Vary header supported in Cache Rules for multi-version URL caching

Your origin can serve different responses for the same URL — different languages based on Accept-Language, or different formats based on Accept — by returning a Vary response header. Cloudflare's cache now honors that header directly in Cache Rules, so the same URL can hold multiple cached versions and each request is matched to the right one. Content that previously had to bypass cache to stay correct can now be cached, following standard HTTP caching behavior.

What changed

Your origin now decides which request headers matter by listing them in its Vary response, and you control how Cloudflare treats each one. When you have enabled Vary using a cache rule and a response includes a Vary header, the request headers listed become part of the cache key.

For each header your origin varies on, choose one of three actions:

Action

Behavior

Best for

normalize

Converts equivalent header values to the same cache key value before matching, collapsing redundant versions.

Most Accept, Accept-Language, and Accept-Encoding use cases.

passthrough

Uses the raw header value to select the cached version and forwards it to the origin unchanged.

When byte-for-byte differences in the header value should create versions.

bypass

Bypasses cache whenever this header name appears in the origin's Vary response.

Per-user values, or headers with too many possible values to cache safely.

Benefits

• Higher cache hit ratios: normalize treats semantically equivalent headers as one version. For example, Accept-Language: en-US, fr;q=0.8 and Accept-Language: fr;q=0.8, en-GB both resolve to the same cache key, so you serve more requests from cache instead of the origin.
• Correct content negotiation: Requests always receive the cached version that matches their headers, so language and format variants stay accurate.
• No origin or Worker changes required: If your origin already sends Vary, you configure the behavior entirely in Cache Rules.
• Standards-aligned: Cache key calculation follows RFC 9111, and Vary: * continues to bypass cache as required by RFC 9110.

Availability

Vary in Cache Rules is available on all plans (Free, Pro, Business, and Enterprise). For per-request control in Workers subrequests, use the cf.vary property.

Get started

Configure Vary in the Cloudflare dashboard under Caching > Cache Rules, or through the Rulesets API. To learn how Vary affects cache keys and how each action works, refer to Vary and the Cache Rules Vary setting.