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Nextcloud App Store Caching

When apps are published to the Nextcloud App Store, they appear immediately in the store's web UI at apps.nextcloud.com. However, Nextcloud instances may take up to 1 hour to see the new or updated app. This document explains why this happens and how to work around it.

Why the Delay?​

The delay is caused by client-side caching on each Nextcloud instance, not by the app store itself.

When a Nextcloud instance fetches the app list from the store, it caches the response locally. Subsequent requests to Settings > Apps will use this cached data until it expires.

Cache Duration (TTL)​

The caching behavior is defined in lib/private/App/AppStore/Fetcher/Fetcher.php:

Data TypeTTLDescription
App list (stable)3600 seconds (1 hour)Main app catalog
App list (unstable)900 seconds (15 minutes)Beta/unstable releases
Discover section86400 seconds (24 hours)Featured apps on the discover page
Retry after failure300 seconds (5 minutes)Delay before retrying failed requests
public const INVALIDATE_AFTER_SECONDS = 3600;           // 1 hour
public const INVALIDATE_AFTER_SECONDS_UNSTABLE = 900;   // 15 minutes

How the Caching Works​

  1. When a user opens Settings > Apps, Nextcloud checks the cached apps.json file
  2. If the cache timestamp is less than 3600 seconds old, the cached data is returned immediately
  3. If the cache has expired, a new request is made to https://apps.nextcloud.com/api/v1/apps.json
  4. Nextcloud uses ETag headers for conditional requests - if the server returns 304 Not Modified, the cached data is refreshed without re-downloading
  5. The cache files are stored in data/appdata_<instance-id>/appstore/

Cache Invalidation​

The cache is automatically invalidated when:

  • The TTL expires (1 hour for stable apps)
  • The Nextcloud version changes (version-aware caching)
  • The cache files are manually deleted

Force Refresh the App Store Cache​

There is no built-in OCC command to clear the app store cache. The occ app:update --showonly command still respects the cache TTL.

To immediately see newly published apps without waiting for the cache to expire:

Option 1: Use the OpenRegister Settings UI​

In OpenRegister's settings page, click the "Clear App Store Cache" button in the Version Information section. This invalidates the cache and forces a fresh fetch on the next visit to Settings > Apps.

Option 2: Use the OpenRegister API​

OpenRegister provides an API endpoint to invalidate the app store cache:

# Invalidate the main apps.json cache (default)
curl -X DELETE "https://your-nextcloud/apps/openregister/api/settings/cache/appstore"

# Invalidate a specific cache type
curl -X DELETE "https://your-nextcloud/apps/openregister/api/settings/cache/appstore" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"type": "apps"}'

# Invalidate all app store caches (apps, categories, discover)
curl -X DELETE "https://your-nextcloud/apps/openregister/api/settings/cache/appstore" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"type": "all"}'

Available cache types:

  • apps - Main app catalog (default)
  • categories - App categories
  • discover - Featured/discover section
  • all - All app store cache files

How it works: Instead of deleting the cache files (which can cause permission issues), this sets the cached timestamp to 0, making the cache appear expired. Nextcloud's Fetcher will then fetch fresh data on the next request.

# Find and delete the cached apps.json
rm -rf data/appdata_*/appstore/apps.json

Warning: Deleting cache files can cause permission errors if the web server cannot recreate them in the apps directory.

Option 4: Wait for TTL expiration​

Simply wait up to 1 hour for the cache to naturally expire.

Background Update Checks​

In addition to on-demand fetching, Nextcloud has a background job that checks for app updates:

  • File: apps/updatenotification/lib/BackgroundJob/UpdateAvailableNotifications.php
  • Interval: Once per day (86400 seconds)
  • Function: Checks both core updates and app updates

This background job uses the same cached data and TTL as the Settings UI.

Configuration Options​

These config.php settings control app store behavior:

SettingDefaultDescription
appstoreenabledtrueEnable/disable the app store entirely
appstoreurlhttps://apps.nextcloud.com/api/v1App store API URL
appstore-timeout120HTTP request timeout in seconds

Summary​

  • New apps appear immediately on apps.nextcloud.com (direct database query)
  • Nextcloud instances cache the app list for 1 hour by default
  • You can force a refresh by deleting data/appdata_*/appstore/apps.json
  • This is normal behavior to reduce load on both the app store and your server