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Automated Re-fetching

As seen under Default Cache Behavior, when a subscription is added for a query endpoint, a request will be sent only if the cache data does not already exist. If it exists, the existing data will be served instead.

RTK Query uses a "cache tag" system to automate re-fetching for query endpoints that have data affected by mutation endpoints. This enables designing your API such that firing a specific mutation will cause a certain query endpoint to consider its cached data invalid, and re-fetch the data if there is an active subscription.

Each endpoint + parameter combination contributes its own queryCacheKey. The cache tag system enables the ability to inform RTK Query that a particular query cache has provided specific tags. If a mutation is fired which is said to invalidate tags that a query cache has provided, the cached data will be considered invalidated, and re-fetch if there is an active subscription to the cached data.

For triggering re-fetching through other means, see Manipulating Cache Behavior.

Definitions

Tags

see also: tagTypes API reference

For RTK Query, tags are just a name that you can give to a specific collection of data to control caching and invalidation behavior for re-fetching purposes. It can be considered as a 'label' attached to cached data that is read after a mutation, to decide whether the data should be affected by the mutation.

Tags are defined in the tagTypes argument when defining an api. For example, in an application that has both Posts and Users, you might define tagTypes: ['Post', 'User'] when calling createApi.

An individual tag has a type, represented as a string name, and an optional id, represented as a string or number. It can be represented as a plain string (such as 'Post'), or an object in the shape {type: string, id?: string|number} (such as [{type: 'Post', id: 1}]).

Providing tags

see also: providesTags API reference

A query can have its cached data provide tags. Doing so determines which 'tag' is attached to the cached data returned by the query.

The providesTags argument can either be an array of string (such as ['Post']), {type: string, id?: string|number} (such as [{type: 'Post', id: 1}]), or a callback that returns such an array. That function will be passed the result as the first argument, the response error as the second argument, and the argument originally passed into the query method as the third argument. Note that either the result or error arguments may be undefined based on whether the query was successful or not.

Invalidating tags

see also: invalidatesTags API reference

A mutation can invalidate specific cached data based on the tags. Doing so determines which cached data will be either refetched or removed from the cache.

The invalidatesTags argument can either be an array of string (such as ['Post']), {type: string, id?: string|number} (such as [{type: 'Post', id: 1}]), or a callback that returns such an array. That function will be passed the result as the first argument, the response error as the second argument, and the argument originally passed into the query method as the third argument. Note that either the result or error arguments may be undefined based on whether the mutation was successful or not.

Cache tags

RTK Query uses the concept of 'tags' to determine whether a mutation for one endpoint intends to invalidate some data that was provided by a query from another endpoint.

If cache data is being invalidated, it will either refetch the providing query (if components are still using that data) or remove the data from the cache.

When defining an API slice, createApi accepts an array of tag type names for the tagTypes property, which is a list of possible tag name options that the queries for the API slice could provide.

The example below declares that endpoints can possibly provide 'Posts' and/or 'Users' to the cache:

Example of declaring cache tags
import { createApi, fetchBaseQuery } from '@reduxjs/toolkit/query'
import type { Post, User } from './types'

const api = createApi({
baseQuery: fetchBaseQuery({
baseUrl: '/',
}),
tagTypes: ['Post', 'User'],
endpoints: (build) => ({
getPosts: build.query<Post[], void>({
query: () => '/posts',
}),
getUsers: build.query<User[], void>({
query: () => '/users',
}),
addPost: build.mutation<Post, Omit<Post, 'id'>>({
query: (body) => ({
url: 'post',
method: 'POST',
body,
}),
}),
editPost: build.mutation<Post, Partial<Post> & Pick<Post, 'id'>>({
query: (body) => ({
url: `post/${body.id}`,
method: 'POST',
body,
}),
}),
}),
})

By declaring these tags as what can possibly be provided to the cache, it enables control for individual mutation endpoints to claim whether they affect specific portions of the cache or not, in conjunction with providesTags and invalidatesTags on individual endpoints.

Providing cache data

Each individual query endpoint can have its cached data provide particular tags. Doing so enables a relationship between cached data from one or more query endpoints and the behavior of one or more mutation endpoints.

