layercache 1.2.5 → 1.2.6

package/README.md

@@ -5,121 +5,87 @@
 <h1 align="center">layercache</h1>
 
 <p align="center">
-  <strong>Production-ready multi-layer caching for Node.js</strong><br>
-  <em>Memory, Redis, persistence, invalidation, observability, and resilience in one API.</em>
+  <strong>The multi-layer caching toolkit that Node.js deserves.</strong><br>
+  <em>Stack memory + Redis + disk. One API. Zero stampedes.</em>
 </p>
 
 <p align="center">
-  <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/layercache"><img src="https://img.shields.io/npm/v/layercache" alt="npm version"></a>
-  <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/layercache"><img src="https://img.shields.io/npm/dw/layercache" alt="npm downloads"></a>
-  <a href="./LICENSE"><img src="https://img.shields.io/npm/l/layercache" alt="license"></a>
-  <a href="https://www.typescriptlang.org/"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/TypeScript-first-blue" alt="TypeScript"></a>
-  <a href="https://github.com/flyingsquirrel0419/layercache"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/tests-180%20passing-brightgreen" alt="tests"></a>
+  <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/layercache"><img src="https://img.shields.io/npm/v/layercache?color=cb3837&label=npm" alt="npm version"></a>
+  <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/layercache"><img src="https://img.shields.io/npm/dw/layercache?color=blue" alt="npm downloads"></a>
+  <a href="./LICENSE"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/license-Apache_2.0-green" alt="license"></a>
+  <a href="https://www.typescriptlang.org/"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/TypeScript-first-3178C6?logo=typescript&logoColor=white" alt="TypeScript"></a>
+  <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Node.js-%E2%89%A5_20-339933?logo=nodedotjs&logoColor=white" alt="Node.js >= 20">
+  <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/tests-328_passing-brightgreen" alt="tests">
+  <a href="https://coveralls.io/github/flyingsquirrel0419/layercache?branch=main"><img src="https://coveralls.io/repos/github/flyingsquirrel0419/layercache/badge.svg?branch=main" alt="Coveralls"></a>
 </p>
 
 <p align="center">
-  <a href="#installation">Installation</a> ·
-  <a href="#quick-start">Quick Start</a> ·
-  <a href="#core-api">Core API</a> ·
-  <a href="#invalidation--freshness">Invalidation</a> ·
-  <a href="#integrations--tooling">Integrations</a> ·
-  <a href="#contributing">Contributing</a>
+  <a href="#-quick-start">Quick Start</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
+  <a href="#-features">Features</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
+  <a href="./docs/api.md">API Reference</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
+  <a href="#-integrations">Integrations</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
+  <a href="#-comparison">Comparison</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
+  <a href="./docs/tutorial.md">Tutorial</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;
+  <a href="./docs/migration-guide.md">Migration Guide</a>
 </p>
 
 ---
 
-## At a glance
+## The Problem
 
-- **Fast read path** — combine memory L1, Redis L2, disk, or custom layers behind one API with automatic backfill.
-- **Stampede control** — prevent duplicate miss storms with in-process dedupe and optional distributed single-flight.
-- **Strong invalidation model** — support tags, batched tags, wildcards, prefixes, and generation-based cache rotation.
-- **Built for production failure modes** — serve stale safely, refresh ahead, degrade gracefully, trip circuit breakers, and throttle fetchers.
-- **Operational visibility included** — expose metrics, stats, health checks, OpenTelemetry spans, and an admin CLI.
-- **Fits real Node stacks** — integrate directly with Express, Fastify, Hono, GraphQL, tRPC, and NestJS.
+Every growing Node.js service hits the same caching wall:
 
-Most Node.js services hit the same wall:
-
-| Approach | Tradeoff |
-|---|---|
-| Memory-only cache | Fast, but every instance has a different view of data |
-| Redis-only cache | Shared, but every request pays a network round-trip |
-| Hand-rolled hybrid cache | Possible, but you rebuild stampede prevention, invalidation, TTL policy, and observability yourself |
-
-`layercache` gives you a single API for layered caching and handles the hard parts for you: read-through fetches, backfill, stale serving, distributed invalidation, rate limiting, persistence, and operational introspection.
-
-On a hit, `layercache` serves the fastest available layer and backfills anything above it. On a miss, the fetcher runs once, even under heavy concurrency.
-
-## Performance profile
-
-```text
-L1 hit  ~0.01 ms  ← served from memory, zero network
-L2 hit  ~0.5  ms  ← served from Redis, backfilled to memory
-miss    ~20   ms  ← fetcher runs once, all layers filled
+```
+Memory-only cache    --> Fast, but each instance has a different view of data
+Redis-only cache     --> Shared, but every request pays a network round-trip
+Hand-rolled hybrid   --> Works... until you need stampede prevention, invalidation,
+                         stale serving, observability, and distributed consistency
 ```
 
-## Why teams use it
-
-- **Predictable cache behavior** — layered reads, automatic backfill, negative caching, refresh-ahead, and stale serving.
-- **Reliable invalidation** — tags, batched tags, wildcards, prefixes, and generation-based rotation.
-- **Production safeguards** — rate limiting, circuit breakers, graceful degradation, compression limits, serializer hardening, and snapshot path validation.
-- **Operational visibility** — metrics, health checks, OpenTelemetry spans, stats endpoints, and an admin CLI.
-- **Works with your stack** — Express, Fastify, Hono, GraphQL, tRPC, NestJS, CLI, and custom cache layers.
-
-## Feature map
-
-### Core caching
-
-- Layered reads with automatic backfill
-- Stampede prevention and optional distributed single-flight
-- Bulk reads and writes with layer-level `getMany()` / `setMany()` fast paths
-- `wrap()`, namespaces, cache warming, `getOrThrow()`, and `inspect()`
-
-### Invalidation and freshness
-
-- Tag invalidation, batched tag invalidation, wildcard invalidation, and prefix invalidation
-- Generation-based invalidation with optional stale-generation cleanup
-- Sliding TTL, adaptive TTL, refresh-ahead, stale-while-revalidate, and stale-if-error
-- Per-layer TTL overrides, TTL policies, negative caching, and TTL jitter
+## The Solution
 
-### Operations and resilience
+**layercache** gives you a unified multi-layer cache with production-grade features built in:
 
-- Graceful degradation, circuit breakers, scoped fetcher rate limiting, and write-behind
-- Persistence to memory snapshots or disk snapshots
-- Compression, serializer fallback chains, and MessagePack support
-- Health checks, per-layer metrics, latency tracking, and event hooks
+```
+              ┌───────────────────────────────────────┐
+your app ---->│             layercache                │
+              │                                       │
+              │  L1 Memory    ~0.01ms  (per-process)  │
+              │      |                                │
+              │  L2 Redis     ~0.5ms   (shared)       │
+              │      |                                │
+              │  L3 Disk      ~2ms     (persistent)   │
+              │      |                                │
+              │  Fetcher      ~20ms    (runs once)    │
+              └───────────────────────────────────────┘
 
-### Integrations and tooling
+On a hit  --> serves the fastest layer, backfills the rest
+On a miss --> fetcher runs ONCE (even under 100x concurrency)
+```
 
-- Express, Fastify, Hono, GraphQL, tRPC, and NestJS integrations
-- Redis-backed distributed tag index and invalidation bus support
-- Admin CLI for stats, key inspection, and invalidation
-- Edge-safe entry point for Worker-style runtimes
+---
 
-## Installation
+## Quick Start
 
