cacherine 2.3.0

A Dart in-memory cache library with FIFO, LRU, MRU, LFU, TTL expiry, async-safe variants, and monitoring metrics.

cacherine

cacherine is a simple and flexible memory cache library for Dart. It provides caching algorithms such as FIFO, LRU, MRU, LFU, and TTL-based expiry. Both synchronous and async-safe versions are available to handle different usage scenarios.

If you want to choose the best cache algorithm for your app, you can use MonitoredCache in your development environment. It helps you monitor performance metrics (such as hit/miss rates, latency, and eviction alerts) so you can make data-driven decisions and optimize the algorithm you use.

Why cacherine?

Dart/Flutter does not have a built-in caching solution similar to NSCache in Swift.
cacherine was created to provide a lightweight and flexible in-memory cache with common caching strategies like FIFO, LRU, MRU, and LFU.

Whether you need a simple synchronous cache or an async-compatible solution that serializes concurrent async calls within the same isolate, cacherine offers an easy-to-use API.

Features

• FIFO (First In, First Out) — Learn more
• EphemeralFIFO (FIFO-based cache where keys are removed after being accessed) — Learn more
• LRU (Least Recently Used) — Learn more
• MRU (Most Recently Used) — Learn more
• LFU (Least Frequently Used) — Learn more
• TTL (Time-To-Live — entries auto-expire after a configurable duration; optional per-entry TTL override and background sweep) — Learn more
• SimpleTTLCache (synchronous TTL cache for single-threaded usage)
• MonitoredCache (Includes performance monitoring with hit/miss rates, latency, and eviction alerts) — Learn more
• MonitoredTTLCache (TTL-based expiry with the same monitoring metrics and alerts as other monitored cache variants)
• CacheStatsDashboard (Wraps a MonitoredCache's metrics to provide point-in-time snapshots and periodic streams; formatDashboard() renders a Unicode terminal panel)
• containsKey() support (distinguishes missing keys from stored null values without changing cache eviction state)
• peek() support (reads a value without changing cache eviction state or consuming EphemeralFIFO entries)
• size, isEmpty, and isNotEmpty support (reads cache occupancy without recording monitored traffic metrics)
• purgeExpired() support for TTL caches (explicitly removes expired TTL entries and returns the number removed)
• Simple versions (e.g., SimpleFIFOCache) for synchronous usage, and standard versions that serialize concurrent async calls within the same isolate

Installation

Check the latest version on pub.dev and add it to your pubspec.yaml:

dependencies:
  cacherine: ^2.3.0

Then, run the following command in your terminal:

dart pub get

Usage

Basic Usage (Single-threaded)

import 'package:cacherine/cacherine.dart';

void main() {
  final cache = SimpleFIFOCache<String, String>(maxSize: 5);
  cache.set('key1', 'value1');
  print(cache.get('key1')); // 'value1'
}

For synchronous single-threaded usage, use SimpleTTLCache:

import 'package:cacherine/cacherine.dart';

void main() {
  final cache = SimpleTTLCache<String, String>(
    ttl: const Duration(minutes: 5),
    maxSize: 100,
  );

  cache.set('token', 'abc123');
  cache.set('rate', '42', ttl: const Duration(seconds: 30));

  print(cache.get('token')); // 'abc123' (if within TTL)
}

Async Usage (Async support)

import 'package:cacherine/cacherine.dart';

void main() async {
  final cache = FIFOCache<String, String>(maxSize: 5);
  await cache.set('key1', 'value1');
  print(await cache.get('key1')); // 'value1'
}

Use getOrSet() on synchronous caches or getOrCompute() on async caches when you want to populate a missing key from a callback:

final syncCache = SimpleLRUCache<String, String>(100);
final syncValue = syncCache.getOrSet('profile:42', () => 'computed value');

final ttlCache = TTLCache<String, String>(ttl: const Duration(minutes: 5));
final asyncValue = await ttlCache.getOrCompute(
  'session:42',
  () async {
    return 'computed value';
  },
  ttl: const Duration(minutes: 1),
);

TTL Usage

Entries expire automatically once their TTL elapses. Use ttl: on individual set() calls to override the global default for a single entry.

import 'package:cacherine/cacherine.dart';

void main() async {
  final cache = TTLCache<String, String>(
    ttl: const Duration(minutes: 5),   // global default
    maxSize: 100,                       // optional capacity limit
    sweepInterval: const Duration(minutes: 1), // optional background sweep
  );

  await cache.set('token', 'abc123');                     // expires in 5 min
  await cache.set('rate', '42', ttl: Duration(seconds: 30)); // expires in 30 s

  print(await cache.get('token')); // 'abc123' (if within TTL)
  print(await cache.purgeExpired()); // number of expired entries removed

  cache.dispose(); // cancel background sweep timer when done
}

Monitoring Usage

If you want to monitor the performance of your cache and optimize the algorithm, use a monitored cache variant such as MonitoredLRUCache or MonitoredTTLCache. Learn more about MonitoredCache and performance monitoring.

