---
name: cache-request-boundary-analysis
description: Compare authorized client, proxy, cache, and origin interpretations with unique keys, paired baselines, and no shared-user impact.
---

# Cache and request boundary analysis

## Accepted inputs

- Current scope and explicit cache or request-boundary permission
- Owned paths or records, raw request references, and known proxy chain
- Hard request and timing limits

## Procedure

1. Diagram each hop and the fields it may parse, normalize, key, forward, or ignore.
2. Establish an uncached baseline with a unique harmless marker and a separate untouched negative-control path.
3. Change one header, delimiter, length, method, path, query, or encoding property per request.
4. Record age, vary, cache status, timing, response identity, and origin evidence.
5. Repeat only on owned keys and verify that unrelated sessions are unaffected.
6. Separate parser disagreement from connection reuse, WAF behavior, and stale content.

## Output artifacts

- Hop interpretation matrix
- Paired raw request references and cache observations
- Confounder log and supported boundary

## Stop conditions

No poisoning of shared content, cross-user effects, queue disruption, desynchronization load, or ambiguous cleanup.

## Completion gate

Complete when a bounded parser or keying difference repeats on isolated test keys with stable negative controls, or the hypothesis is rejected.