cache::tags() on an unsupported driver, Laravel throws a BadMethodCallException at runtime. Q02 What happens if the lock owner crashes before releasing the lock? Laravel's cache locks accept a TTL (the first argument to Cache::lock()). If the owning process dies, the lock expires automatically after that many seconds, allowing another worker to acquire it. Always set a realistic TTL — slightly longer than your worst-case rebuild time. Q03 Should I cache Eloquent models or plain arrays? Prefer plain arrays or simple DTOs. Caching Eloquent models serializes relationship state, which can be stale or unexpectedly large. Reconstructing a model from a cached array via Model::make() or a DTO factory is safer and produces smaller cache payloads. Continue reading More Articles --------------- [ View all ](https://msaied.com/articles) [ ![Cursor Pagination, Chunked Iteration, and Lazy Collections at Scale in Laravel](https://cdn.msaied.com/355/3a6df23a2c16b740843260134fad7c63.png) laravel eloquent performance ### Cursor Pagination, Chunked Iteration, and Lazy Collections at Scale in Laravel Offset pagination breaks under large datasets. 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