---
slug: /en/operations/query-cache
sidebar_position: 65
sidebar_label: Query Cache [experimental]
---

# Query Cache [experimental]

The query cache allows to compute `SELECT` queries just once and to serve further executions of the same query directly from the cache.
Depending on the type of the queries, this can dramatically reduce latency and resource consumption of the ClickHouse server.

## Background, Design and Limitations

Query caches can generally be viewed as transactionally consistent or inconsistent.

- In transactionally consistent caches, the database invalidates (discards) cached query results if the result of the `SELECT` query changes
  or potentially changes. In ClickHouse, operations which change the data include inserts/updates/deletes in/of/from tables or collapsing
  merges. Transactionally consistent caching is especially suitable for OLTP databases, for example
  [MySQL](https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.6/en/query-cache.html) (which removed query cache after v8.0) and
  [Oracle](https://docs.oracle.com/database/121/TGDBA/tune_result_cache.htm).
- In transactionally inconsistent caches, slight inaccuracies in query results are accepted under the assumption that all cache entries are
  assigned a validity period after which they expire (e.g. 1 minute) and that the underlying data changes only little during this period.
  This approach is overall more suitable for OLAP databases. As an example where transactionally inconsistent caching is sufficient,
  consider an hourly sales report in a reporting tool which is simultaneously accessed by multiple users. Sales data changes typically
  slowly enough that the database only needs to compute the report once (represented by the first `SELECT` query). Further queries can be
  served directly from the query cache. In this example, a reasonable validity period could be 30 min.

Transactionally inconsistent caching is traditionally provided by client tools or proxy packages interacting with the database. As a result,
the same caching logic and configuration is often duplicated. With ClickHouse's query cache, the caching logic moves to the server side.
This reduces maintenance effort and avoids redundancy.

:::note
The query cache is an experimental feature that should not be used in production. There are known cases (e.g. in distributed query
processing) where wrong results are returned.
:::

## Configuration Settings and Usage

As long as the result cache is experimental it must be activated using the following configuration setting:

```sql
SET allow_experimental_query_cache = true;
```

Afterwards, setting [use_query_cache](settings/settings.md#use-query-cache) can be used to control whether a specific query or all queries
of the current session should utilize the query cache. For example, the first execution of query

```sql
SELECT some_expensive_calculation(column_1, column_2)
FROM table
SETTINGS use_query_cache = true;
```

will store the query result in the query cache. Subsequent executions of the same query (also with parameter `use_query_cache = true`) will
read the computed result from the cache and return it immediately.

The way the cache is utilized can be configured in more detail using settings [enable_writes_to_query_cache](settings/settings.md#enable-writes-to-query-cache)
and [enable_reads_from_query_cache](settings/settings.md#enable-reads-from-query-cache) (both `true` by default). The former setting
controls whether query results are stored in the cache, whereas the latter setting determines if the database should try to retrieve query
results from the cache. For example, the following query will use the cache only passively, i.e. attempt to read from it but not store its
result in it:

```sql
SELECT some_expensive_calculation(column_1, column_2)
FROM table
SETTINGS use_query_cache = true, enable_writes_to_query_cache = false;
```

For maximum control, it is generally recommended to provide settings "use_query_cache", "enable_writes_to_query_cache" and
"enable_reads_from_query_cache" only with specific queries. It is also possible to enable caching at user or profile level (e.g. via `SET
use_query_cache = true`) but one should keep in mind that all `SELECT` queries including monitoring or debugging queries to system tables
may return cached results then.

The query cache can be cleared using statement `SYSTEM DROP QUERY CACHE`. The content of the query cache is displayed in system table
`system.query_cache`. The number of query cache hits and misses are shown as events "QueryCacheHits" and "QueryCacheMisses" in system table
`system.events`. Both counters are only updated for `SELECT` queries which run with setting "use_query_cache = true". Other queries do not
affect the cache miss counter.

The query cache exists once per ClickHouse server process. However, cache results are by default not shared between users. This can be
changed (see below) but doing so is not recommended for security reasons.

Query results are referenced in the query cache by the [Abstract Syntax Tree (AST)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_syntax_tree) of
their query. This means that caching is agnostic to upper/lowercase, for example `SELECT 1` and `select 1` are treated as the same query. To
make the matching more natural, all query-level settings related to the query cache are removed from the AST.

If the query was aborted due to an exception or user cancellation, no entry is written into the query cache.

The size of the query cache in bytes, the maximum number of cache entries and the maximum size of individual cache entries (in bytes and in
records) can be configured using different [server configuration options](server-configuration-parameters/settings.md#server_configuration_parameters_query-cache).

To define how long a query must run at least such that its result can be cached, you can use setting
[query_cache_min_query_duration](settings/settings.md#query-cache-min-query-duration). For example, the result of query

``` sql
SELECT some_expensive_calculation(column_1, column_2)
FROM table
SETTINGS use_query_cache = true, query_cache_min_query_duration = 5000;
```

is only cached if the query runs longer than 5 seconds. It is also possible to specify how often a query needs to run until its result is
cached - for that use setting [query_cache_min_query_runs](settings/settings.md#query-cache-min-query-runs).

Entries in the query cache become stale after a certain time period (time-to-live). By default, this period is 60 seconds but a different
value can be specified at session, profile or query level using setting [query_cache_ttl](settings/settings.md#query-cache-ttl).

Entries in the query cache are compressed by default. This reduces the overall memory consumption at the cost of slower writes into / reads
from the query cache. To disable compression, use setting [query_cache_compress_entries](settings/settings.md#query-cache-compress-entries).

ClickHouse reads table data in blocks of [max_block_size](settings/settings.md#settings-max_block_size) rows. Due to filtering, aggregation,
etc., result blocks are typically much smaller than 'max_block_size' but there are also cases where they are much bigger. Setting
[query_cache_squash_partial_results](settings/settings.md#query-cache-squash-partial-results) (enabled by default) controls if result blocks
are squashed (if they are tiny) or split (if they are large) into blocks of 'max_block_size' size before insertion into the query result
cache. This reduces performance of writes into the query cache but improves compression rate of cache entries and provides more natural
block granularity when query results are later served from the query cache.

As a result, the query cache stores for each query multiple (partial)
result blocks. While this behavior is a good default, it can be suppressed using setting
[query_cache_squash_partial_query_results](settings/settings.md#query-cache-squash-partial-query-results).

Also, results of queries with non-deterministic functions such as `rand()` and `now()` are not cached. This can be overruled using
setting [query_cache_store_results_of_queries_with_nondeterministic_functions](settings/settings.md#query-cache-store-results-of-queries-with-nondeterministic-functions).

Finally, entries in the query cache are not shared between users due to security reasons. For example, user A must not be able to bypass a
row policy on a table by running the same query as another user B for whom no such policy exists. However, if necessary, cache entries can
be marked accessible by other users (i.e. shared) by supplying setting
[query_cache_share_between_users](settings/settings.md#query-cache-share-between-users).

## Related Content

- Blog: [Introducing the ClickHouse Query Cache](https://clickhouse.com/blog/introduction-to-the-clickhouse-query-cache-and-design)