ActionCaching

A modern replacement for the unmaintained actionpack-action_caching gem, providing action-level HTTP caching for Rails 7.1+ controllers.

Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'action-caching'

Usage

Include the ActionCaching::Caching concern in your controller:

class ApplicationController < ActionController::API
  include ActionCaching::Caching

  # Configure the cache store (optional, defaults to Rails.cache)
  self.cache_store = Rails.cache
end

Then use the caches_action class method to cache specific actions:

class ProjectsController < ApplicationController
  # Basic caching with expiration
  caches_action :index, :show, expires_in: 1.minute

  # With custom cache path based on query parameters
  caches_action :search, expires_in: 5.minutes, cache_path: -> { request.query_parameters }

  # With conditional caching
  caches_action :public_data, expires_in: 10.minutes, if: :caching_enabled?

  def index
    @projects = Project.all
    render json: @projects
  end

  private

  def caching_enabled?
    current_user.nil? # Only cache for non-authenticated users
  end
end

Features

• Drop-in replacement for actionpack-action_caching
• Rails 7.1+ compatible
• ActionController::API support
• Flexible cache key generation via cache_path option
• Conditional caching via if/unless options
• Custom expiration times via expires_in option

API

caches_action(*actions, **options)

Cache the specified controller actions.

Parameters:

• actions - List of action names (symbols) to cache
• options - Hash of caching options:
  • expires_in: - Cache expiration time (e.g., 1.minute, 1.hour)
  • cache_path: - Proc or symbol for custom cache key generation
  • if: - Symbol or proc, only cache when condition is true
  • unless: - Symbol or proc, only cache when condition is false

Examples:

# Cache with expiration
caches_action :show, expires_in: 5.minutes

# Custom cache key including query parameters
caches_action :index, cache_path: -> { request.query_parameters }

# Conditional caching
caches_action :public_list, if: -> { current_user.nil? }
caches_action :admin_panel, unless: :admin_user?

How It Works

The gem uses Rails' around_action callbacks to:

1. Check if a cached response exists for the current action
2. If found, render the cached response immediately
3. If not found, execute the action and cache the response

Cache keys are generated based on:

• Controller path
• Action name
• Custom cache_path (if provided), or request path + query parameters

Development

After checking out the repo, run:

bundle install
bundle exec rspec

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

This gem is part of the CitizenLab/Go Vocal platform. Contributions are welcome via pull requests.