Next.js 16 Cache Components: Why is my cache() function still hitting the database on every request despite using next: { revalidate: 3600 }?

Question

I'm using Next.js 16 with Cache Components (cache() from React) to deduplicate and cache database queries across layouts and pages.

Here's my setup:

// lib/data.ts

import { cache } from 'react';
import db from '@/lib/db';
export const getUser = cache(async (userId: string) => {
  console.log('Fetching user from DB...', userId);
  return await db.user.findUnique({
    where: { id: userId },
    next: { revalidate: 3600, tags: ['user'] } // 1 hour cache
  });
});

// app/layout.tsx

import { getUser } from '@/lib/data';

export default async function RootLayout({ children }) {
  const user = await getUser('123'); // Should be cached
  return (
    <html>
      <body>
        <Header user={user} />
        {children}
      </body>
    </html>
  );
}

// app/dashboard/page.tsx

import { getUser } from '@/lib/data';

export default async function DashboardPage() {
  const user = await getUser('123'); // Same ID — should reuse cache
  return <Dashboard user={user} />;
}

Expected behavior:

First request: DB hit + log
Subsequent requests (within 1 hour): NoDB hit, same user object from cache

Actual behavior:

Every request logs "Fetching user from DB..."
Cache seems to be ignored completely

What I've tried:

Verified next: { revalidate: 3600 } is supported in Prisma + Next.js Data Cache
Confirmed cache() is imported from 'react'
No unstable_cache or no-store
Running in production mode (next start), not dev
No dynamic functions or cookies() in the call chain

Question:

Why is the Data Cache not respecting revalidate when using cache()? Is there a known limitation when combining cache() + next: { revalidate } in Prisma queries?

How can I debug if the cache key is being generated correctly?

Next.js: 16.0.0 React: 19.0.0 Prisma: 5.15.0

Any help or workaround would be appreciated!

Rasul Navir · Accepted Answer · 2025-11-03 17:13:53Z

1

Your code would work with fetch requests, but since you're using Prisma, you have 2 ways to solve this.

#1 Use unstable_cache to cache the DB query:

import { unstable_cache } from 'next/cache'
import db from '@/lib/db'

export const getUser = unstable_cache(
  async (userId: string) => {
    console.log('Fetching user from DB...', userId)
    return db.user.findUnique({ where: { id: userId } })
  },
  ['getUser'],
  { revalidate: 3_600, tags: ['user'] }
)

#2 Using Prisma-native way of caching and revalidation:

NOTE: Don't quote me on this, but looks like it will only work if you have Prisma Accelerate enabled.

return await db.user.findUnique({
    where: { id: userId },
    cacheStrategy: { ttl: 3_600 },
});

answered Nov 3 at 17:13

Rasul Navir

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