Prompt caching
Reusing an identical prompt prefix across requests so it is cheaper and faster to process.
If many requests start with the same system prompt, tools and documents, the provider can store that prefix and charge a fraction for reading it again. It only works for an exact prefix: one changed character early on invalidates everything after it.
Related terms
- Tokens: The pieces of text models read and write, and the unit you pay for.
- Context engineering: Deciding what goes into the model’s context, in what order and when, across a whole task.
