inhouse

Zero-dependency, in-process TTL cache for Python. One decorator, stampede-safe, LRU-bounded. For when Redis is a meeting you don't want to have, or when you need to avoid yet another deployment. Designed to be simple and effective without bloat or complexity for developers.

Designed for easy use with FastAPI applications, though FastAPI integration is entirely optional.

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Install

The package is published on PyPI as inhouse-cache. Imports use inhouse (e.g. from inhouse import MemoryStore).

Core:

pip install inhouse-cache

With FastAPI helpers (fastapi_cache, lifespan sweeper):

pip install inhouse-cache[fastapi]

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Quick Start Usage

Core (any Python project)

from inhouse import MemoryStore, inhouse_cache

store = MemoryStore(max_size=1024, default_ttl=60)

@inhouse_cache(store=store)
async def load_user(user_id: int) -> dict[str, int]:
    return {"user_id": user_id}

Works with both async def and def callables.

FastAPI Use Case

import asyncio
from fastapi import FastAPI
from inhouse import MemoryStore
from inhouse.fastapi import create_lifespan, fastapi_cache

store = MemoryStore(max_size=1024, default_ttl=60)
app = FastAPI(lifespan=create_lifespan(store))

@app.get("/items/{item_id}")
@fastapi_cache(store=store)
async def get_item(item_id: int) -> dict[str, int]:
    await asyncio.sleep(0.1)  # expensive work
    return {"item_id": item_id}

Requires pip install inhouse-cache[fastapi].

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Features

Core (zero dependencies)

• TTL cache with lazy expiry on read
• LRU eviction when max_size is exceeded
• Per-key singleflight stampede guard — concurrent misses on the same key coalesce to one computation. Errors and cancellations propagate to all waiters (no hung followers on shutdown)
• Deterministic cache keys — canonical JSON serialization. Keyword argument order and Request subclasses don't cause spurious cache misses
• Thread-safe store for sync and async callables
• Fixed, store-default, or callable TTL on each cache write

Optional FastAPI extra (pip install inhouse-cache[fastapi])

• @fastapi_cache with Request/Response-aware cache keys
• Background expiry sweeper via FastAPI lifespan helpers
• Clean lifespan shutdown — background sweeper cancels without noisy tracebacks

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Configuration Reference

MemoryStore

from inhouse import MemoryStore

store = MemoryStore(max_size=1024, default_ttl=60)

Parameter / attribute	Type	Default	Description
max_size	int	1024	Maximum number of entries before LRU eviction
default_ttl	float | None	None	Default TTL in seconds for store.set() and decorators that omit ttl_seconds
default_ttl (property)	float | None	—	Mutable at runtime; affects future writes only
size	int (read-only)	—	Current number of cached entries

Store methods:

Method	Description
get(key, *, default=MISS)	Return a cached value, or default on miss/expiry
set(key, value, ttl_seconds=None)	Write a value; uses default_ttl when ttl_seconds is omitted
delete(key)	Remove one entry
clear()	Remove all entries
purge_expired()	Proactively delete expired entries
keys()	List current cache keys

@inhouse_cache / cache()

Core decorator. Works with both async def and def callables.

from inhouse import MemoryStore, inhouse_cache, make_cache_key

store = MemoryStore(default_ttl=60)

@inhouse_cache(
    ttl_seconds=60,              # optional — see Dynamic TTL below
    store=store,                 # optional — defaults to a module-level store
    key_builder=make_cache_key,  # optional — custom cache key strategy
    exclude_types=(object,),     # optional — types omitted from key material
)
async def load_user(user_id: int) -> dict[str, int]:
    return {"user_id": user_id}

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
ttl_seconds	float | Callable[[], float] | None	None	TTL in seconds for each cache write. See Dynamic TTL.
store	MemoryStore | None	module default	Cache instance to read/write
key_builder	Callable[..., str]	make_cache_key	Builds the cache key from function identity + arguments
exclude_types	tuple[type, ...]	()	Argument types excluded from key material (e.g. request objects)

inhouse_cache is an alias for cache.

