CACHKIT

Simple, fast, and powerful caching for Node.js. No config. Just works.

⭐ If you find Cachkit valuable, please drop a star on GitHub! It helps others discover the project.

Installation

npm install cachkit

or with yarn:

yarn add cachkit

Cachkit is a professional-grade caching library that eliminates redundant work. Need to cache database queries? Done. Want to memoize expensive computations? Easy. Deploying across multiple instances and need Redis? We handle that out of the box.

Think of it as the intelligent middleman that remembers everything, so your application doesn't have to work twice.

The Problem Cachkit Solves

Most Node.js projects waste time on repetitive caching infrastructure:

• Building and maintaining custom cache layer code
• Manually managing time-to-live (TTL) logic
• Switching between different caching strategies for development vs. production
• Handling serialization, key prefixes, and error cases across the codebase

The Cachkit Way:

const user = await cache.wrap("user:123", () => fetchUser(123));
// That's it. Handles caching, TTL, serialization, errors—everything.

One line. No boilerplate. Production-ready.

Core Features

• Zero Configuration — Works out of the box with sensible defaults
• Multiple Backends — Seamlessly switch between in-memory, Redis, and Memcached
• Automatic Memoization — wrap() method caches function results automatically
• TTL Management — Smart auto-expiration of stale cached data
• Enterprise Security — Input validation, AES-256-GCM encryption, and rate limiting
• Monitoring & Metrics — Built-in health checks and performance analytics
• Full Type Safety — Complete TypeScript support with proper type inference
• Minimal Dependencies — Lightweight implementation at approximately 50KB unpacked
• Graceful Error Handling — Never crashes your application, fails safely
• Comprehensive Testing — 157 tests covering security, stress, and real-world scenarios

Usage

Simplest Example

import { Cache } from "cachkit";

const cache = new Cache();

// Store something
await cache.set("key", "value");

// Retrieve it
const value = await cache.get("key");

Real-World: Database Query Caching

async function getUser(userId) {
  return cache.wrap(`user:${userId}`, async () => {
    // This function only runs if cache misses
    const user = await database.query("SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = $1", [userId]);
    return user;
  }, { ttl: 60000 }); // Cache for 60 seconds
}

await getUser(1); // Hits database
await getUser(1); // Returns from cache
await getUser(2); // Hits database again

API Response Caching

app.get("/api/posts", async (req, res) => {
  const posts = await cache.wrap("posts:all", 
    () => fetchPostsFromAPI(),
    { ttl: 300000 } // 5 minutes
  );
  res.json(posts);
});

Session Management

// Store session with auto-expiration
await cache.set("session:abc123", userData, { ttl: 3600000 }); // 1 hour

// Session automatically disappears after 1 hour
const session = await cache.get("session:abc123");
if (!session) {
  // User logged out or session expired
}

Choosing Your Backend

const cache = new Cache(); // Uses memory by default

Advantages:

• Development environments
• Single-server deployments
• Rapid prototyping
• Zero configuration

Trade-offs:

• Data is lost on restart
• Doesn't scale across multiple instances

Multi-instance deployments, persistent caching, and production environments.

import { Cache } from "cachkit";
import { RedisProvider } from "cachkit";

const provider = new RedisProvider();
const cache = new Cache(provider);

Set environment variables:

REDIS_HOST=localhost
REDIS_PORT=6379
REDIS_DB=0

High-performance distributed memory caching.

import { Cache } from "cachkit";
import { MemcachedProvider } from "cachkit";

const provider = new MemcachedProvider();
const cache = new Cache(provider);

Using the CLI

Cachkit includes a command-line tool for cache management:

# Show cache status
cachkit status

# List all cached keys
cachkit keys

# Get a cached value
cachkit get user:1

# Store a value (with 1 hour TTL)
cachkit set user:1 '{"id":1,"name":"John"}' 3600

# Delete a cached key
cachkit delete user:1

# View cache statistics
cachkit stats

# Clear all cache
cachkit clear

# Show help
cachkit help

API

cache.get(key)

Retrieve a cached value. Returns undefined if not found or expired.

cache.set(key, value, options)

Store a value with optional TTL (time-to-live in milliseconds).

cache.delete(key)

Remove a key from cache immediately.

cache.clear()

Remove all keys from cache. Use when you need a complete cache flush.

cache.has(key)

Check if key exists and isn't expired.

cache.keys()

List all cache keys.

cache.wrap(key, fn, options)

The magic method. Memoizes expensive operations:

• If cached → returns instantly
• If cache miss → executes fn, stores result, returns it

Works with both sync and async functions.

