patrickmn/go-cache

★ 8,820GoAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5Setup · easy

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((go-cache))
    What it does
      In-memory key-value store
      Auto expiry cleanup
      File persistence
    Tech Stack
      Pure Go library
      No network layer
      Concurrency safe
    Use Cases
      API result caching
      Session storage
      Rate limiting data
    Audience
      Go developers
      Backend engineers

mindmap root((go-cache)) What it does In-memory key-value store Auto expiry cleanup File persistence Tech Stack Pure Go library No network layer Concurrency safe Use Cases API result caching Session storage Rate limiting data Audience Go developers Backend engineers

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Cache database query results in memory so repeated calls return instantly without hitting the database.

USE CASE 2

Store computed values with an automatic expiry so an expensive calculation is only done once per time window.

USE CASE 3

Save user session data in memory with a configurable expiration time for automatic cleanup.

USE CASE 4

Persist cache contents to disk before shutdown and reload them on restart to avoid a cold-start warm-up period.

Tech stack

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

In plain English

go-cache is a Go library that lets a program store data in memory for fast retrieval, without needing a separate caching service running on another machine. You give each item a key, store any value you want alongside it, and optionally set a time after which that item expires and gets cleaned up automatically. If no expiration is set, the item stays until your program removes it or shuts down. The library is designed to be safe when multiple parts of a program read and write to the cache at the same time. It works purely in the same process memory, so there is no network involved and no serialization overhead. This makes reads and writes very fast, but also means the cache only lives for as long as the program is running on that one machine. There is a way to save the cache contents to a file and reload them when the program restarts, which can help recover quickly after a restart. The documentation notes some caveats around that feature. This is a library for Go developers, not a standalone tool. You add it to a Go project with a single install command and then import it in your code. The README includes clear usage examples showing how to store and retrieve values. The project is compact and focused: it does in-memory caching for single-machine Go applications and nothing else.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

I'm adding go-cache to a Go web server. Show me how to store a database result with a 5-minute expiration and retrieve it on the next request.

Prompt 2

How do I use go-cache safely when multiple goroutines are reading and writing to the cache at the same time?

Prompt 3

Write a Go snippet using go-cache that saves the cache contents to a file on shutdown and reloads them on startup.

Prompt 4

How do I delete a specific key from go-cache and how do I flush every item at once?

Prompt 5

Show me how to check if a key exists in go-cache and get its value in a single operation without two separate calls.

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