 ```bash
 npm install layercache
-# Redis support (optional)
-npm install ioredis
 ```
 
----
-
-## Quick start
-
 ```ts
 import { CacheStack, MemoryLayer, RedisLayer } from 'layercache'
 import Redis from 'ioredis'
 
 const cache = new CacheStack([
-  new MemoryLayer({ ttl: 60, maxSize: 1_000 }),
-  new RedisLayer({ client: new Redis(), ttl: 3600 })
+  new MemoryLayer({ ttl: 60, maxSize: 1_000 }),       // L1: in-process
+  new RedisLayer({ client: new Redis(), ttl: 3600 }),  // L2: shared
 ])
 
-const user = await cache.get<User>('user:123', () => db.findUser(123))
+// Read-through: fetcher runs once, all layers filled
+const user = await cache.get('user:123', () => db.findUser(123))
 ```
 
-Memory-only setup (no Redis required):
+<details>
+<summary><b>Memory-only (no Redis required)</b></summary>
 
 ```ts
 const cache = new CacheStack([
@@ -127,762 +93,119 @@ const cache = new CacheStack([
 ])
 ```
 
----
-
-## Core API
-
-### `cache.get<T>(key, fetcher?, options?): Promise<T | null>`
-
-Reads through all layers in order. On a partial hit (found in L2 but not L1), backfills the upper layers automatically. On a full miss, runs the fetcher — if one was provided.
-
-```ts
-// Without fetcher — returns null on miss
-const user = await cache.get<User>('user:123')
-
-// With fetcher — runs once on miss, fills all layers
-const user = await cache.get<User>('user:123', () => db.findUser(123))
-
-// With options
-const user = await cache.get<User>('user:123', () => db.findUser(123), {
-  ttl: { memory: 30, redis: 600 }, // per-layer TTL
-  tags: ['user', 'user:123'],      // tag this key for bulk invalidation
-  negativeCache: true,             // cache null fetches
-  negativeTtl: 15,                 // short TTL for misses
-  staleWhileRevalidate: 30,        // serve stale and refresh in background
-  staleIfError: 300,               // serve stale if refresh fails
-  ttlJitter: 5                     // +/- 5s expiry spread
-})
-```
-
-### `cache.set<T>(key, value, options?): Promise<void>`
-
-Writes to all layers simultaneously.
-
-```ts
-await cache.set('user:123', user, {
-  ttl: { memory: 60, redis: 600 }, // per-layer TTL (seconds)
-  tags: ['user', 'user:123'],
-  staleWhileRevalidate: { redis: 30 },
-  staleIfError: { redis: 120 },
-  ttlJitter: { redis: 5 }
-})
-
-await cache.set('user:123', user, {
-  ttl: 120, // uniform TTL across all layers
-  tags: ['user', 'user:123']
-})
-```
-
-## Invalidation & freshness
-
-### `cache.invalidateByTag(tag): Promise<void>`
-
-Deletes every key that was stored with this tag across all layers. In multi-instance deployments, this is only complete when every instance shares the same tag index implementation (for example `RedisTagIndex`).
-
-```ts
-await cache.set('user:123',       user,  { tags: ['user:123'] })
-await cache.set('user:123:posts', posts, { tags: ['user:123'] })
-
-await cache.invalidateByTag('user:123') // both keys gone
-```
-
-### `cache.invalidateByTags(tags, mode?): Promise<void>`
-
-Delete keys that match any or all of a set of tags.
-
-```ts
-await cache.invalidateByTags(['tenant:a', 'users'], 'all') // keys tagged with both
-await cache.invalidateByTags(['users', 'posts'], 'any')    // keys tagged with either
-```
-
-### `cache.invalidateByPattern(pattern): Promise<void>`
-
-Glob-style deletion against the tracked key set, plus any layer that can enumerate real keys (for example `MemoryLayer`, `RedisLayer`, or `DiskLayer`).
-
-```ts
-await cache.invalidateByPattern('user:*') // deletes user:1, user:2, …
-```
-
-Patterns must be non-empty, at most 1024 characters long, and free of control characters.
-
-For multi-instance deployments, prefer a shared `RedisTagIndex`. Without it, pattern invalidation still scans real layer keys when available, but that fallback only helps on layers that implement `keys()`, and tag tracking itself remains process-local.
-
-### `cache.invalidateByPrefix(prefix): Promise<void>`
-
-Prefer this over glob invalidation when your keys are hierarchical.
-
-```ts
-await cache.invalidateByPrefix('user:123:') // deletes user:123:profile, user:123:posts, ...
-```
-
-The prefix is matched as-is. You do not need to append `*`, and namespace helpers pass their namespace prefix directly.
-
-### `cache.mget<T>(entries): Promise<Array<T | null>>`
-
-Concurrent multi-key fetch, each with its own optional fetcher.
-
-If every entry is a simple read (`{ key }` only), `CacheStack` will use layer-level `getMany()` fast paths when the layer implements one.
-
-```ts
-const [user1, user2] = await cache.mget([
-  { key: 'user:1', fetch: () => db.findUser(1) },
-  { key: 'user:2', fetch: () => db.findUser(2) },
-])
-```
-
-### `cache.getMetrics(): CacheMetricsSnapshot`
-
-```ts
-const { hits, misses, fetches, staleHits, refreshes, writeFailures } = cache.getMetrics()
-```
-
-### `cache.healthCheck(): Promise<CacheHealthCheckResult[]>`
-
-```ts
-const health = await cache.healthCheck()
-// [{ layer: 'memory', healthy: true, latencyMs: 0.03 }, ...]
-```
-
-### `cache.resetMetrics(): void`
-
-Resets all counters to zero — useful for per-interval reporting.
-
-```ts
-cache.resetMetrics()
-```
-
-### `cache.getStats(): CacheStatsSnapshot`
-
-Returns metrics, per-layer degradation state, and the number of in-flight background refreshes.
-
-```ts
-const { metrics, layers, backgroundRefreshes } = cache.getStats()
-// layers: [{ name, isLocal, degradedUntil }]