The providesTags property on a query endpoint is used for this purpose.

info

Provided tags have no inherent relationship across separate query endpoints. Provided tags are used to determine whether cached data returned by an endpoint should be invalidated and either be refetched or removed from the cache. If two separate endpoints provide the same tags, they will still contribute their own distinct cached data, which could later both be invalidated by a single tag declared from a mutation.

The example below declares that the getPosts query endpoint provides the 'Post' tag to the cache, using the providesTags property for a query endpoint.

Example of providing tags to the cache
import { createApi, fetchBaseQuery } from '@reduxjs/toolkit/query'
import type { Post, User } from './types'

const api = createApi({
baseQuery: fetchBaseQuery({
baseUrl: '/',
}),
tagTypes: ['Post', 'User'],
endpoints: (build) => ({
getPosts: build.query<Post[], void>({
query: () => '/posts',
providesTags: ['Post'],
}),
getUsers: build.query<User[], void>({
query: () => '/users',
providesTags: ['User'],
}),
addPost: build.mutation<Post, Omit<Post, 'id'>>({
query: (body) => ({
url: 'posts',
method: 'POST',
body,
}),
}),
editPost: build.mutation<Post, Partial<Post> & Pick<Post, 'id'>>({
query: (body) => ({
url: `post/${body.id}`,
method: 'POST',
body,
}),
}),
}),
})

For more granular control over the provided data, provided tags can have an associated id. This enables a distinction between 'any of a particular tag type', and 'a specific instance of a particular tag type'.

The example below declares that the provided posts are associated with particular IDs as determined by the result returned by the endpoint:

Example of providing tags with IDs to the cache
import { createApi, fetchBaseQuery } from '@reduxjs/toolkit/query'
import type { Post, User } from './types'

const api = createApi({
baseQuery: fetchBaseQuery({
baseUrl: '/',
}),
tagTypes: ['Post', 'User'],
endpoints: (build) => ({
getPosts: build.query<Post[], void>({
query: () => '/posts',
providesTags: (result, error, arg) =>
result
? [...result.map(({ id }) => ({ type: 'Post' as const, id })), 'Post']
: ['Post'],
}),
getUsers: build.query<User[], void>({
query: () => '/users',
providesTags: ['User'],
}),
addPost: build.mutation<Post, Omit<Post, 'id'>>({
query: (body) => ({
url: 'post',
method: 'POST',
body,
}),
}),
editPost: build.mutation<Post, Partial<Post> & Pick<Post, 'id'>>({
query: (body) => ({
url: `post/${body.id}`,
method: 'POST',
body,
}),
}),
}),
})

Note that for the example above, the id is used where possible on a successful result. In the case of an error, no result is supplied, and we still consider that it has provided the general 'Post' tag type rather than any specific instance of that tag.

Advanced List Invalidation

In order to provide stronger control over invalidating the appropriate data, you can use an arbitrary ID such as 'LIST' for a given tag. See Advanced Invalidation with abstract tag IDs for additional details.

Invalidating cache data

Each individual mutation endpoint can invalidate particular tags for existing cached data. Doing so enables a relationship between cached data from one or more query endpoints and the behavior of one or more mutation endpoints.

The invalidatesTags property on a mutation endpoint is used for this purpose.

The example below declares that the addPost and editPost mutation endpoints invalidate any cached data with the 'Post' tag, using the invalidatesTags property for a mutation endpoint:

Example of invalidating tags in the cache
import { createApi, fetchBaseQuery } from '@reduxjs/toolkit/query'
import type { Post, User } from './types'

const api = createApi({
baseQuery: fetchBaseQuery({
baseUrl: '/',
}),
tagTypes: ['Post', 'User'],
endpoints: (build) => ({
getPosts: build.query<Post[], void>({
query: () => '/posts',
providesTags: (result, error, arg) =>
result
? [...result.map(({ id }) => ({ type: 'Post' as const, id })), 'Post']
: ['Post'],
}),
getUsers: build.query<User[], void>({
query: () => '/users',
providesTags: ['User'],
}),
addPost: build.mutation<Post, Omit<Post, 'id'>>({
query: (body) => ({
url: 'post',
method: 'POST',
body,
}),
invalidatesTags: ['Post'],
}),
editPost: build.mutation<Post, Partial<Post> & Pick<Post, 'id'>>({
query: (body) => ({
url: `post/${body.id}`,
method: 'POST',
body,
}),
invalidatesTags: ['Post'],
}),
}),
})

For the example above, this tells RTK Query that after the addPost and/or editPost mutations are called and completed, any cache data supplied with the 'Post' tag is no longer valid. If a component is currently subscribed to the cached data for a 'Post' tag after the above mutations are called and complete, it will automatically re-fetch in order to retrieve up to date data from the server.

