Put an expires directive in the Nginx location that serves your static files, then reload Nginx and verify the response with curl. For example, expires 7d; makes Nginx send Cache-Control: max-age=604800 and an Expires date seven days ahead. Use a long lifetime such as 1y only for filenames that change whenever their contents change (for example, hashed JavaScript, CSS, image, or font files).
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What the Nginx expires directive does
Nginx’s expires directive, provided by ngx_http_headers_module, adds or changes two response headers:
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Expires, an HTTP date after which a stored response is considered stale.Cache-Control: max-age=..., the lifetime in seconds for which a browser or downstream cache may reuse the response.
The directive affects client-side caching. It does not, by itself, create an Nginx proxy cache or decide whether your application regenerates a response. Nginx sends these headers only for responses with status 200, 201, 204, 206, 301, 302, 303, 304, 307, or 308.
Its default is off, which leaves existing Expires and Cache-Control headers unchanged. The directive is valid in the http, server, and location contexts, and in an if block inside location.
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Choose a cache policy before changing Nginx
The correct lifetime depends on whether an old file can safely remain in a player’s browser after you deploy an update.
| Asset or response | Typical policy | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Versioned or fingerprinted CSS, JavaScript, images, fonts | expires 1y; or a one-year equivalent |
The URL changes when the file changes, so an old cached URL does not hide the new release. |
| Static files without URL versioning | expires 7d; or another short, deliberate period |
Visitors receive updates without waiting a full year for a stale file to expire. |
| Frequently changing HTML or API output | Usually expires off;, or a separate validation policy |
Long freshness can serve obsolete page data or game-service state. |
| Responses that must be revalidated | A negative value, such as expires -1; |
Nginx emits Cache-Control: no-cache. |
For a one-year policy, Nginx calculates max-age=31536000. A seven-day policy becomes max-age=604800. These values describe freshness; they do not guarantee that a browser will retain a file for the entire period, because users and storage pressure can clear caches earlier.
Basic configuration for static files
1. Open the server configuration
Find the server block that serves the site, or the included file containing its static-file location. Put the directive in the narrowest location that matches the assets you intend to cache. A typical block is:
server {
listen 443 ssl;
server_name example.com;
root /var/www/example;
location ~* .(?:css|js|mjs|png|jpg|jpeg|gif|svg|webp|woff2?)$ {
expires 7d;
}
}The case-insensitive regular expression (~*) matches the listed extensions regardless of capitalization. Adjust the list to your actual files; do not include an extension merely because it is common if that response contains private or rapidly changing data.
2. Use a longer lifetime with fingerprinted filenames
If your build produces names such as app.84f31c.js or styles-2026-10.css, the URL itself identifies the version. That is the situation in which a long cache lifetime is normally safe:
location ~* .(?:css|js|mjs|png|jpg|jpeg|gif|svg|webp|woff2?)$ {
expires 1y;
}When a file changes, publish a new filename and update the HTML or manifest that references it. Do not overwrite a long-lived URL and expect every existing browser to fetch the replacement immediately.
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3. Keep dynamic content separate
Do not place a long expires value on a broad location / unless every response under that path has the same caching requirements. Keep HTML, login pages, account data, and game-service endpoints in locations where their own policy is explicit. If no policy is set there, the directive remains off.
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4. Check and reload safely
After saving the configuration, validate its syntax before reloading:
sudo nginx -tOnly if the test reports a successful configuration should you reload:
sudo systemctl reload nginxA reload applies the new configuration without stopping existing worker processes. If the syntax test fails, fix the reported file and line instead of reloading a known-bad configuration.
How each expires value behaves
Positive and zero durations
For a positive or zero duration, Nginx sends Cache-Control: max-age=t, where t is the duration in seconds, and calculates a matching Expires date from the response time. Examples include:
expires 0; # immediately stale freshness lifetime
expires 10m; # 600 seconds
expires 7d; # 604800 seconds
expires 1y; # 31536000 secondsUse 0 when you specifically need an immediately stale response while still emitting the headers. For a revalidation policy, a negative value is clearer because it produces Cache-Control: no-cache.
