Next.js 15 Changed the Default Fetch Cache - How to Handle no-store

Problem

After upgrading from Next.js 14 to 15, pages started loading noticeably slower. The network tab revealed every API call was being made fresh — no caching at all.

// This was automatically cached in Next.js 14
const res = await fetch('https://api.example.com/products');
const data = await res.json();

Nothing changed in the code. The framework defaults did.

Root Cause

Next.js 15 changed the default cache option for fetch():

Version	Default	Behavior
Next.js 14 and below	force-cache	Fetched once, then cached
Next.js 15 and above	no-store	Fresh request every time

The Vercel team made this change because implicit caching caused too many “why isn’t my data updating?” bugs. Explicit is better than implicit.

Solution

Three approaches to restore caching:

1. Per-fetch Cache Option

// Permanent cache (build-time data)
const res = await fetch('https://api.example.com/products', {
  cache: 'force-cache'
});

// Time-based cache (refresh every hour)
const res = await fetch('https://api.example.com/products', {
  next: { revalidate: 3600 }
});

2. Route Segment Config

To make an entire page static:

// app/products/page.tsx
export const dynamic = 'force-static';
export const revalidate = 3600; // 1 hour

export default async function ProductsPage() {
  const res = await fetch('https://api.example.com/products');
  // All fetches in this page are now cached
}

3. Tag-based Cache Invalidation

Selectively invalidate cache from Server Actions:

// Tag the fetch
const res = await fetch('https://api.example.com/products', {
  next: { tags: ['products'] }
});

// Invalidate in Server Action
'use server';
import { revalidateTag } from 'next/cache';

export async function updateProduct() {
  await db.product.update(/* ... */);
  revalidateTag('products'); // Only invalidates 'products' tag
}

Key Points

• Dev mode trap: Caching doesn’t work properly in next dev. Always test with next build && next start
• Migration tip: When upgrading from 14 to 15, add cache: 'force-cache' to existing fetches to preserve previous behavior
• use cache directive: unstable_cache is being deprecated in favor of the new use cache directive. For new projects, keep an eye on this API