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Cache System

NexusPHP provides a unified, extensible caching API supporting various backend drivers to improve your application's performance. The cache system is highly optimized and offers a clean abstraction layer over File, APCu, and Redis storage.

Configuration

Cache configuration is automatically loaded from the config/cache.php file (or driven directly by your .env variables).

By default, the file driver is used, storing serialized cache data in storage/cache/. You can change this by modifying the .env file:

CACHE_DRIVER=redis
REDIS_HOST=127.0.0.1
REDIS_PORT=6379

Available Drivers

  1. file: Serializes objects and stores them on the local filesystem (safest default).
  2. apcu: High-performance in-memory caching utilizing the PHP APCu extension. (Falls back to file if the extension is disabled).
  3. redis: Enterprise-grade caching utilizing the phpredis extension. (Falls back to file if the extension is missing).

Basic Usage

You can resolve the cache instance using the Nexus\Cache\CacheManager via dependency injection or the global app() helper.

use Nexus\Cache\CacheManager;

$cache = app(CacheManager::class)->driver();

If you wish to interact with a specific store rather than the default, you may pass the name of the driver:

$redisCache = app(CacheManager::class)->driver('redis');

Retrieving Items

To retrieve an item from the cache, use the get method. You may pass a default value as the second argument, which is returned if the item does not exist:

$value = $cache->get('user_profiles');

// With a default fallback
$value = $cache->get('active_theme', 'light');

Storing Items

You may use the set method to store items in the cache. You must pass a Time To Live (TTL) in seconds as the third argument:

// Store for 10 minutes (600 seconds)
$cache->set('active_theme', 'dark', 600);

Checking for Existence

The has method determines if an item exists in the cache:

if ($cache->has('active_theme')) {
    // ...
}

Removing Items

You may remove items from the cache using the delete method, or clear the entire cache using clear:

$cache->delete('active_theme');

// Clear ALL cached items
$cache->clear();

Cache Remember Pattern

A very common pattern is retrieving an item from the cache, but if it doesn't exist, fetching it from the database and storing it. The remember method handles this gracefully:

$users = $cache->remember('users.all', 3600, function () {
    return \App\Models\User::all();
});

If the users.all key exists, its value is instantly returned. If it doesn't exist, the closure is executed, the result is saved in the cache for 3600 seconds (1 hour), and then the result is returned.