Understanding Cache Behavior

The cache.wrap() method is the core of Cachkit. Here's how it works:

const user = await cache.wrap("user:123", () => fetchFromDB(123));
// First call: Function executes, result is cached
const user2 = await cache.wrap("user:123", () => fetchFromDB(123));
// Second call: Result is returned from cache instantly, function never executes

You can customize behavior with TTL, encryption, and invalidation:

• Expire data with TTL (time-to-live)
• Invalidate manually using delete()
• Switch backends without changing application code

Performance

Real-world benchmarks (Node.js 20+):

| Operation | Time | Notes | |-----------|------|-------| | Get (cached) | ~0.1ms | Instant memory lookup | | Get (Redis) | ~2ms | Network roundtrip | | Wrap (hit) | ~0.2ms | Zero function execution | | Wrap (miss) | ~5ms | Includes execution time |

Impact: Database query taking 100ms? Cache it, get 0.1ms instant repeat hits. 1000x faster.

Advanced Usage

Namespace Separation

const userCache = new Cache(provider, "users");
const postCache = new Cache(provider, "posts");

userCache.set("1", userData);   // Stored as "users:1"
postCache.set("1", postData);   // Stored as "posts:1"

// Keys don't collide even with identical identifiers

Strategic Cache Invalidation

async function updateUser(userId, data) {
  await database.update("users", data, { id: userId });
  
  // Invalidate all caches related to this user
  await cache.delete(`user:${userId}`);
}

Multi-Level Cache Clearing

// User data changed - clear all related caches
const keys = await cache.keys();
for (const key of keys.filter(k => k.startsWith("user:123"))) {
  await cache.delete(key);
}

Error Handling

All operations fail gracefully. Errors are logged but never thrown:

// Even if something explodes internally
const value = await cache.get("key");
// Won't crash. Returns undefined if something went wrong.

This is intentional. Caching failures shouldn't break your app.

Security

Input Validation

All cache keys are validated to prevent injection attacks:

import { validateKey, sanitizeKey } from "cachkit";

const result = validateKey("user:123:profile");
if (!result.valid) {
  console.error(result.error);
}

// Auto-sanitize keys
const safe = sanitizeKey("User-123@Profile"); // → "user-123_profile"

Encryption at Rest

Protect sensitive data in cache using AES-256-GCM encryption:

import { generateEncryptionKey } from "cachkit";

const key = generateEncryptionKey(); // Store in .env, not in code
const encrypted = await cache.set("api_token", sensitiveData, {
  encrypted: true,
  encryptionKey: key
});

Rate Limiting

Prevent cache abuse with rate limiting:

import { RateLimiter } from "cachkit";

const limiter = new RateLimiter(10000, 60000); // 10,000 ops per 60 seconds

if (!limiter.isAllowed("user:123")) {
  throw new Error("Rate limit exceeded");
}

For comprehensive security best practices, see: Security Guide

Monitoring & Metrics

Track cache performance and health in real-time:

import { MetricsCollector, HealthMonitor } from "cachkit";

const metrics = new MetricsCollector();
const monitor = new HealthMonitor(metrics);

// Record operations
metrics.recordHit(0.5);  // Record 0.5ms cache hit
metrics.recordMiss(10);  // Record 10ms cache miss

// Get performance snapshot
console.log(metrics.getMetrics());
// {
//   hits: 100,
//   misses: 25,
//   hitRate: 80%,
//   avgResponseTime: 1.2ms,
//   errorRate: 0.01%,
//   ...
// }

// Check cache health
const health = monitor.check();
// { status: "healthy", hitRate: 80, avgResponseTime: 1.2, ... }

See: Performance Tuning Guide

CLI Tool

Cachkit includes a command-line interface for cache management and debugging:

# Show cache status
cachkit status

# List all cached keys
cachkit keys

# Get a cached value
cachkit get user:123

# Store a value (with optional TTL in seconds)
cachkit set user:123 '{"id":123,"name":"John"}' 3600

# Delete a key
cachkit delete user:123

# Clear all cache
cachkit clear

# Display cache statistics
cachkit stats

# Show help
cachkit help

The CLI is useful for:

• Debugging cache during development
• Inspecting what's currently cached
• Manual cache invalidation
• Monitoring cache size and key count
• Verifying cache operations

Testing

npm test

Cachkit includes 157 tests covering:

• Concurrent operations and race conditions
• TTL expiration and LRU eviction
• Error handling and graceful failures
• Security features (injection prevention, encryption, rate limiting)
• Monitoring and metrics collection
• High-load stress testing (1000+ concurrent operations)
• Real-world usage patterns and integration scenarios

Contributing

Contributions are welcome and appreciated! Whether it's bug reports, feature requests, or code contributions, they all help make Cachkit better.