An example scenario would be like so:

  1. A component is rendered which is using the useGetPostsQuery() hook to subscribe to that endpoint's cached data
  2. The /posts request is fired off, and server responds with posts with IDs 1, 2 & 3
  3. The getPosts endpoint stores the received data in the cache, and internally registers that the following tags have been provided:
    [
    { type: 'Post', id: 1 },
    { type: 'Post', id: 2 },
    { type: 'Post', id: 3 },
    ]
  4. The editPost mutation is fired off to alter a particular post
  5. Upon completion, RTK Query internally registers that the 'Post' tag is now invalidated, and removes the previously provided 'Post' tags from the cache
  6. Since the getPosts endpoint has provided tags of type 'Post' which now has invalid cache data, and the component is still subscribed to the data, the /posts request is automatically fired off again, fetching new data and registering new tags for the updated cached data

For more granular control over the invalidated data, invalidated tags can have an associated id in the same manner as providesTags. This enables a distinction between 'any of a particular tag type' and 'a specific instance of a particular tag type'.

The example below declares that the editPost mutation invalidates a specific instance of a Post tag, using the ID passed in when calling the mutation function:

Example of invalidating tags with IDs to the cache
import { createApi, fetchBaseQuery } from '@reduxjs/toolkit/query'
import type { Post, User } from './types'

const api = createApi({
baseQuery: fetchBaseQuery({
baseUrl: '/',
}),
tagTypes: ['Post', 'User'],
endpoints: (build) => ({
getPosts: build.query<Post[], void>({
query: () => '/posts',
providesTags: (result, error, arg) =>
result
? [...result.map(({ id }) => ({ type: 'Post' as const, id })), 'Post']
: ['Post'],
}),
getUsers: build.query<User[], void>({
query: () => '/users',
providesTags: ['User'],
}),
addPost: build.mutation<Post, Omit<Post, 'id'>>({
query: (body) => ({
url: 'post',
method: 'POST',
body,
}),
invalidatesTags: ['Post'],
}),
editPost: build.mutation<Post, Partial<Post> & Pick<Post, 'id'>>({
query: (body) => ({
url: `post/${body.id}`,
method: 'POST',
body,
}),
invalidatesTags: (result, error, arg) => [{ type: 'Post', id: arg.id }],
}),
}),
})

For the example above, rather than invalidating any tag with the type 'Post', calling the editPost mutation function will now only invalidate a tag for the provided id. I.e. if cached data from an endpoint does not provide a 'Post' for that same id, it will remain considered as 'valid', and will not be triggered to automatically re-fetch.

Using abstract tag IDs

In order to provide stronger control over invalidating the appropriate data, you can use an arbitrary ID such as 'LIST' for a given tag. See Advanced Invalidation with abstract tag IDs for additional details.

Tag Invalidation Behavior

The matrix below shows examples of which invalidated tags will affect and invalidate which provided tags:

Provided
Invalidated
General tag A
['Post']
/
[{ type: 'Post' }]
General tag B
['User']
/
[{ type: 'User' }]
Specific tag A1
[{ type: 'Post',
id: 1 }]
Specific tag A2
[{ type: 'Post', id: 'LIST' }]
Specific tag B1
[{ type: 'User',
id: 1 }]
Specific tag B2
[{ type: 'User',
id: 2 }]
General tag A
['Post'] / [{ type: 'Post' }]
✔️✔️✔️
General tag B
['User'] /
[{ type: 'User' }]
✔️✔️✔️
Specific tag A1
[{ type: 'Post', id: 1 }]
✔️
Specific tag A2
[{ type: 'Post', id: 'LIST' }]
✔️
Specific tag B1
[{ type: 'User', id: 1 }]
✔️
Specific tag B2
[{ type: 'User', id: 2 }]
✔️

The invalidation behavior is summarized based on tag specificity in the sections below.