-```
-
-### `cache.wrap(prefix, fetcher, options?)`
-
-Wraps an async function so every call is transparently cached. The key is derived from the function arguments unless you supply a `keyResolver`.
-
-```ts
-const getUser = cache.wrap('user', (id: number) => db.findUser(id))
-
-const user = await getUser(123) // key → "user:123"
-
-// Custom key resolver
-const getUser = cache.wrap(
-  'user',
-  (id: number) => db.findUser(id),
-  { keyResolver: (id) => String(id), ttl: 300 }
-)
-```
-
-### Generation-based invalidation
-
-Add a generation prefix to every key and rotate it when you want to invalidate the whole cache namespace without scanning:
-
-```ts
-const cache = new CacheStack([...], { generation: 1 })
-
-await cache.set('user:123', user)
-cache.bumpGeneration() // now reads use v2:user:123
-```
-
-If you also want old generation keys cleaned up automatically instead of waiting for TTL expiry:
-
-```ts
-const cache = new CacheStack([...], {
-  generation: 1,
-  generationCleanup: { batchSize: 500 }
-})
-```
-
-`bumpGeneration()` only rotates future reads and writes by default. Enable `generationCleanup` when you want previous generations to be pruned automatically instead of aging out by TTL.
-
-### OpenTelemetry note
-
-`createOpenTelemetryPlugin()` currently wraps a `CacheStack` instance's methods directly. Use one OpenTelemetry plugin per cache instance; if you need to compose multiple wrappers, install them in a fixed order and uninstall them in reverse order.
-
-### `cache.warm(entries, options?)`
-
-Pre-populate layers at startup from a prioritised list. Higher `priority` values run first.
-
-```ts
-await cache.warm(
-  [
-    { key: 'config',     fetcher: () => db.getConfig(),     priority: 10 },
-    { key: 'user:1',     fetcher: () => db.findUser(1),     priority: 5  },
-    { key: 'user:2',     fetcher: () => db.findUser(2),     priority: 5  },
-  ],
-  { concurrency: 4, continueOnError: true }
-)
-```
-
-### `cache.namespace(prefix): CacheNamespace`
-
-Returns a scoped view with the same full API (`get`, `set`, `delete`, `clear`, `mget`, `wrap`, `warm`, `invalidateByTag`, `invalidateByPattern`, `getMetrics`). `clear()` only touches `prefix:*` keys, and namespace metrics are serialized per `CacheStack` instance so unrelated caches do not block each other while metrics are collected.
-
-Namespace prefixes must be non-empty, at most 256 characters long, and free of control characters.
-
-```ts
-const users = cache.namespace('users')
-const posts = cache.namespace('posts')
-
-await users.set('123', userData)          // stored as "users:123"
-await users.clear()                       // only deletes "users:*"
-
-// Nested namespaces
-const tenant = cache.namespace('tenant:abc')
-const posts = tenant.namespace('posts')
-await posts.set('1', postData)            // stored as "tenant:abc:posts:1"
-```
-
-### `cache.getOrThrow<T>(key, fetcher?, options?): Promise<T>`
-
-Like `get()`, but throws `CacheMissError` instead of returning `null`. Useful when you know the value must exist (e.g. after a warm-up).
-
-```ts
-import { CacheMissError } from 'layercache'
-
-try {
-  const config = await cache.getOrThrow<Config>('app:config')
-} catch (err) {
-  if (err instanceof CacheMissError) {
-    console.error(`Missing key: ${err.key}`)
-  }
-}
-```
-
-### `cache.inspect(key): Promise<CacheInspectResult | null>`
-
-Returns detailed metadata about a cache key for debugging. Returns `null` if the key is not in any layer.
-
-```ts
-const info = await cache.inspect('user:123')
-// {
-//   key: 'user:123',
-//   foundInLayers: ['memory', 'redis'],
-//   freshTtlSeconds: 45,
-//   staleTtlSeconds: 75,
-//   errorTtlSeconds: 345,
-//   isStale: false,
-//   tags: ['user', 'user:123']
-// }
-```
-
-### Conditional caching with `shouldCache`
-
-Skip caching specific results without affecting the return value:
-
-```ts
-const data = await cache.get('api:response', fetchFromApi, {
-  shouldCache: (value) => (value as any).status === 200
-})
-// If fetchFromApi returns { status: 500 }, the value is returned but NOT cached
-```
-
-### TTL policies
-
-Align expirations to calendar or boundary-based schedules:
-
-```ts
-await cache.set('daily-report', report, { ttlPolicy: 'until-midnight' })
-await cache.set('hourly-rollup', rollup, { ttlPolicy: 'next-hour' })
-await cache.set('aligned', value, { ttlPolicy: { alignTo: 300 } }) // next 5-minute boundary
-await cache.set('custom', value, {
-  ttlPolicy: ({ key, value }) => key.startsWith('hot:') ? 30 : 300
-})
-```
-
----
-
-## Negative + stale caching
-
-`negativeCache` stores fetcher misses for a short TTL, which is useful for "user not found" or "feature flag absent" style lookups.
-
-```ts
-const user = await cache.get(`user:${id}`, () => db.findUser(id), {
-  negativeCache: true,
-  negativeTtl: 15
-})
-```
-
-`staleWhileRevalidate` returns the last cached value immediately after expiry and refreshes it in the background. `staleIfError` keeps serving the stale value if the refresh fails.
-
-```ts
-await cache.set('config', currentConfig, {
-  ttl: 60,
-  staleWhileRevalidate: 30,
-  staleIfError: 300
-})
-```
-
----
-
-## Write failure policy
+</details>
 
-Default writes are strict: if any layer write fails, the operation throws.
-
-If you prefer "at least one layer succeeds", enable best-effort mode:
+<details>
+<summary><b>Three-layer setup with disk persistence</b></summary>
 
