Cache Purge

Purge cached content from Cloudflare's edge servers for your zone. You can purge everything, specific files, URL prefixes, or entire hostnames.

Overview

public class CacheService(ICloudflareApiClient cf)
{
    public async Task PurgeAsync(string zoneId)
    {
        var result = await cf.Zones.PurgeCacheAsync(zoneId, new PurgeCacheRequest
        {
            Files = ["https://example.com/styles.css"]
        });

        Console.WriteLine($"Purge completed for zone: {result.Id}");
    }
}

Purge Methods

Purge Everything

Purge all cached content for the entire zone:

await cf.Zones.PurgeCacheAsync(zoneId, new PurgeCacheRequest
{
    PurgeEverything = true
});

Warning

Purging everything can significantly increase origin load as all assets need to be re-fetched. Use with caution in production.

Purge Specific Files

Purge specific URLs from the cache:

await cf.Zones.PurgeCacheAsync(zoneId, new PurgeCacheRequest
{
    Files =
    [
        "https://example.com/styles.css",
        "https://example.com/script.js",
        "https://example.com/images/logo.png"
    ]
});

Note

URLs must be fully qualified including the protocol (https://). You can purge up to 30 files per request.

Purge by Prefix

Purge all URLs matching a prefix (Enterprise plans only):

await cf.Zones.PurgeCacheAsync(zoneId, new PurgeCacheRequest
{
    Prefixes =
    [
        "https://example.com/images/",
        "https://example.com/static/v2/"
    ]
});

Purge by Hostname

Purge all cached content for specific hostnames:

await cf.Zones.PurgeCacheAsync(zoneId, new PurgeCacheRequest
{
    Hosts =
    [
        "cdn.example.com",
        "assets.example.com"
    ]
});

Models Reference

PurgeCacheRequest

Request payload for cache purge operations. At least one property must be set.

Property	Type	Description
PurgeEverything	bool?	If true, purges all assets in the cache
Files	IReadOnlyList<string>?	List of specific URLs to purge (max 30)
Prefixes	IReadOnlyList<string>?	List of URL prefixes to purge (Enterprise only)
Hosts	IReadOnlyList<string>?	List of hostnames to purge

PurgeCacheResult

Result of a successful cache purge operation.

Property	Type	Description
Id	string	Zone identifier where the purge was performed

Common Patterns

Purge After Deployment

Purge static assets after a deployment:

public class DeploymentService(ICloudflareApiClient cf)
{
    public async Task PurgeAfterDeployAsync(string zoneId, string version)
    {
        await cf.Zones.PurgeCacheAsync(zoneId, new PurgeCacheRequest
        {
            Files =
            [
                $"https://example.com/static/{version}/app.js",
                $"https://example.com/static/{version}/styles.css"
            ]
        });
    }
}

Purge with Retry on Rate Limit

Handle rate limiting when purging many files:

public async Task PurgeBatchAsync(string zoneId, IEnumerable<string> urls)
{
    // Cloudflare allows 30 files per request
    var batches = urls.Chunk(30);

    foreach (var batch in batches)
    {
        await cf.Zones.PurgeCacheAsync(zoneId, new PurgeCacheRequest
        {
            Files = batch.ToList()
        });

        // Small delay to avoid rate limiting
        await Task.Delay(100);
    }
}

Invalidate Content After Update

Purge content when database records change:

public async Task InvalidateProductCacheAsync(string zoneId, int productId)
{
    await cf.Zones.PurgeCacheAsync(zoneId, new PurgeCacheRequest
    {
        Files =
        [
            $"https://example.com/api/products/{productId}",
            $"https://example.com/products/{productId}"
        ]
    });
}

Required Permissions

Permission	Scope	Level
Cache Purge	Zone	Purge

Rate Limits

• Files: Maximum 30 URLs per request
• Rate: 1,000 purge requests per 10 seconds per zone
• Everything: Limited to 1 per minute per zone (recommended to avoid)

Best Practices

1. Prefer targeted purges over PurgeEverything to minimize origin load
2. Use cache tags (via Cache-Tag header) for more granular invalidation
3. Batch file purges to stay within the 30 file limit
4. Add delays between batch requests to avoid rate limiting
5. Monitor origin load after large purge operations