# Does Fork Chat Affect Cache? And How Long Does Cache Last?

**URL:** <https://forum.cursor.com/t/does-fork-chat-affect-cache-and-how-long-does-cache-last/158272>\
**Category:** Help\
**Tags:** chat, context\
**Created:** [April 17, 2026, 7:28am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/does-fork-chat-affect-cache-and-how-long-does-cache-last/158272 "2026-04-17T07:28:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Abdelrahman\_Mohamed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/90ced4/32.png) [@Abdelrahman\_Mohamed](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Abdelrahman_Mohamed)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2026, 7:28am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/does-fork-chat-affect-cache-and-how-long-does-cache-last/158272/1 "2026-04-17T07:28:10Z")

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I have a question about Cursor chat behavior:

1. Does using **Fork Chat** affect prompt/context cache in any way?  
For example, does a forked chat reuse the same cache, create a new one, or reduce cache efficiency?

2. Approximately how long does cache last before expiring?  
Is it session-based, time-based, or dependent on context changes?

Would appreciate clarification on how caching works in practice, especially for long coding sessions.

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**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/colin/32/90452_2.png) [@Colin](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2026, 1:35pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/does-fork-chat-affect-cache-and-how-long-does-cache-last/158272/4 "2026-04-17T13:35:52Z")

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Hey @Abdelrahman_Mohamed!

You’ll get a cache hit on forked chats as long as the cache hasn’t expired!

> [@Abdelrahman\_Mohamed](#):
>
> Approximately how long does cache last before expiring?  
> Is it session-based, time-based, or dependent on context changes?

Each provider is different. Anthropic models, for example, have a 5-minute TTL.

Some recent discussion about caching over here.

> [@Understanding Write Cache](https://forum.cursor.com/t/understanding-write-cache/156915/5):
>
> Hey @Brandyn_Brosemer! When you send a request, we build the prompt in a cache-friendly way and hand it to the underlying model provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, etc.), and the provider’s own cache is what decides whether you get a cache hit or a full re-seed. So the cache duration and refresh behavior are ultimately defined by the model provider, not by Cursor, and they don’t change based on whether you’re running locally, in a Cloud Agent, or self-hosted. Anthropic is the only provider that has a…

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**Author:** ![system](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/system/32/99069_2.png) [@system](https://forum.cursor.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 4:06pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/does-fork-chat-affect-cache-and-how-long-does-cache-last/158272/7 "2026-07-23T16:06:32Z")

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