 ```ts
-const cache = new CacheStack([...], {
-  writePolicy: 'best-effort'
-})
-```
-
-`best-effort` logs the failed layers, increments `writeFailures`, and only throws if *every* layer failed.
-
----
-
-## Cache stampede prevention
-
-When 100 requests arrive simultaneously for an uncached key, only one fetcher runs. The rest wait and share the result.
-
-```ts
-const cache = new CacheStack([...])
-// stampedePrevention is true by default
-
-// 100 concurrent requests → fetcher executes exactly once
-const results = await Promise.all(
-  Array.from({ length: 100 }, () =>
-    cache.get('hot-key', expensiveFetch)
-  )
-)
-```
-
-Disable it if you prefer independent fetches:
-
-```ts
-new CacheStack([...], { stampedePrevention: false })
-```
-
----
-
-## Distributed deployments
-
-### Distributed single-flight
-
-Local stampede prevention only deduplicates requests inside one Node.js process. To dedupe cross-instance misses, configure a shared coordinator.
-
-```ts
-import { RedisSingleFlightCoordinator } from 'layercache'
-
-const coordinator = new RedisSingleFlightCoordinator({ client: redis })
-
-const cache = new CacheStack(
-  [new MemoryLayer({ ttl: 60 }), new RedisLayer({ client: redis, ttl: 300 })],
-  {
-    singleFlightCoordinator: coordinator,
-    singleFlightLeaseMs: 30_000,
-    singleFlightRenewIntervalMs: 10_000,
-    singleFlightTimeoutMs: 5_000,
-    singleFlightPollMs: 50
-  }
-)
-```
-
-When another instance already owns the miss, the current process waits for the value to appear in the shared layer instead of running the fetcher again. `RedisSingleFlightCoordinator` also renews its Redis lease while the worker is still running, so long fetches are less likely to expire their lock mid-flight. Keep `singleFlightLeaseMs` comfortably above your expected fetch latency, and use `singleFlightRenewIntervalMs` if you need tighter control over renewal cadence.
-
-### Cross-server L1 invalidation
-
-When one server writes or deletes a key, other servers' memory layers go stale. The `RedisInvalidationBus` propagates invalidation events over Redis pub/sub so every instance stays consistent.
-
-```ts
-import { RedisInvalidationBus } from 'layercache'
-
-const publisher  = new Redis()
-const subscriber = new Redis()
-const bus = new RedisInvalidationBus({ publisher, subscriber })
-
-const cache = new CacheStack(
-  [new MemoryLayer({ ttl: 60 }), new RedisLayer({ client: publisher, ttl: 300 })],
-  { invalidationBus: bus }
-)
-
-await cache.disconnect() // unsubscribes cleanly on shutdown
-```
-
-By default, write-triggered L1 invalidation is **off** even when an invalidation bus is configured. This avoids surprising Redis Pub/Sub traffic in write-heavy services. Enable it explicitly when you want every write to evict peer memory caches immediately:
-
-```ts
-new CacheStack([...], { invalidationBus: bus, broadcastL1Invalidation: true })
-```
-
-### Distributed tag invalidation
-
-The default `TagIndex` lives in process memory — `invalidateByTag` on server A only knows about keys *that server A wrote*. For full cross-server tag invalidation, use `RedisTagIndex`:
-
-```ts
-import { RedisTagIndex } from 'layercache'
-
-const sharedTagIndex = new RedisTagIndex({
-  client: redis,
-  prefix: 'myapp:tag-index', // namespaced so it doesn't collide with other data
-  knownKeysShards: 8
-})
-
-// Every CacheStack instance should use the same Redis-backed tag index config
-const cache = new CacheStack(
-  [new MemoryLayer({ ttl: 60 }), new RedisLayer({ client: redis, ttl: 300 })],
-  { invalidationBus: bus, tagIndex: sharedTagIndex }
-)
-```
-
-Now `invalidateByTag('user:123')` on any server deletes every tagged key, regardless of which server originally wrote it.
+import { CacheStack, MemoryLayer, RedisLayer, DiskLayer } from 'layercache'
 
