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Asset Cache Headers Analyzer ​

Analyzer IDCategorySeverityTime To Fix
asset-cache-headers⚡ PerformanceHigh30 minutes

What This Checks ​

Validates that proper HTTP cache headers are configured for static assets and responses.

Why It Matters ​

  • Performance Impact: Browser caching reduces server load and bandwidth
  • User Experience: Cached assets load instantly from browser cache
  • CDN Efficiency: Proper headers enable CDN caching

Without cache headers, browsers re-download assets on every page load, wasting bandwidth and slowing page loads.

How to Fix ​

Proper Fix (30 minutes) ​

Add cache headers in .htaccess or Nginx config:

Apache (.htaccess):

apache
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
    ExpiresActive On
    ExpiresByType image/jpg "access plus 1 year"
    ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 1 year"
    ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 1 year"
    ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 1 year"
    ExpiresByType text/css "access plus 1 month"
    ExpiresByType application/javascript "access plus 1 month"
</IfModule>

Nginx:

nginx
location ~* \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|ico|css|js)$ {
    expires 1y;
    add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
}

ShieldCI Configuration ​

This analyzer is automatically skipped in CI environments ($runInCI = false) and only runs in production and staging environments.

Why skip in CI and development?

  • HTTP cache header checks require a live web server, not applicable in CI
  • Local/Development/Testing environments may not have cache headers configured, which is acceptable
  • Production and staging should have proper cache headers for optimal browser caching

Environment Detection: The analyzer checks your Laravel APP_ENV setting and only runs when it maps to production or staging. Custom environment names can be mapped in config/shieldci.php:

php
// config/shieldci.php
'environment_mapping' => [
    'production-us' => 'production',
    'production-blue' => 'production',
    'staging-preview' => 'staging',
],

Examples:

  • APP_ENV=production → Runs (no mapping needed)
  • APP_ENV=production-us → Maps to production → Runs
  • APP_ENV=local → Skipped (not production/staging)

Laravel Cloud: This analyzer is automatically skipped on Laravel Cloud (asset cache headers are managed by the platform and cannot be configured by the application).

Laravel Vapor / serverless: This analyzer is automatically skipped on Vapor and other serverless runtimes. Vapor serves compiled assets from a CDN (via ASSET_URL/CloudFront) with platform-managed cache headers rather than from APP_URL, so probing APP_URL cannot verify the real asset and there is no application-level fix to apply.

References ​

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