This is a toy HTTP cache-validator walkthrough, not production cache policy.
What this toy model checks
The trust boundary parses the request, checks one resource row, recomputes the decision, and validates the response bytes.
recompute all displayed rows \text{recompute all displayed rows} recompute all displayed rows Cache validator honesty boundary The cache validation decision and response rows are recomputed from pinned data. Cache validator honesty boundary - /logo.png validator "v7" -> 304 Not Modified, body 0 bytes section name value check request line method GET parsed request line path /logo.png parsed request line version HTTP/1.1 parsed header Host static.example exact header If-None-Match "v7" validator resource path /logo.png pinned resource current ETag "v7" pinned resource body bytes 1280 would send if changed decision validator "v7" from request decision current ETag "v7" from resource decision match yes same tag decision response 304 Not Modified skip body decision sent body bytes 0 not sent status version HTTP/1.1 parsed status status 304 Not Modified not modified header ETag "v7" current tag header Cache-Control max-age=60 pinned body sent body bytes 0 skipped
Honesty boundary
NOTE: toy HTTP cache validation only; not browser cache policy, CDNs, weak validators, dates, Vary, proxies, revalidation races, authenticated resources, compression, or production web server config.
toy cache validator only \text{toy cache validator only} toy cache validator only Cache validator honesty boundary The cache validation decision and response rows are recomputed from pinned data. Cache validator honesty boundary - /logo.png validator "v7" -> 304 Not Modified, body 0 bytes section name value check request line method GET parsed request line path /logo.png parsed request line version HTTP/1.1 parsed header Host static.example exact header If-None-Match "v7" validator resource path /logo.png pinned resource current ETag "v7" pinned resource body bytes 1280 would send if changed decision validator "v7" from request decision current ETag "v7" from resource decision match yes same tag decision response 304 Not Modified skip body decision sent body bytes 0 not sent status version HTTP/1.1 parsed status status 304 Not Modified not modified header ETag "v7" current tag header Cache-Control max-age=60 pinned body sent body bytes 0 skipped
No client compute
The page shows already validated rows. It does not run cache logic in client code.
static validated rows \text{static validated rows} static validated rows Cache validator honesty boundary The cache validation decision and response rows are recomputed from pinned data. Cache validator honesty boundary - /logo.png validator "v7" -> 304 Not Modified, body 0 bytes section name value check request line method GET parsed request line path /logo.png parsed request line version HTTP/1.1 parsed header Host static.example exact header If-None-Match "v7" validator resource path /logo.png pinned resource current ETag "v7" pinned resource body bytes 1280 would send if changed decision validator "v7" from request decision current ETag "v7" from resource decision match yes same tag decision response 304 Not Modified skip body decision sent body bytes 0 not sent status version HTTP/1.1 parsed status status 304 Not Modified not modified header ETag "v7" current tag header Cache-Control max-age=60 pinned body sent body bytes 0 skipped
Summary
A matching validator can turn a full body response into a small Not Modified response.
validator skips body \text{validator skips body} validator skips body Cache validator honesty boundary The cache validation decision and response rows are recomputed from pinned data. Cache validator honesty boundary - /logo.png validator "v7" -> 304 Not Modified, body 0 bytes section name value check request line method GET parsed request line path /logo.png parsed request line version HTTP/1.1 parsed header Host static.example exact header If-None-Match "v7" validator resource path /logo.png pinned resource current ETag "v7" pinned resource body bytes 1280 would send if changed decision validator "v7" from request decision current ETag "v7" from resource decision match yes same tag decision response 304 Not Modified skip body decision sent body bytes 0 not sent status version HTTP/1.1 parsed status status 304 Not Modified not modified header ETag "v7" current tag header Cache-Control max-age=60 pinned body sent body bytes 0 skipped