-The same recommendation applies to `invalidateByPattern()` and `invalidateByPrefix()` in distributed deployments: a shared tag index gives the most complete view of known keys, while layer key scans act as a fallback only when the shared layer exposes `keys()`.
-
-### Safe Redis clearing
-
-`RedisLayer.clear()` is intentionally conservative. Without a `prefix`, it throws instead of deleting the whole Redis database.
-
-```ts
 const cache = new CacheStack([
-  new RedisLayer({
-    client: redis,
-    prefix: 'myapp:cache:' // recommended for safe clear() and key scans
-  })
+  new MemoryLayer({ ttl: 60, maxSize: 5_000 }),
+  new RedisLayer({ client: new Redis(), ttl: 3600, compression: 'gzip' }),
+  new DiskLayer({ directory: './var/cache', maxFiles: 10_000 }),
 ])
 ```
 
-If you really want to clear an unprefixed namespace, you must opt in explicitly:
-
-```ts
-new RedisLayer({
-  client: redis,
-  allowUnprefixedClear: true
-})
-```
-
-For production Redis, also set an explicit `prefix`, enforce Redis authentication/network isolation, and configure Redis `maxmemory` / eviction policy so cache growth cannot starve unrelated workloads.
-
-### DiskLayer safety
-
-`DiskLayer` is best used with an application-controlled directory and an explicit `maxFiles` bound.
-
-```ts
-import { resolve } from 'node:path'
-
-const disk = new DiskLayer({
-  directory: resolve('./var/cache/layercache'),
-  maxFiles: 10_000
-})
-```
-
-The library hashes cache keys before turning them into filenames, validates the configured directory, uses atomic temp-file writes, and removes malformed on-disk entries. You should still keep the directory outside any user-controlled path and set filesystem permissions so only your app can read or write it.
-
-### Scoped fetcher rate limiting
-
-Rate limits are global by default, but you can scope them per cache key or per fetcher function when different backends should not throttle each other.
-
-```ts
-await cache.get('user:123', fetchUser, {
-  fetcherRateLimit: {
-    maxConcurrent: 1,
-    scope: 'key'
-  }
-})
-```
-
-Use `scope: 'fetcher'` to share a bucket across calls using the same fetcher function reference, or `bucketKey: 'billing-api'` for a custom named bucket.
-
----
-
-## Per-layer TTL overrides
-
-Layer names match the `name` option on each layer (`'memory'` and `'redis'` by default).
-
-```ts
-await cache.set('session:abc', sessionData, {
-  ttl: { memory: 30, redis: 3600 } // 30s in RAM, 1h in Redis
-})
-
-// Same override works on get (applied to backfills)
-await cache.get('session:abc', fetchSession, {
-  ttl: { memory: 30, redis: 3600 }
-})
-```
-
-Custom layer names:
-
-```ts
-new MemoryLayer({ name: 'local', ttl: 60 })
-new RedisLayer({ name: 'shared', client: redis, ttl: 300 })
-
-// then
-await cache.set('key', value, { ttl: { local: 15, shared: 600 } })
-```
+</details>
 
 ---
 
-## Sliding & adaptive TTL
-
-**Sliding TTL** resets the TTL on every read so frequently-accessed keys never expire.
-
-```ts
-const value = await cache.get('session:abc', fetchSession, { slidingTtl: true })
-```
-
-**Adaptive TTL** automatically increases the TTL of hot keys up to a ceiling.
-
-```ts
-await cache.get('popular-post', fetchPost, {
-  adaptiveTtl: {
-    hotAfter: 5,      // ramp up after 5 hits
-    step: 60,         // add 60s per hit
-    maxTtl: 3600      // cap at 1h
-  }
-})
-```
+## Features
 
-**Refresh-ahead** triggers a background refresh when the remaining TTL drops below a threshold, so callers never see a miss.
+### Core Caching
 
-```ts
-await cache.get('leaderboard', fetchLeaderboard, {
-  ttl: 120,
-  refreshAhead: 30  // start refreshing when ≤30s remain
-})
-```
-
-Background refreshes time out after 30 seconds by default so a hung upstream fetch cannot block future refresh attempts forever. Override that with `backgroundRefreshTimeoutMs`.
-
----
-
-## Graceful degradation & circuit breaker
-
-**Graceful degradation** marks a layer as degraded on failure and skips it for a retry window, keeping the cache available even if Redis is briefly unreachable.
-
-```ts
-new CacheStack([...], {
-  gracefulDegradation: { retryAfterMs: 10_000 }
-})
-```
-
-**Circuit breaker** opens after repeated fetcher failures for a key, returning `null` instead of hammering a broken downstream.
-
-```ts
-new CacheStack([...], {
-  circuitBreaker: {
-    failureThreshold: 5,  // open after 5 consecutive failures
-    cooldownMs: 30_000    // retry after 30s
-  }
-})
-
-// Or per-operation
-await cache.get('fragile-key', fetch, {
-  circuitBreaker: { failureThreshold: 3, cooldownMs: 10_000 }
-})
-```
-
----
-
-## Compression
-
-`RedisLayer` can transparently compress values before writing. Values smaller than `compressionThreshold` are stored as-is.
-
-```ts
-new RedisLayer({
-  client: redis,
-  ttl: 300,
-  compression: 'gzip',           // or 'brotli'
-  compressionThreshold: 1_024    // bytes — skip compression for small values
-})
-```
-
----
-
-## Stats & HTTP endpoint
-
-`cache.getStats()` returns a full snapshot suitable for dashboards or health checks.
-
-```ts
-const stats = cache.getStats()
-// {
-//   metrics: { hits, misses, fetches, circuitBreakerTrips, ... },
-//   layers:  [{ name, isLocal, degradedUntil }],
-//   backgroundRefreshes: 2
-// }
-```
-
-Mount a JSON endpoint with the built-in HTTP handler (works with Express, Fastify, Next.js):
-
-```ts
-import { createCacheStatsHandler } from 'layercache'
-import http from 'node:http'
-
-const statsHandler = createCacheStatsHandler(cache)
-http.createServer(statsHandler).listen(9090)
-// GET / → JSON stats
-```
-
-The built-in handler returns JSON with `Cache-Control: no-store` and `X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff` headers.
