Know which response left your server

A cache hit does not necessarily mean a page body was delivered. A HEAD request can use a saved response and write zero HTML bytes. A conditional request can return 304. Redirects and removals preserve their own status, and a partial write can stop before the saved document is complete.

RenderCache records response receipts after handling a recognized crawler claim. Cached response availability and full snapshot HTML are separate fields, alongside the method, actual status, cache outcome and body bytes accepted by the writer. Private and API bypasses are also visible when their traffic passes through the Go service. Selective edge routing can narrow that visibility, so the deployment topology matters.

The receipts are bounded, rotating operational logs. Query strings, headers, raw user agents and upstream error text do not enter them. Paths may still contain sensitive information, and the files need appropriate access controls. A full queue can drop records; write failures and drop counters are visible in status. They are not a durable audit ledger.

Most of all, a receipt is evidence about a server-side write. A user agent is a claim, and a response does not prove indexing or AI citation. The browser example illustrates those distinctions, while the real protected admin page shows your own service’s receipts.