Before Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Clone your fork: git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/cachkit.git
3. Install dependencies: npm install

Development Workflow

npm run build       # Compile TypeScript to JavaScript
npm test            # Run all 157 tests
npm run typecheck   # Check type safety
npm run lint        # Run ESLint
npm run lint:fix    # Auto-fix linting issues

Contribution Guidelines

• Bug Fixes: Include a test that reproduces the bug
• New Features: Add tests and update documentation
• Documentation: Grammar and clarity improvements welcome
• Tests: Aim for comprehensive coverage of edge cases
• Code Style: Follow the existing code style (ESLint will help)

Running Tests

npm test                                # Run all tests
npm test -- --testNamePattern="cache"   # Run specific tests
npm test -- --coverage                  # Generate coverage report

All tests must pass before PR review. We maintain 157+ passing tests to ensure reliability.

Pull Request Process

1. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/my-feature
2. Make your changes
3. Run npm run lint:fix to fix any style issues
4. Ensure all tests pass: npm test
5. Commit with clear messages: git commit -m "Add feature: description"
6. Push to your fork and create a Pull Request

We'll review your PR within a few days. Thanks for contributing!

Why Cachkit Exists

Every Node.js application implements caching differently. Some use redis.get(), others build custom LRU implementations, and most scatter TTL logic throughout the codebase. We wanted a single, reliable library that:

• Works without configuration hassles
• Supports both in-memory and distributed caching
• Handles memoization automatically
• Fails gracefully instead of crashing your app
• Gets out of your way

Cachkit is built with TypeScript, extensively tested (157 tests), and maintains a stable API. Use it in development with in-memory storage or promote to production with Redis—the same code works everywhere.

Comparison to Other Caching Libraries

| Feature | Cachkit | node-cache | redis | ioredis | |---------|-----------|-----------|-------|---------| | Zero Config | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No | | Auto Memoization | ✅ wrap() | ❌ Manual | ❌ Manual | ❌ Manual | | Type Safety | ✅ TypeScript | ❌ No | ⚠️ Partial | ⚠️ Partial | | Encryption Support | ✅ AES-256 | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No | | Rate Limiting | ✅ Built-in | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No | | Monitoring/Metrics | ✅ Built-in | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No | | Multiple Backends | ✅ Memory/Redis/Memcached | ⚠️ Memory only | ✅ Redis only | ✅ Redis only | | Graceful Errors | ✅ Never throws | ⚠️ Can crash | ✅ Can crash | ✅ Can crash | | Size (unpacked) | 🚀 ~50KB | ~35KB | ~43KB | ~80KB | | Production Ready | ✅ 157 tests | ✅ Stable | ✅ Industry standard | ✅ Industry standard | | Learning Curve | 🎯 5 minutes | 5 minutes | 15+ minutes | 20+ minutes |

Choose Cachkit if you want: All-in-one solution with type safety, encryption, and monitoring
Choose others if you need: Lightweight memory-only solution or established Redis client library

License

MIT License. See LICENSE file for details.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Will Cachkit replace my Redis setup?
A: No. Use in-memory mode for development and single-instance deployments. Use Redis for production systems with multiple instances.

Q: How does this compare to other caching libraries?
A: Cachkit is smaller, faster, offers superior async support, and works with Redis without additional setup.

Q: What if I don't want automatic expiration?
A: Don't set a TTL. Data persists until you manually delete it or the cache reaches capacity and evicts entries via LRU.

Q: Is this production-ready?
A: Yes. Cachkit includes 157 passing tests, full TypeScript support, and is actively used in production services.

Q: How do I debug cache operations?
A: Set LOG_LEVEL=debug before running. Cachkit will log all operations for inspection.

Made by developers, for developers. Stop reinventing the cache.