-
-Or use the Fastify plugin:
-
-```ts
-import { createFastifyLayercachePlugin } from 'layercache/integrations/fastify'
-
-await fastify.register(createFastifyLayercachePlugin(cache, {
-  statsPath: '/cache/stats'   // default; set exposeStatsRoute: false to disable
-}))
-// fastify.cache is now available in all handlers
-```
-
----
-
-## Persistence & snapshots
-
-Transfer cache state between `CacheStack` instances or survive a restart.
-
-```ts
-// In-memory snapshot
-const snapshot = await cache.exportState()
-await anotherCache.importState(snapshot)
-
-// Disk snapshot
-await cache.persistToFile('./cache-snapshot.json')
-await cache.restoreFromFile('./cache-snapshot.json')
-```
-
-For safety, file snapshots are restricted to `process.cwd()` by default. Set `snapshotBaseDir` to an explicit directory for application-controlled snapshot storage, or `false` if you intentionally want to disable that restriction.
+| Feature | What it does |
+|---|---|
+| **Layered reads + auto backfill** | Reads hit L1 first; on a partial hit, upper layers are filled automatically |
+| **Stampede prevention** | 100 concurrent requests for the same key = 1 fetcher execution |
+| **Distributed single-flight** | Cross-instance dedup via Redis locks with lease renewal |
+| **Bulk operations** | `getMany()` / `setMany()` / `mdelete()` with layer-level fast paths |
+| **`wrap()` API** | Transparent function caching with automatic key derivation |
+| **Namespaces** | Scoped cache views with hierarchical prefix support |
+| **Cache warming** | Pre-populate layers at startup with priority-based loading |
+| **Negative caching** | Cache misses (e.g., "user not found") for short TTLs |
+
+### Invalidation & Freshness
+
+| Feature | What it does |
+|---|---|
+| **Tag invalidation** | Delete all keys with a given tag across all layers |
+| **Batch tag invalidation** | Multi-tag operations with `any` / `all` semantics |
+| **Wildcard & prefix invalidation** | Glob-style and hierarchical key patterns |
+| **Generation-based rotation** | Bulk namespace invalidation without scanning |
+| **Stale-while-revalidate** | Return cached value, refresh in background |
+| **Stale-if-error** | Keep serving stale when upstream fails |
+| **Sliding TTL** | Reset expiry on every read for frequently-accessed keys |
+| **Adaptive TTL** | Auto-ramp TTL for hot keys up to a ceiling |
+| **Refresh-ahead** | Proactively refresh before expiry |
+| **TTL policies** | Align expirations to calendar boundaries (`until-midnight`, `next-hour`, custom) |
+
+### Resilience & Operations
+
+| Feature | What it does |
+|---|---|
+| **Graceful degradation** | Skip failed layers temporarily, keep cache available |
+| **Circuit breaker** | Stop hammering broken upstreams after repeated failures |
+| **Fetcher rate limiting** | Scoped to global, per-key, or per-fetcher with custom buckets |
+| **Write policies** | `strict` (fail if any layer fails) or `best-effort` |
+| **Write-behind** | Batch writes with configurable flush interval |
+| **Compression** | gzip / brotli in RedisLayer with configurable threshold |
+| **MessagePack** | Pluggable serializers (JSON default, MessagePack alternative) |
+| **Persistence** | Export/import snapshots to memory or disk |
+
+### Observability
+
+| Feature | What it does |
+|---|---|
+| **Metrics** | Hits, misses, fetches, stale hits, circuit breaker trips, and more |
+| **Per-layer latency** | Avg, max, and sample count using Welford's algorithm |
+| **Health checks** | Async health endpoint per layer with latency measurement |
+| **Event hooks** | `hit`, `miss`, `set`, `delete`, `stale-serve`, `stampede-dedupe`, `backfill`, `warm`, `error` |
+| **OpenTelemetry** | Distributed tracing support |
+| **Prometheus exporter** | Metrics export including latency gauges |
+| **HTTP stats handler** | JSON endpoint for dashboards |
+| **Admin CLI** | `npx layercache stats\|keys\|invalidate` for Redis-backed caches |
 
 ---
 
-## Event hooks
-
-`CacheStack` extends `EventEmitter`. Subscribe to events for monitoring or custom side-effects.
-
-| Event | Payload |
-|-------|---------|
-| `hit` | `{ key, layer }` |
-| `miss` | `{ key }` |
-| `set` | `{ key }` |
-| `delete` | `{ key }` |
-| `stale-serve` | `{ key, state, layer }` |
-| `stampede-dedupe` | `{ key }` |
-| `backfill` | `{ key, fromLayer, toLayer }` |
-| `warm` | `{ key }` |
-| `error` | `{ event, context }` |
+## Integrations
 
-```ts
-cache.on('hit',   ({ key, layer }) => metrics.inc('cache.hit',  { layer }))
-cache.on('miss',  ({ key })        => metrics.inc('cache.miss'))
-cache.on('error', ({ event, context }) => logger.error(event, context))
-```
-
----
+layercache plugs into the frameworks you already use:
 
-## Integrations & tooling
-
-### Framework integrations
+| Framework | Integration |
+|---|---|
+| **Express** | `createExpressCacheMiddleware(cache, opts)` - auto-caches responses with `x-cache: HIT/MISS` header |
+| **Fastify** | `createFastifyLayercachePlugin(cache, opts)` - registers `fastify.cache` with optional stats route |
+| **Hono** | `createHonoCacheMiddleware(cache, opts)` - edge-compatible middleware |
+| **tRPC** | `createTrpcCacheMiddleware(cache, prefix, opts)` - procedure middleware |
+| **GraphQL** | `cacheGraphqlResolver(cache, prefix, resolver, opts)` - field resolver wrapper |
+| **NestJS** | `@cachestack/nestjs` - `CacheStackModule.forRoot()`, `@Cacheable()` decorator |
+| **Next.js** | Works natively with App Router and API routes |
+| **OpenTelemetry** | `createOpenTelemetryPlugin(cache, tracer)` - distributed tracing spans |
 
-#### Express
+<details>
+<summary><b>Express example</b></summary>
 