General tag

e.g. ['Post'] / [{ type: 'Post' }]

Will invalidate any provided tag with the matching type, including general and specific tags.

Example:
If a general tag of Post was invalidated, endpoints whose data provided the following tags would all have their data invalidated:

  • ['Post']
  • [{ type: 'Post' }]
  • [{ type: 'Post' }, { type: 'Post', id: 1 }]
  • [{ type: 'Post', id: 1 }]
  • [{ type: 'Post', id: 1 }, { type: 'User' }]
  • [{ type: 'Post', id: 'LIST' }]
  • [{ type: 'Post', id: 1 }, { type: 'Post', id: 'LIST' }]

Endpoints whose data provided the following tags would not have their data invalidated:

  • ['User']
  • [{ type: 'User' }]
  • [{ type: 'User', id: 1 }]
  • [{ type: 'User', id: 'LIST' }]
  • [{ type: 'User', id: 1 }, { type: 'User', id: 'LIST' }]

Specific tag

e.g. [{ type: 'Post', id: 1 }]

Will invalidate any provided tag with both the matching type, and matching id. Will not cause a general tag to be invalidated directly, but might invalidate data for an endpoint that provides a general tag if it also provides a matching specific tag.

Example 1: If a specific tag of { type: 'Post', id: 1 } was invalidated, endpoints whose data provided the following tags would all have their data invalidated:

  • [{ type: 'Post' }, { type: 'Post', id: 1 }]
  • [{ type: 'Post', id: 1 }]
  • [{ type: 'Post', id: 1 }, { type: 'User' }]
  • [{ type: 'Post', id: 1 }, { type: 'Post', id: 'LIST' }]

Endpoints whose data provided the following tags would not have their data invalidated:

  • ['Post']
  • [{ type: 'Post' }]
  • [{ type: 'Post', id: 'LIST' }]
  • ['User']
  • [{ type: 'User' }]
  • [{ type: 'User', id: 1 }]
  • [{ type: 'User', id: 'LIST' }]
  • [{ type: 'User', id: 1 }, { type: 'User', id: 'LIST' }]

Example 2: If a specific tag of { type: 'Post', id: 'LIST' } was invalidated, endpoints whose data provided the following tags would all have their data invalidated:

  • [{ type: 'Post', id: 'LIST' }]
  • [{ type: 'Post', id: 1 }, { type: 'Post', id: 'LIST' }]

Endpoints whose data provided the following tags would not have their data invalidated:

  • ['Post']
  • [{ type: 'Post' }]
  • [{ type: 'Post' }, { type: 'Post', id: 1 }]
  • [{ type: 'Post', id: 1 }]
  • [{ type: 'Post', id: 1 }, { type: 'User' }]
  • ['User']
  • [{ type: 'User' }]
  • [{ type: 'User', id: 1 }]
  • [{ type: 'User', id: 'LIST' }]
  • [{ type: 'User', id: 1 }, { type: 'User', id: 'LIST' }]

Recipes

Advanced Invalidation with abstract tag IDs

While using an 'entity ID' for a tag id is a common use case, the id property is not intended to be limited to database IDs alone. The id is simply a way to label a subset of a particular collection of data for a particular tag type.

A powerful use-case is to use an ID like 'LIST' as a label for data provided by a bulk query, as well as using entity IDs for the individual items. Doing so allows future mutations to declare whether they invalidate the data only if it contains a particular item (e.g. { type: 'Post', id: 5 }), or invalidate the data if it is a 'LIST' (e.g. { type: 'Post', id: 'LIST' }).

'LIST' Tag and IDs
  1. LIST is an arbitrary string - technically speaking, you could use anything you want here, such as ALL or *. The important thing when choosing a custom id is to make sure there is no possibility of it colliding with an id that is returned by a query result. If you have unknown ids in your query results and don't want to risk it, you can go with point 3 below.
  2. You can add many tag types for even more control
    • [{ type: 'Posts', id: 'LIST' }, { type: 'Posts', id: 'SVELTE_POSTS' }, { type: 'Posts', id: 'REACT_POSTS' }]
  3. If the concept of using an id like 'LIST' seems strange to you, you can always add another tagType and invalidate its root, but we recommend using the id approach as shown.

We can compare the scenarios below to see how using a 'LIST' id can be leveraged to optimize behavior.

