# Vercel CDN now respects Cache\-Control headers from external origins by default

**Published:** March 30, 2026 | **Authors:** Agustin Falco

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New Vercel projects will honor `cache-control` [headers](https://vercel.com/docs/caching/cache-control-headers#behavior) by default when proxying requests to external origins, starting April 6th.

Previously, responses served through rewrites to external origins were uncached by default, and enabling caching required the `x-vercel-enable-rewrite-caching` header in `vercel.json`. Now, Vercel's CDN automatically respects your origin's caching headers.

**What's changing:**

- For new projects, Vercel will cache responses from external origins according to upstream `Cache-Control`, `CDN-Cache-Control `and `Vercel-CDN-Cache-Control` headers by default.
- You can use [Cache Tags](https://vercel.com/docs/caching/cdn-cache/purge#cache-tags) (`Vercel-Cache-Tag` header) from your origins to purge cached content.
- Existing projects can opt in to the new caching behavior from the [project dashboard](https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%5Bproject%5D%2Fsettings%2Fadvanced).
- You can opt out of caching for specific request paths by setting the `x-vercel-enable-rewrite-caching` header to `0`.

Review your upstream cache headers before April 6th when creating a new project that proxies to external origins without caching, ensuring they reflect your intended caching strategy.

Learn more about [Rewrites to External Origins](https://vercel.com/docs/routing/rewrites#rewrites-to-external-origins) and configure routing in the [CDN tab](https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%5Bproject%5D%2Fcdn%2Frouting) of your project settings.

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📚 **More updates:** [View all changelog entries](/changelog/sitemap.md) | [Blog](/blog/sitemap.md)