Summary

Prompt caching is a powerful, often overlooked feature that reduces token costs by 90% for repeated context. By understanding the one-hour time-to-live (TTL) window and managing session hygiene, users can avoid expensive cache misses and significantly extend their daily usage limits.

Key Topics

• Prompt Caching: Prompt caching saves processing time and money by letting the model 'remember' static instructions or large documents. It matters because it turns expensive re-reads into cheap, cached hits, allowing for much longer, complex coding sessions.
• TTL (Time-To-Live): TTL defines the 'freshness' of your cached data. For web users, it's one hour; for API users, it defaults to five minutes. Understanding this is vital to avoid triggering expensive cache misses.
• Session Handoff: Instead of hitting a limit or waiting for the cache to fail, you ask the model to summarize all open decisions and files. This allows you to clear the session and restart, keeping the model sharp and the cache optimized.

Key Takeaways

• Implement session handoffs when switching tasks.
• Move large document uploads to Claude Projects.