# Vercel CDN now respects Cache-Control headers from external origins by default

By Steven Van · 2026-03-30

The default takes effect for new projects on April 6; existing projects can opt in from the dashboard or disable caching per path with a header.

New [Vercel](<https://creatorstoolbox.com/tools/vercel>) projects will cache responses from external origins by default starting April 6, honoring the origin's Cache-Control, CDN-Cache-Control and Vercel-CDN-Cache-Control headers when proxying through [rewrites](<https://vercel.com/docs/routing/rewrites#rewrites-to-external-origins>). Previously, these responses were uncached by default, and caching required adding the x-vercel-enable-rewrite-caching header to vercel.json.

- Existing projects can opt in to the new caching behavior from the project dashboard.

- Caching can be turned off for specific paths by setting x-vercel-enable-rewrite-caching to 0.

- A Vercel-Cache-Tag header from the origin can be used to purge cached content by tag.

Anyone creating a new project that proxies to an external origin should review their upstream cache headers before April 6 to make sure they reflect the intended caching strategy.

[![](<https://vercel.com/api/docs-og?title=Rewrites%20on%20Vercel&format=docs&sig=656d6b41cc44c1b9ee278ec6a008019a3d63b440d44c2ebc7ce69f595cf74acc&category=Ship%20and%20scale&subcategory=Routing>)](<https://vercel.com/docs/routing/rewrites#rewrites-to-external-origins>)

![Vercel](<https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=vercel.com&sz=128>)

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Sources

[Original source](<https://vercel.com/docs/routing/rewrites#rewrites-to-external-origins>)

[Read Vercel CDN now respects Cache-Control headers from external origins by default on Creators Toolbox](<https://creatorstoolbox.com/blog/vercel-vercel-cdn-now-respects-cache-control-headers-from-external-origins-by>)

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Canonical source: https://creatorstoolbox.com/blog/vercel-vercel-cdn-now-respects-cache-control-headers-from-external-origins-by