@piplup/cache-buster

Cache buster library (<1kb) for React that helps in busting cache by checking changes for a unique release ID and calling window.location.reload when a change is detected in release ID.

Installation

You can install @piplup/cache-buster using:

npm install @piplup/cache-buster

// or

yarn add @piplup/cache-buster

// or

pnpm add @piplup/cache-buster

Usage

1. Integration with your build process:

   Include a script in your package.json to generate a release ID before building your application:

{
  "scripts": {
    "build": "piplup-cache-buster --publicDir=public && react-scripts build"
  }
}

Alternatively, if you are using vite to build your react application. You can use @piplup/vite-plugin-cache-buster and update your vite configuration file (usually vite.config.js or vite.config.ts) to the following:

import { vitePluginCacheBuster } from '@piplup/vite-plugin-cache-buster';

export default {
  // Other Vite config options...
  plugins: [vitePluginCacheBuster() /*...other plugins */],
};

2. Integrate CacheBuster into your application:

import { CacheBuster } from '@piplup/cache-buster';

function App() {
  return (
    <>
      <CacheBuster
        loading={null} // Optional: Add a loading component to display loading.
        verbose={false} // Optional: If true, logs will be visible.
        storageKey="RELEASE" // Optional: local storage key for storing the unique release ID.
        enabled={process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production'}
      />
      <YourApp />
    </>
  );
}

export default App;

Props

• enabled (optional): Boolean indicating whether the cache busting functionality should be enabled. Default is true.
• loading (optional): React node to be displayed while checking for updates. Default is null.
• error (optional): React node to be displayed when the release check fails, for example when the device is offline, the RELEASE file is missing (non-2xx response), or the server returns an HTML page instead of a release ID. Default is undefined, which renders nothing. If you wrap your app in CacheBuster, pass the same content (or a fallback UI) to error so the app still renders when the check fails.
• verbose (optional): Boolean indicating whether verbose logging should be enabled. Default is false.
• storageKey (optional): local storage key for storing the unique release ID. Default is RELEASE
• url (optional): URL of the release file. Relative URLs resolve against the current page. Default is /RELEASE. See Serving from a sub-path.
• children (optional): The child components to render within the cache buster.

How It Works

CacheBuster fetches a release ID from /RELEASE at the root of your site (the file generated in your public folder), or from url if you set it, once per page load, and compares it with the ID stored in the browser's local storage:

• First visit (nothing stored yet): it stores the ID and renders the child components. The page was just loaded from the server, so there's nothing to reload.
• Same ID: it renders the child components.
• Different ID (a new release): it stores the new ID, keeps showing loading, and reloads the page once. After the reload the IDs match, so the app renders normally. If the server keeps returning a different ID, it reloads at most once per release ID per tab, then renders the child components instead of reloading again.
• Check failed: it renders error.

To handle releases yourself instead, use the useReleaseStatus({ storageKey, enabled, url, verbose }) hook. It returns null while checking (or when disabled), then 'no-release', 'new-release' or 'error', and doesn't reload the page.

Serving from a sub-path

If your app is served from a sub-path such as https://example.com/app/, the release file is at /app/RELEASE, not /RELEASE. Pass its location with url:

// Vite: BASE_URL is the `base` from your Vite config, e.g. '/app/'
<CacheBuster url={`${import.meta.env.BASE_URL}RELEASE`}>
  <YourApp />
</CacheBuster>

// Any setup
<CacheBuster url="/app/RELEASE">
  <YourApp />
</CacheBuster>

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to submit issues or pull requests.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.