Negative durations
Any negative time causes Nginx to emit Cache-Control: no-cache. For example:
location = /news.json {
expires -1;
}no-cache does not mean “never store.” It tells a cache to validate the stored response before reusing it. If your requirement is that sensitive data not be stored at all, use an explicit policy suited to that response and verify the resulting headers rather than assuming a negative expires value expresses every privacy requirement.
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The modified parameter
With modified, Nginx calculates expiration from the file’s modification time plus the supplied duration instead of from the request time:
location ~* .(?:css|js|png|jpg|svg)$ {
expires modified 7d;
}This can make the effective lifetime shorter or longer depending on when the file was last changed. It is useful when the file’s modification timestamp is part of your deployment model, but it is less predictable than URL fingerprinting when files are copied between servers or restored from backups.
Time-of-day expiration with @
The @ form sets expiration relative to a time of day, such as:
expires @15h30m;This form is supported in Nginx versions that include the feature (since 0.7.9 / 0.6.34). Because the resulting lifetime changes throughout the day, document the intended timezone and test around the boundary if you use it.
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| Value | Headers Nginx emits | Use carefully when |
|---|---|---|
max |
Expires: 31 Dec 2037 23:55:55 GMT and Cache-Control: max-age=315360000 (ten years) |
The URL is permanently versioned and you are prepared to keep old files available. |
epoch |
Expires: 1 Jan 1970 00:00:01 GMT and Cache-Control: no-cache |
You want an explicitly expired date and revalidation behavior. |
off |
Leaves existing headers unchanged; this is the default | You are allowing an upstream application or another Nginx directive to control caching. |
The max value is a ten-year policy, not an instruction to cache forever. The fixed 2037 date is part of Nginx’s directive behavior. The epoch value uses a 1970 date; a claim that it produces a 2037 date is incorrect.
Use a map when different file types need different lifetimes
Since Nginx 1.7.9, the value can be a variable. A map belongs in the http context, not inside a server or location block. This example assigns PDFs 42 days, images the max policy, and everything else off:
http {
map $sent_http_content_type $asset_expiry {
default off;
application/pdf 42d;
~^image/ max;
}
server {
listen 443 ssl;
server_name example.com;
root /var/www/example;
location /downloads/ {
expires $asset_expiry;
}
}
}The map key must match what is available at the point Nginx evaluates it. If the map does not select the value you expect, inspect the response’s content type and simplify the match before introducing more rules. A variable makes policy centralized, but it also makes testing each branch essential.
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When you need immutable, use Cache-Control instead
The expires directive cannot emit the immutable cache-control token. For fingerprinted assets where you want that explicit policy, use add_header instead:
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add_header Cache-Control "public, max-age=31536000, immutable" always;
}Do not combine this with an expires directive in the same location. Doing so can produce duplicate or contradictory Cache-Control instructions. Choose one header strategy for that location, and check the final response rather than assuming inheritance has produced the intended result. The always parameter makes the header apply across response statuses where add_header permits it; it does not change the meaning of max-age or make an unsafe URL versioned.
Location matching can decide whether expires applies
Nginx does not merge every matching regular-expression location. When multiple regex locations match a request, Nginx uses the first matching regex location in configuration order. Consequently, this arrangement can silently bypass the intended seven-day policy:
location ~* .(?:css|js)$ {
expires off;
}
location ~* .(?:css|js|png|jpg)$ {
expires 7d;
}A request for app.js matches the first regex and receives expires off. Put the more specific rule first, combine overlapping extensions into one location, or remove the competing rule. Also check exact-match locations (location = ...), prefix locations, and nested configuration when a header appears to be missing.
