New Curator Feature: Cache Warming

Justin Lyons
October 11, 2023

We’re approaching fall and the temperature is finally cooling. One of my favorite things about this season is cuddling up by the fire and binge-watching Gilmore Girls. That show epitomizes autumn. If only there was a way to warm my Curator cache to improve page loads in the same way Lorelai and Rory have warmed my soul. Oh, wait! There is!

The New Cache Warming Feature

Sometimes the initial page load or log in flow for your users can be very slow. This is because we must perform API calls to check if the user has permission to see each navigation item related to analytic content. Single API calls are fast but when your menu is large and many calls must be made it can really anchor the load time.

This feature allows you to choose a select group of Curator users to warm the cache for. This improves the initial page load and skips the long wait caused by permission checks. The affect is even greater if your menu is very large.

Setting Up the Group

First, we need to make sure you have a Frontend Group that contains the users needing their cache warmed. This Frontend Group needs to have less than 200 users because this process is intensive. Increasing the number of users could clog the queue and hurt performance. We're still playing with the sweet spot for number of users so this may change in the future.

  1. Navigate to your Curator backend > Settings > Users > Frontend Groups. If you already have a group with less than 200 members that contains the users you’d like to receive the speed bump, you’re good to go and can skip to “Setting Up the Feature”! Otherwise, hit the “New Frontend Group” button:
  2. Give your group a name:
  3. Either manually select users in the “Group Members” section or choose a group from one of your analytic platforms in the sections below:
  4. Hit “Save!”

Setting Up the Feature

  1. Navigate to your Curator backend > Settings > Curator > Portal Settings > Features tab:
  2. Enable the “Cache Warming” feature at the top of the Functionality section:
  3. Choose the Frontend Group we created earlier.
  4. Hit “Save!”

Experience the Gains

Now that the feature is configured, every hour, the cache for the users will be warmed. This should result in a much faster initial page load or log in flow than before. While the current limit for the users who can experience this is only 200, we’re working to see if we can make more improvements to spread the benefit. If you need any assistance with enabling this feature or have any other Curator concerns, please reach out to Curator support! Just like the Gilmore Girls theme song says:

If you're out on the road

Feeling lonely, and so cold

All you have to do is [email Curator support]

And [we’ll] be there on the next train