 ```ts
 import { CacheStack, MemoryLayer, createExpressCacheMiddleware } from 'layercache'
 
 const cache = new CacheStack([new MemoryLayer({ ttl: 60 })])
 
-// Automatically caches GET responses as JSON
-app.get('/api/users', createExpressCacheMiddleware(cache, { ttl: 30 }), (req, res) => {
-  res.json(await db.getUsers())
-})
-
-// Custom key resolver + tag support
-app.get('/api/user/:id', createExpressCacheMiddleware(cache, {
-  keyResolver: (req) => `user:${req.url}`,
+app.get('/api/users', createExpressCacheMiddleware(cache, {
+  ttl: 30,
   tags: ['users'],
-  ttl: 60
-}), handler)
-```
-
-#### tRPC
-
-```ts
-import { createTrpcCacheMiddleware } from 'layercache/integrations/trpc'
-
-const cacheMiddleware = createTrpcCacheMiddleware(cache, 'trpc', { ttl: 60 })
-
-export const cachedProcedure = t.procedure.use(cacheMiddleware)
-```
-
-#### GraphQL
-
-```ts
-import { cacheGraphqlResolver } from 'layercache/integrations/graphql'
-
-const resolvers = {
-  Query: {
-    user: cacheGraphqlResolver(cache, 'user', (_root, { id }) => db.findUser(id), {
-      keyResolver: (_root, { id }) => id,
-      ttl: 300
-    })
-  }
-}
-```
-
----
-
-### Admin CLI
-
-Inspect and manage a Redis-backed cache without writing code.
-
-```bash
-# Requires ioredis
-npx layercache stats     --redis redis://localhost:6379
-npx layercache keys      --redis redis://localhost:6379 --pattern "user:*"
-npx layercache invalidate --redis redis://localhost:6379 --tag user:123
-npx layercache invalidate --redis redis://localhost:6379 --pattern "session:*"
-```
-
----
-
-## MessagePack serialization
-
-Reduces Redis memory usage and speeds up serialization for large values:
-
-```ts
-import { MsgpackSerializer } from 'layercache'
-
-new RedisLayer({
-  client: redis,
-  ttl: 300,
-  serializer: new MsgpackSerializer()
+  keyResolver: (req) => `users:${req.url}`
+}), async (req, res) => {
+  res.json(await db.getUsers())
 })
 ```
 
----
-
-## Custom layers
-
-Implement `CacheLayer` to plug in any backend:
-
-```ts
-import type { CacheLayer } from 'layercache'
-
-class MemcachedLayer implements CacheLayer {
-  readonly name = 'memcached'
-  readonly defaultTtl = 300
-  readonly isLocal = false
-
-  async get<T>(key: string): Promise<T | null> { /* … */ }
-  async getEntry?(key: string): Promise<unknown | null> { /* optional raw access */ }
-  async getMany?(keys: string[]): Promise<Array<unknown | null>> { /* optional bulk read */ }
-  async set(key: string, value: unknown, ttl?: number): Promise<void> { /* … */ }
-  async delete(key: string): Promise<void> { /* … */ }
-  async clear(): Promise<void> { /* … */ }
-}
-
-const cache = new CacheStack([
-  new MemoryLayer({ ttl: 60 }),
-  new MemcachedLayer()
-])
-```
-
----
+</details>
 
-## NestJS
+<details>
+<summary><b>NestJS example</b></summary>
 
 ```bash
 npm install @cachestack/nestjs
@@ -903,32 +226,8 @@ import { CacheStackModule } from '@cachestack/nestjs'
   ]
 })
 export class AppModule {}
-```
-
-Async configuration (resolve dependencies from DI):
-
-```ts
-@Module({
-  imports: [
-    CacheStackModule.forRootAsync({
-      inject: [ConfigService],
-      useFactory: (config: ConfigService) => ({
-        layers: [
-          new MemoryLayer({ ttl: 20 }),
-          new RedisLayer({ client: new Redis(config.get('REDIS_URL')), ttl: 300 })
-        ]
-      })
-    })
-  ]
-})
-export class AppModule {}
-```
-
-```ts
-// your.service.ts
-import { InjectCacheStack } from '@cachestack/nestjs'
-import { CacheStack } from 'layercache'
 
+// user.service.ts
 @Injectable()
 export class UserService {
   constructor(@InjectCacheStack() private readonly cache: CacheStack) {}
@@ -939,142 +238,185 @@ export class UserService {
 }
 ```
 
----
+</details>
 
-## Express / Next.js
+<details>
+<summary><b>Next.js App Router example</b></summary>
 
 ```ts
-// Express
-app.get('/users/:id', async (req, res) => {
-  const user = await cache.get(`user:${req.params.id}`,
-    () => db.findUser(Number(req.params.id)),
-    { tags: [`user:${req.params.id}`] }
-  )
-  res.json(user)
-})
-
-// Next.js App Router
 export async function GET(_req: Request, { params }: { params: { id: string } }) {
   const data = await cache.get(`user:${params.id}`, () => db.findUser(Number(params.id)))
   return Response.json(data)
 }
 ```
 
+</details>
+
 ---
 
-## Environment-based configuration
+## Distributed Deployments
+
+layercache is built for multi-instance production environments:
 
-```ts
-export const cache = process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production'
-  ? new CacheStack([
-      new MemoryLayer({ ttl: 60 }),
-      new RedisLayer({ client: redis, ttl: 3600 })
-    ])
-  : new CacheStack([
-      new MemoryLayer({ ttl: 60 }) // no Redis needed in dev
-    ])
+```
+  ┌───────────┐    ┌───────────┐    ┌───────────┐
+  │ Server A  │    │ Server B  │    │ Server C  │
+  │ [Memory]  │    │ [Memory]  │    │ [Memory]  │
+  └─────┬─────┘    └─────┬─────┘    └─────┬─────┘
+        │                │                │
+        └──── Redis Pub/Sub ──────────────┘  <-- L1 invalidation bus
+                     │
+               ┌─────┴──────┐
+               │   Redis    │  <-- shared L2 + tag index + single-flight
+               └────────────┘
 ```
 
----
+- **Redis single-flight** - dedup misses across instances with distributed locks
+- **Redis invalidation bus** - pub/sub-based L1 invalidation for memory consistency
+- **Redis tag index** - shared tag tracking with optional sharding
+- **Snapshot persistence** - export/import state between instances
 
-## Benchmarks
+<details>
+<summary><b>Full distributed setup</b></summary>
 
-```bash
-npm run bench:latency
-npm run bench:stampede
+```ts
+import {
+  CacheStack, MemoryLayer, RedisLayer,
+  RedisInvalidationBus, RedisTagIndex, RedisSingleFlightCoordinator
+} from 'layercache'
+
+const redis = new Redis()
+const bus = new RedisInvalidationBus({ publisher: redis, subscriber: new Redis() })
+const tagIndex = new RedisTagIndex({ client: redis, prefix: 'myapp:tags' })
+const coordinator = new RedisSingleFlightCoordinator({ client: redis })
+
+const cache = new CacheStack(
+  [
+    new MemoryLayer({ ttl: 60, maxSize: 10_000 }),
+    new RedisLayer({ client: redis, ttl: 3600, prefix: 'myapp:cache:' })
+  ],
+  {
+    invalidationBus: bus,
+    tagIndex: tagIndex,
+    singleFlightCoordinator: coordinator,
+    gracefulDegradation: { retryAfterMs: 10_000 }
+  }
+)
 ```
 
-These scripts use `ioredis-mock` and a synthetic no-cache delay, so treat the numbers as a quick sanity check rather than a production benchmark.
+</details>
 
-Example output from a local run:
+---
 
-| | avg latency |
-|---|---|
-| L1 memory hit | ~0.006 ms |
-| L2 Redis hit | ~0.020 ms |
-| No cache (simulated DB) | ~1.08 ms |
+## Performance
 