Invalidating everything of a type

API Definition
import { createApi, fetchBaseQuery } from '@reduxjs/toolkit/query/react'
import type { Post, User } from './types'

export const api = createApi({
baseQuery: fetchBaseQuery({ baseUrl: '/' }),
tagTypes: ['Posts'],
endpoints: (build) => ({
getPosts: build.query<Post[], void>({
query: () => 'posts',
providesTags: (result) =>
result ? result.map(({ id }) => ({ type: 'Posts', id })) : ['Posts'],
}),
addPost: build.mutation<Post, Partial<Post>>({
query: (body) => ({
url: `post`,
method: 'POST',
body,
}),
invalidatesTags: ['Posts'],
}),
getPost: build.query<Post, number>({
query: (id) => `post/${id}`,
providesTags: (result, error, id) => [{ type: 'Posts', id }],
}),
}),
})

export const { useGetPostsQuery, useGetPostQuery, useAddPostMutation } = api
App.tsx
function App() {
const { data: posts } = useGetPostsQuery()
const [addPost] = useAddPostMutation()

return (
<div>
<AddPost onAdd={addPost} />
<PostsList />
{/* Assume each PostDetail is subscribed via `const {data} = useGetPostQuery(id)` */}
<PostDetail id={1} />
<PostDetail id={2} />
<PostDetail id={3} />
</div>
)
}

What to expect

When addPost is triggered, it would cause each PostDetail component to go back into a isFetching state because addPost invalidates the root tag, which causes every query that provides 'Posts' to be re-run. In most cases, this may not be what you want to do. Imagine if you had 100 posts on the screen that all subscribed to a getPost query – in this case, you'd create 100 requests and send a ton of unnecessary traffic to your server, which we're trying to avoid in the first place! Even though the user would still see the last good cached result and potentially not notice anything other than their browser hiccuping, you still want to avoid this.

Selectively invalidating lists

API Definition
import { createApi, fetchBaseQuery } from '@reduxjs/toolkit/query/react'
import type { Post, User } from './types'

export const api = createApi({
baseQuery: fetchBaseQuery({ baseUrl: '/' }),
tagTypes: ['Posts'],
endpoints: (build) => ({
getPosts: build.query<Post[], void>({
query: () => 'posts',
providesTags: (result) =>
result
? [
...result.map(({ id }) => ({ type: 'Posts' as const, id })),
{ type: 'Posts', id: 'LIST' },
]
: [{ type: 'Posts', id: 'LIST' }],
}),
addPost: build.mutation<Post, Partial<Post>>({
query(body) {
return {
url: `post`,
method: 'POST',
body,
}
},
invalidatesTags: [{ type: 'Posts', id: 'LIST' }],
}),
getPost: build.query<Post, number>({
query: (id) => `post/${id}`,
providesTags: (result, error, id) => [{ type: 'Posts', id }],
}),
}),
})

export const { useGetPostsQuery, useAddPostMutation, useGetPostQuery } = api
App.tsx
function App() {
const { data: posts } = useGetPostsQuery()
const [addPost] = useAddPostMutation()

return (
<div>
<AddPost onAdd={addPost} />
<PostsList />
{/* Assume each PostDetail is subscribed via `const {data} = useGetPostQuery(id)` */}
<PostDetail id={1} />
<PostDetail id={2} />
<PostDetail id={3} />
</div>
)
}

What to expect

When addPost is fired, it will only cause the PostsList to go into an isFetching state because addPost only invalidates the 'LIST' id, which causes getPosts to rerun (because it provides that specific id). So in your network tab, you would only see 1 new request fire for GET /posts. As the singular getPost queries have not been invalidated, they will not re-run as a result of addPost.

info

If you intend for the addPost mutation to refresh all posts including individual PostDetail components while still only making 1 new GET /posts request, this can be done by selecting a part of the data using selectFromResult.

Providing errors to the cache

The information provided to the cache is not limited to successful data fetches. The concept can be used to inform RTK Query that when a particular failure has been encountered, to provide a specific tag for that failed cache data. A separate endpoint can then invalidate the data for that tag, telling RTK Query to re-attempt the previously failed endpoints if a component is still subscribed to the failed data.

