Sequence · Diagram Design

Article request, cold cache

How a content site serves a reader when the requested slug isn't already sitting in Cloudflare's edge cache — origin render, beacon, and back in one round trip.

GET /ARTICLES/SLUG CACHE MISS · ORIGIN RENDER MDX 200 · HTML + MAX-AGE 200 · EDGE-CACHED PAGEVIEW BEACON EXT Reader Browser EDGE Cloudflare Pages · cache ORIG Astro Origin SSR + MDX ASY Analytics Beacon · async LEGEND Focal actor Activation HTTP request Return / async Primary response

THE HEADLINE

Edge handles the hot path

On subsequent reads the whole exchange collapses to M1 → M5. Cloudflare serves the cached HTML without waking the origin. The coral arrow is the only one the reader ever perceives.

Origin render on miss

  • Astro SSRs MDX on cold cache
  • Returns HTML + cache headers
  • Edge stores the result
  • Next reader skips the origin trip

Analytics is fire-and-forget

The pageview beacon is dashed for a reason: the reader never waits on it, and a failed beacon never breaks the page.

content site · article request sequence example · schematic skill