 ```
+┌─────────────────────┬──────────────┐
+│ Scenario            │ Avg Latency  │
+├─────────────────────┼──────────────┤
+│ L1 memory hit       │   ~0.006 ms  │
+│ L2 Redis hit        │   ~0.020 ms  │
+│ No cache (sim. DB)  │   ~1.08  ms  │
+└─────────────────────┴──────────────┘
+
 ┌─────────────────────┬────────┐
 │ concurrentRequests  │  100   │
-│ fetcherExecutions   │    1   │  ← stampede prevention in action
+│ fetcherExecutions   │    1   │  <-- stampede prevention
 └─────────────────────┴────────┘
 ```
 
+Run benchmarks locally:
+
+```bash
+npm run bench:latency
+npm run bench:stampede
+```
+
 ---
 
 ## Comparison
 
-| | node-cache-manager | keyv | cacheable | **layercache** |
+|  | node-cache-manager | keyv | cacheable | **layercache** |
 |---|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
-| Multi-layer | △ | Plugin | ❌ | ✅ |
-| Auto backfill | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
-| Stampede prevention | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
-| Tag invalidation | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
-| Distributed tags | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
-| Cross-server L1 flush | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
-| TypeScript-first | △ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
-| Wrap / decorator API | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
-| Cache warming | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
-| Namespaces | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
-| Sliding / adaptive TTL | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
-| Event hooks | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
-| Circuit breaker | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
-| Graceful degradation | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
-| Compression | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
-| Persistence / snapshots | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
-| Admin CLI | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
-| Pluggable logger | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
-| NestJS module | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
-| Custom layers | △ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
+| Multi-layer with auto backfill | Partial | Plugin | -- | **Yes** |
+| Stampede prevention | -- | -- | -- | **Yes** |
+| Distributed single-flight | -- | -- | -- | **Yes** |
+| Tag invalidation | -- | -- | Yes | **Yes** |
+| Distributed tags | -- | -- | -- | **Yes** |
+| Cross-server L1 flush | -- | -- | -- | **Yes** |
+| Stale-while-revalidate | -- | -- | -- | **Yes** |
+| Circuit breaker | -- | -- | -- | **Yes** |
+| Graceful degradation | -- | -- | -- | **Yes** |
+| Sliding / adaptive TTL | -- | -- | -- | **Yes** |
+| Cache warming | -- | -- | -- | **Yes** |
+| Persistence / snapshots | -- | -- | -- | **Yes** |
+| Compression | -- | -- | Yes | **Yes** |
+| Admin CLI | -- | -- | -- | **Yes** |
+| NestJS module | -- | -- | -- | **Yes** |
+| TypeScript-first | Partial | Yes | Yes | **Yes** |
+| Wrap / decorator API | Yes | -- | -- | **Yes** |
+| Namespaces | -- | Yes | Yes | **Yes** |
+| Event hooks | Yes | Yes | Yes | **Yes** |
+| Custom layers | Partial | -- | -- | **Yes** |
+
+> See the full [comparison guide](./docs/comparison.md) for detailed breakdowns.
 
 ---
 
-## Debug logging
+## Documentation
 
-```bash
-DEBUG=layercache:debug node server.js
-```
+| Document | Description |
+|---|---|
+| [API Reference](./docs/api.md) | Complete API documentation with all options |
+| [Tutorial](./docs/tutorial.md) | Step-by-step operational walkthrough |
+| [Comparison Guide](./docs/comparison.md) | Detailed feature comparison with alternatives |
+| [Migration Guide](./docs/migration-guide.md) | Migrate from node-cache-manager, keyv, or cacheable |
+| [Benchmarking](./docs/benchmarking.md) | Benchmark scenarios and methodology |
+| [Changelog](./CHANGELOG.md) | Version history and breaking changes |
 
-Or pass a logger instance:
+---
 
-```ts
-new CacheStack([...], {
-  logger: {
-    debug(message, context) { myLogger.debug(message, context) }
-  }
-})
-```
+## Examples
+
+The [`examples/`](./examples) directory contains ready-to-run projects:
+
+- [`express-api/`](./examples/express-api/) - Express REST API with layered caching
+- [`nestjs-module/`](./examples/nestjs-module/) - NestJS module integration
+- [`nextjs-api-routes/`](./examples/nextjs-api-routes/) - Next.js App Router with layercache
 
 ---
 
 ## Requirements
 
-- Node.js ≥ 20
-- TypeScript ≥ 5.0 (optional — fully typed, ships `.d.ts`)
-- ioredis ≥ 5 (optional peer dependency — only needed for `RedisLayer` / `RedisTagIndex`)
+- **Node.js** >= 20
+- **TypeScript** >= 5.0 (optional - fully typed, ships `.d.ts`)
+- **ioredis** >= 5 (optional - only needed for Redis features)
+
+<sub>Runtime dependencies: `async-mutex` and `@msgpack/msgpack`</sub>
 
 ---
 
 ## Contributing
 
-Contributions are welcome, whether that means bug fixes, documentation improvements, performance work, new adapters, or issue reports.
+Contributions welcome - bug fixes, docs, performance, new adapters, or issues.
 
 ```bash
 git clone https://github.com/flyingsquirrel0419/layercache
 cd layercache
 npm install
-npm run lint
-npm test          # vitest
-npm run build:all # esm + cjs + nestjs package
+npm run lint && npm test && npm run build:all
 ```
 
-- Read the [contribution guide](./CONTRIBUTING.md) before opening a PR.
-- Participation in the project is covered by the [Code of Conduct](./CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md).
-- If you are filing an issue, include reproduction steps, expected behavior, and runtime details when relevant.
+See the [Contributing Guide](./CONTRIBUTING.md) and [Code of Conduct](./CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md).
 
 ---
 
 ## License
 
-MIT
+[Apache 2.0](./LICENSE) - use it freely in personal and commercial projects.
+
+---
+
+<p align="center">
+  If layercache saves you time, consider giving it a <a href="https://github.com/flyingsquirrel0419/layercache">star on GitHub</a>. It helps others discover the project.
+</p>