Verify the actual response
Inspect headers with curl
Request headers without downloading the file:
curl -I https://example.com/assets/app.84f31c.jsFor expires 7d;, look for a future Expires date and a line resembling:
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Test the exact host, path, and scheme
Test the public HTTPS URL, not only an internal upstream address. Virtual hosts, TLS termination, a CDN, or another reverse proxy can select a different configuration. If the site redirects HTTP to HTTPS, follow the redirect separately and inspect the final asset URL:
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curl -I http://example.com/assets/app.84f31c.js
curl -I https://example.com/assets/app.84f31c.jsCompare the requested path with the regex, including the filename extension and capitalization. A query string does not change the extension match, but a route such as /asset?id=app.js is not the same as a file named app.js.
Check what the browser received
In browser developer tools, open the Network panel, reload the page, select the asset, and inspect the response headers. A memory-cache or disk-cache result means the browser reused an existing copy; it does not prove that the current server configuration is correct. Use a new filename or clear the browser cache when testing a policy change that affects an already cached URL.
Troubleshoot missing or contradictory headers
No Expires or Cache-Control header appears
- Confirm that the request reached the server block you edited by checking the hostname and port.
- Confirm that the response status is in the directive’s supported list.
- Check for an earlier matching regex or exact location.
- Search included configuration files for another
expires,add_header, or proxy layer that changes the response. - Run
sudo nginx -Tto print the complete loaded configuration and locate the rule Nginx is actually using.
The header has the wrong lifetime
- Convert the configured duration to seconds and compare it with
max-age; for example, seven days is604800. - If you used
modified, inspect the file’s modification timestamp; the expiration is not measured from the request time. - If you used a variable, verify every
mapbranch and the value selected for the response. - Check whether a CDN or another reverse proxy is replacing the origin headers before they reach the browser.
Two Cache-Control headers are present
Look for an add_header Cache-Control alongside expires in the same effective location or an upstream service. Remove the duplicate policy or make one layer authoritative. A browser should not have to reconcile two independently chosen freshness lifetimes.
New deployments still show old assets
A long freshness lifetime is doing exactly what it was instructed to do if the URL did not change. Rename the asset with a new content hash or version, update the HTML or manifest reference, and retain the old file while clients transition. Shortening expires on the server cannot retroactively make an already cached response stale before its previously advertised lifetime ends.
Browser caching versus Nginx’s proxy cache
expires primarily tells a browser or downstream cache how long to reuse the response. Nginx’s own proxy-cache feature is a separate mechanism with its own cache-path, key, bypass, and revalidation rules. If Nginx is also acting as a reverse proxy, test both hops: inspect the origin response, then inspect the public response. Do not assume that changing a browser-facing header automatically changes every object already stored in an Nginx proxy cache, or that a proxy cache will ignore the origin’s cache instructions. The effective behavior depends on the proxy-cache configuration and the headers it honors or overrides.
A practical policy for a game site
For a game guide, patch-notes page, or web-based game shell, separate immutable build assets from content that changes independently:
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- Serve those hashed files from a dedicated location with either
expires 1y;or an explicitCache-Control: public, max-age=31536000, immutablepolicy. Do not use both. - Serve HTML, manifests that retain a stable URL, account pages, and API responses from separate locations with a short or validation-oriented policy.
- Deploy the new HTML or manifest first or atomically with its new asset references, and keep old hashed files available long enough for bookmarked or offline pages to request them.
- After deployment, test a new asset URL and an unchanged asset URL with
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This arrangement lets browsers reuse large, rarely changing assets while allowing the document that points to them to update promptly.
Quick Recap
Configuration checklist
- Choose a lifetime based on whether the URL changes when content changes.
- Place
expiresin the matchinglocation, not indiscriminately on every response. - Check regex-location order for overlaps.
- Do not combine
expireswith a customCache-Controlheader in the same location. - Use
add_headerwhen the policy specifically requiresimmutable. - Run
nginx -tbefore every reload. - Verify the public URL with
curl -Iand inspect bothCache-ControlandExpires. - Remember that a changed server policy cannot instantly invalidate a URL already cached under an older policy; version the URL when immediate replacement matters.
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