# Instrument Caches | Sentry for Astro

A cache can be used to speed up data retrieval, thereby improving application performance. Because instead of getting data from a potentially slow data layer, your application will be getting data from memory (in a best case scenario). Caching can speed up read-heavy workloads for applications like Q\&A portals, gaming, media sharing, and social networking.

Sentry offers a [cache-monitoring dashboard](https://sentry.io/orgredirect/organizations/:orgslug/insights/backend/caches.md) that can be auto-instrumented using Sentry's Redis integration (more coming soon).

## [Instrumentation with Redis Clients](https://docs.sentry.io/.md#instrumentation-with-redis-clients)

If you're using a Redis client like `ioredis` or `redis` to cache your data, it is necessary to specify the `cachePrefixes` within the `redisIntegration` options. This configuration allows Sentry to categorize accesses to keys with the defined prefixes as "cache operations".

```javascript
Sentry.init({
  integrations: [
    redisIntegration({
      cachePrefixes: ["posts:", "authors:"],
    }),
  ],
});
```

## [Manual Instrumentation](https://docs.sentry.io/.md#manual-instrumentation)

If you're using anything other than Sentry's Redis integration, you'll need to manually instrument the [Cache Module](https://sentry.io/orgredirect/organizations/:orgslug/insights/backend/caches.md) by following the steps below.

You'll need to create two spans - one indicating that something is being put into the cache, and a second one indicating that something is being fetched from the cache.

For detailed information about which data can be set, see the [Cache Module Developer Specification](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/performance/modules/caches.md).

### [Step 1: Add Span When Putting Data Into the Cache](https://docs.sentry.io/.md#step-1-add-span-when-putting-data-into-the-cache)

Follow these custom instrumentation instructions to emit cache setting spans:

1. Set the cache value with whatever cache library you happen to be using.
2. Wrap the part of your application that uses the cached value with `Sentry.startSpan(...)`.
3. Set the `name` to something descriptive like "Setting auth cache".
4. Set `op` to `cache.set`.
5. Set `cache.key` to a string array representing the key(s) you're setting.
6. Optionally, you can set other attributes such as `cache.item_size`. (See [Cache Module Span Data Conventions](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/performance/modules/caches.md#span-data) for more information.)

(The steps described above are also documented in the snippet.)

`my-cache.js`

```javascript
const key = "myCacheKey123";
const value = "The value I want to cache.";

Sentry.startSpan(
  {
    name: key,
    attributes: {
      "cache.key": [key],
      "cache.item_size": JSON.stringify(value).length, // Warning: if value is very big this could use lots of memory
      "network.peer.address": "cache.example.com/supercache",
      "network.peer.port": 9000,
    },
    op: "cache.put",
  },
  (span) => {
    // Set a key in your caching using your custom caching solution
    my_caching.set(key, value);
  },
);
```

### [Step 2: Add Span When Retrieving Data From the Cache](https://docs.sentry.io/.md#step-2-add-span-when-retrieving-data-from-the-cache)

If the cache you’re using isn’t supported by the auto instrumentation mentioned above, you can use the custom instrumentation instructions below to emit cache spans instead:

1. Get the cached value from whatever cache library you happen to be using.
2. Wrap the part of your application that fetches from the cache with `Sentry.startSpan(...)`.
3. Set the `name` to something descriptive like "Getting auth cache".
4. Set `op` to `cache.get`.
5. Set `cache.key` to a string array representing the key(s) you're setting.
6. Set `cache.hit` to a boolean value representing whether the value was successfully fetched from the cache or not.
7. Optionally, you can set other attributes such as `cache.item_size`. (See [Cache Module Span Data Conventions](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/performance/modules/caches.md#span-data) for more information.) (The steps described above are also documented in the snippet.)

`my-cache.js`

```javascript
const key = "myCacheKey123";

Sentry.startSpan(
  {
    name: key,
    attributes: {
      "cache.key": [key],
      "network.peer.address": "cache.example.com/supercache",
      "network.peer.port": 9000,
    },
    op: "cache.get",
  },
  (span) => {
    // Set a key in your caching using your custom caching solution
    const value = my_caching.get(key);
    const cacheHit = Boolean(value);
    if (cacheHit) {
      span.setAttribute("cache.item_size", JSON.stringify(value).length, // Warning: if value is very big this could use lots of memory);
    }
    span.setAttribute("cache.hit", cacheHit);
  }
);
```

You should now have the right spans in place. Head over to the [Cache dashboard](https://sentry.io/orgredirect/organizations/:orgslug/insights/backend/caches.md) to see how your cache is performing.