Global default store helpers:

from inhouse import configure_default_store, get_default_store

store = MemoryStore(default_ttl=120)
configure_default_store(store)

@inhouse_cache()  # uses the configured default store + its default_ttl
async def load_config() -> dict[str, str]:
    ...

@fastapi_cache (optional — requires inhouse-cache[fastapi])

FastAPI-friendly wrapper around inhouse_cache. Automatically excludes Starlette Request and Response objects from cache keys.

from inhouse.fastapi import create_lifespan, fastapi_cache

store = MemoryStore(max_size=512, default_ttl=60)
app = FastAPI(lifespan=create_lifespan(store, sweep_interval=30.0))

@app.get("/items/{item_id}")
@fastapi_cache(store=store)
async def get_item(item_id: int) -> dict[str, int]:
    ...

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
ttl_seconds	float | Callable[[], float] | None	None	Same semantics as @inhouse_cache
store	MemoryStore | None	module default	Cache instance to read/write

fastapi_cache does not expose key_builder or exclude_types; it always uses the FastAPI-aware key builder.

Lifespan / Background Cleanup (optional — requires inhouse-cache[fastapi])

from inhouse.fastapi import create_lifespan, inhouse_lifespan

# Option A: pass directly to FastAPI
app = FastAPI(lifespan=create_lifespan(store, sweep_interval=30.0))

# Option B: use inside your own lifespan
async with inhouse_lifespan(store, sweep_interval=30.0):
    ...

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
store	MemoryStore	required	Store to sweep for expired entries
sweep_interval	float	30.0	Seconds between background purge runs

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Dynamic TTL

TTL is resolved when a value is written to the cache (on a miss), not on every read. Changing TTL settings does not retroactively extend entries already stored.

1. Fixed TTL (per route)

@inhouse_cache(60, store=store)
async def load_user(user_id: int) -> dict[str, int]:
    ...

Always expires 60 seconds after the value is cached.

2. Store Default (mutable at runtime)

store = MemoryStore(default_ttl=60)

@inhouse_cache(store=store)
async def load_config() -> dict[str, str]:
    ...

# Later — affects future cache writes only
store.default_ttl = 300

Omitting ttl_seconds on the decorator uses store.default_ttl. If both are missing, inhouse raises ValueError.

store.default_ttl is safe to change at runtime from other threads; new writes pick up the updated value atomically.

3. Callable TTL (evaluated on each write)

settings = {"cache_ttl": 60}

@inhouse_cache(lambda: settings["cache_ttl"], store=store)
async def load_dashboard() -> dict[str, str]:
    ...

settings["cache_ttl"] = 300  # next cache miss uses 300 seconds

Useful for feature flags, config files, or environment-driven TTL without redeploying.

Priority Order

When a cache miss is written, TTL is resolved as:

1. Callable ttl_seconds() result, if a callable was passed
2. Fixed ttl_seconds float, if provided
3. store.default_ttl, if set
4. Otherwise → ValueError

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When to Use inhouse

Scenario	inhouse	Redis	fastapi-cache2
Single-node FastAPI prototype	Great	Overkill	Great
Zero external infrastructure	Yes	No	Depends on backend
Distributed multi-instance cache	No	Yes	Yes (with Redis)
Decorator-first developer UX	Yes	No	Yes

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Important Limitations

inhouse is per-process memory. If you run uvicorn main:app --workers 4, each worker maintains its own independent cache. That keeps the design simple and avoids shared infrastructure. It is not a distributed cache.

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Architecture

Core API

The core package has no runtime dependencies. Import from inhouse directly:

from inhouse import MemoryStore, configure_default_store, inhouse_cache, make_cache_key

See the Configuration Reference for full decorator and store options.

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License

MIT