Stats Dashboard Usage

CacheStatsDashboard wraps any CacheMetrics instance (exposed by MonitoredCache variants) to give you typed snapshots and a periodic stream. Use formatDashboard() to render a human-readable terminal panel.

import 'package:cacherine/cacherine.dart';

void main() async {
  final cache = MonitoredLRUCache<String, String>(maxSize: 100);

  // warm up the cache
  await cache.set('key', 'value');
  await cache.get('key');

  // one-shot snapshot over a 1-minute eviction window
  final dashboard = CacheStatsDashboard(cache.metrics);
  final snap = dashboard.snapshot(const Duration(minutes: 1));
  print(formatDashboard(snap));
  // ┌─── Cacherine Dashboard Snapshot ─────────────────────────────┐
  // │ Captured at: 2026-05-15 12:00:00                             │
  // ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  // │ Traffic:     1 request                                        │
  // │ Hit Rate:    100.0%  [████████████████████]                   │
  // ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
  // │ Latency:     P50: 12µs / P95: 12µs / P99: 12µs               │
  // │ Evictions:   0 / min                                          │
  // └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

  // periodic stream — emits every 5 seconds
  final sub = dashboard
      .stream(const Duration(minutes: 1), const Duration(seconds: 5))
      .listen((s) => print(formatDashboard(s)));

  await Future<void>.delayed(const Duration(seconds: 15));
  await sub.cancel();
  cache.dispose();
}

API Contracts

The standard and monitored cache variants use Future APIs and an internal lock to serialize concurrent async calls on the same cache instance within the same isolate. They are not shared-memory synchronization primitives across Dart isolates.

get() returns null when a key is absent. Use containsKey() to distinguish a missing key from a stored null value, such as Cache<String, String?>. containsKey() does not update LRU/MRU/LFU access state, does not remove entries from EphemeralFIFO caches, and does not record monitored cache hit/miss metrics. For TTL caches, expired entries return false.

Use peek() when you need to read a value without changing cache policy state. It does not update LRU/MRU order, does not increment LFU frequency, and does not remove entries from EphemeralFIFO caches. For TTL caches, expired entries return null and are removed lazily. Monitored caches do not record hit/miss/latency metrics for peek().

getOrSet() and getOrCompute() use containsKey() semantics before reading, so stored null values are treated as present. On monitored caches, getOrCompute() records one hit when the key already exists and one miss when the callback is used to populate the key.

getKeys() returns a snapshot. FIFO and TTL caches return insertion order for live entries. LRU and MRU caches return least-to-most recently used order. Ephemeral FIFO caches omit entries already consumed by get(). LFU cache key order is unspecified.

size, isEmpty, and isNotEmpty report the current cache occupancy. TTL caches count only live, non-expired entries. These APIs do not update cache eviction state and monitored caches do not record hit/miss/latency metrics for them.

TTL caches expose purgeExpired() to remove all expired entries immediately and return the number removed. MonitoredTTLCache records one eviction per entry removed by purgeExpired().

Use SimpleTTLCacheInterface or ThreadSafeTTLCacheInterface when code needs an abstraction that still exposes per-entry TTL overrides:

final ThreadSafeTTLCacheInterface<String, String> cache =
    TTLCache(ttl: const Duration(minutes: 5));

await cache.set('token', 'abc123', ttl: const Duration(seconds: 30));
await cache.purgeExpired();

toString() is synchronous. It returns a point-in-time representation of the cache contents and should be treated as diagnostic output, not as a synchronized cache operation.

Caches that implement Disposable own a background timer for sweeping expired entries, checking alert thresholds, or both. Call dispose() when the cache is no longer needed. It is idempotent; after disposal, cache read/write operations continue to work, but background sweep and alert monitoring stop.

CacheMetrics keeps bounded in-memory samples: the most recent 1,000 latency samples and 10,000 eviction timestamps. Hit, miss, and total request counters are not capped. Latency percentiles and eviction rates are calculated from the retained samples.

API Reference

• SimpleFIFOCache<K, V>: Synchronous FIFO-based cache

• SimpleEphemeralFIFOCache<K, V>: Synchronous Ephemeral FIFO cache

• SimpleLRUCache<K, V>: Synchronous LRU-based cache

• SimpleMRUCache<K, V>: Synchronous MRU-based cache

• SimpleLFUCache<K, V>: Synchronous LFU-based cache

• SimpleTTLCache<K, V>: Synchronous TTL-based cache

• FIFOCache<K, V>: FIFO-based cache

• EphemeralFIFOCache<K, V>: FIFO-based cache where the key is removed after being accessed (One-Time Read Cache)

• LRUCache<K, V>: Cache that removes the least recently used items

• MRUCache<K, V>: Cache that removes the most recently used items

• LFUCache<K, V>: Cache that removes the least frequently used items

• TTLCache<K, V>: Cache with time-based expiry; global TTL with optional per-entry override, lazy eviction, optional background sweep, and optional capacity limit

• MonitoredFIFOCache<K, V>: FIFO-based cache with monitoring

• MonitoredEphemeralFIFOCache<K, V>: Ephemeral FIFO cache with monitoring

• MonitoredLRUCache<K, V>: LRU-based cache with monitoring

• MonitoredMRUCache<K, V>: MRU-based cache with monitoring

• MonitoredLFUCache<K, V>: LFU-based cache with monitoring

• MonitoredTTLCache<K, V>: TTL-based cache with monitoring

• CacheStatsDashboard: Wraps CacheMetrics to provide snapshot(Duration window) and stream(Duration window, Duration interval)

• CacheMetricsSnapshot: Typed point-in-time metrics snapshot returned by CacheMetrics.snapshot(Duration window)

• DashboardSnapshot: Immutable point-in-time snapshot (hitRate, missRate, latency percentiles, evictionsPerMinute, totalRequests, capturedAt)

• formatDashboard(): Renders a DashboardSnapshot as a Unicode box-drawing terminal panel

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you find a bug, have a feature request, or want to improve the code, feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request.

How to Contribute

1. Fork the repository and create a new branch.
2. Make your changes and write tests if necessary.
3. Ensure the code passes all checks (dart analyze, dart test).
4. Open a pull request and describe your changes.

For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss your proposal.

We appreciate your support in making cacherine better! 🚀

Changelog

All notable changes to this project will be documented in the CHANGELOG file.

See the full changelog here.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.