The example below demonstrates an example with the following behavior:

  • Provides an UNAUTHORIZED cache tag if a query fails with an error code of 401 UNAUTHORIZED
  • Provides an UNKNOWN_ERROR cache tag if a query fails with a different error
  • Enables a 'login' mutation, which when successful, will invalidate the data with the UNAUTHORIZED tag.
    This will trigger the postById endpoint to re-fire if:
    1. The last call for postById had encountered an unauthorized error, and
    2. A component is still subscribed to the cached data
  • Enables a 'refetchErroredQueries' mutation which when called, will invalidate the data with the UNKNOWN_ERROR tag.
    This will trigger the postById endpoint to re-fire if:
    1. The last call for postById had encountered an unknown error, and
    2. A component is still subscribed to the cached data
import { createApi, fetchBaseQuery } from '@reduxjs/toolkit/query'
import { Post, LoginResponse } from './types'

const api = createApi({
baseQuery: fetchBaseQuery({ baseUrl: 'https://example.com' }),
tagTypes: ['Post', 'UNAUTHORIZED', 'UNKNOWN_ERROR'],
endpoints: (build) => ({
postById: build.query<Post, number>({
query: (id) => `post/${id}`,
providesTags: (result, error, id) =>
result
? [{ type: 'Post', id }]
: error?.status === 401
? ['UNAUTHORIZED']
: ['UNKNOWN_ERROR'],
}),
login: build.mutation<LoginResponse, void>({
query: () => '/login',
// on successful login, will refetch all currently
// 'UNAUTHORIZED' queries
invalidatesTags: (result) => (result ? ['UNAUTHORIZED'] : []),
}),
refetchErroredQueries: build.mutation<null, void>({
queryFn: () => ({ data: null }),
invalidatesTags: ['UNKNOWN_ERROR'],
}),
}),
})

Abstracting common provides/invalidates usage

The code written to provide & invalidate tags for a given API slice will be dependent on multiple factors, including:

  • The shape of the data returned by your backend
  • Which tags you expect a given query endpoint to provide
  • Which tags you expect a given mutation endpoint to invalidate
  • The extent that you wish to use the invalidation feature for

When declaring your API slice, you may feel as though you're duplicating your code. For instance, for two separate endpoints that both provide a list of a particular entity, the providesTags declaration may only differ in the tagType provided.

e.g.

import { createApi, fetchBaseQuery } from '@reduxjs/toolkit/query'
import type { Post, User } from './types'

const api = createApi({
baseQuery: fetchBaseQuery({ baseUrl: 'https://example.com' }),
tagTypes: ['Post', 'User'],
endpoints: (build) => ({
getPosts: build.query<Post[], void>({
query: () => `posts`,
providesTags: (result) =>
result
? [
{ type: 'Post', id: 'LIST' },
...result.map(({ id }) => ({ type: 'Post' as const, id })),
]
: [{ type: 'Post', id: 'LIST' }],
}),
getUsers: build.query<User[], void>({
query: () => `users`,
providesTags: (result) =>
result
? [
{ type: 'User', id: 'LIST' },
...result.map(({ id }) => ({ type: 'User' as const, id })),
]
: [{ type: 'User', id: 'LIST' }],
}),
}),
})

You may find it beneficial to define helper functions designed for your particular api to reduce this boilerplate across endpoint definitions, e.g.

import { createApi, fetchBaseQuery } from '@reduxjs/toolkit/query'
import type { Post, User } from './types'

function providesList<R extends { id: string | number }[], T extends string>(
resultsWithIds: R | undefined,
tagType: T
) {
return resultsWithIds
? [
{ type: tagType, id: 'LIST' },
...resultsWithIds.map(({ id }) => ({ type: tagType, id })),
]
: [{ type: tagType, id: 'LIST' }]
}

const api = createApi({
baseQuery: fetchBaseQuery({ baseUrl: 'https://example.com' }),
tagTypes: ['Post', 'User'],
endpoints: (build) => ({
getPosts: build.query({
query: () => `posts`,
providesTags: (result) => providesList(result, 'Post'),
}),
getUsers: build.query({
query: () => `users`,
providesTags: (result) => providesList(result, 'User'),
}),
}),
})

An example of various abstractions for tag providing/invalidating designed for common rest data formats can be seen in the following gist, including typescript support, and factoring both 'LIST' style advanced tag invalidation and 'error' style tag invalidation: RTK Query cache utils.