Implementation:Googleapis Python genai Caches CRUD Operations

Knowledge Sources	googleapis/python-genai Google Gen AI Python SDK
Domains	Optimization, Resource_Management
Last Updated	2026-02-15 00:00 GMT

Overview

Concrete tool for managing cached content lifecycle (get, list, update, delete) provided by the google-genai caches module.

Description

The Caches class provides four management operations: get retrieves a cache by name, list returns all caches with pagination, update modifies cache properties (TTL, expiry), and delete removes a cache. Each method operates on cache resource names and returns the appropriate response type. The async counterparts are available via client.aio.caches.

Usage

Use caches.get to inspect a specific cache. Use caches.list to discover all active caches. Use caches.update to extend TTL. Use caches.delete to remove unused caches. All methods require the cache resource name from CachedContent.name.

Code Reference

Source Location

• Repository: googleapis/python-genai
• File: google/genai/caches.py
• Lines: L915-920 (get), L1187-1189 (list), L1057-1062 (update), L980-985 (delete)

Signature

class Caches:
    def get(
        self,
        *,
        name: str,
        config: Optional[types.GetCachedContentConfigOrDict] = None,
    ) -> types.CachedContent:
        """Gets a cached content by name."""

    def list(
        self,
        *,
        config: Optional[types.ListCachedContentsConfigOrDict] = None,
    ) -> Pager[types.CachedContent]:
        """Lists all cached contents."""

    def update(
        self,
        *,
        name: str,
        config: Optional[types.UpdateCachedContentConfigOrDict] = None,
    ) -> types.CachedContent:
        """Updates a cached content (e.g., extend TTL)."""

    def delete(
        self,
        *,
        name: str,
        config: Optional[types.DeleteCachedContentConfigOrDict] = None,
    ) -> types.DeleteCachedContentResponse:
        """Deletes a cached content."""

Import

from google import genai

I/O Contract

Inputs

Name	Type	Required	Description
name	str	Yes (get/update/delete)	Cache resource name
config (update)	Optional[UpdateCachedContentConfigOrDict]	No	Update config (new TTL, expiry)
config (list)	Optional[ListCachedContentsConfigOrDict]	No	Pagination config

Outputs

Name	Type	Description
get returns	CachedContent	Cache with metadata, contents, expiry info
list returns	Pager[CachedContent]	Paginated list of all cached contents
update returns	CachedContent	Updated cache with new TTL/expiry
delete returns	DeleteCachedContentResponse	Deletion confirmation

Usage Examples

Get Cache Info

from google import genai

client = genai.Client(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")

cache = client.caches.get(name="cachedContents/abc123")
print(f"Name: {cache.name}")
print(f"Display name: {cache.display_name}")
print(f"Expire time: {cache.expire_time}")

List All Caches

for cache in client.caches.list():
    print(f"{cache.name}: expires {cache.expire_time}")

Extend Cache TTL

from google.genai import types

updated = client.caches.update(
    name="cachedContents/abc123",
    config=types.UpdateCachedContentConfig(
        ttl="7200s"  # Extend to 2 hours
    ),
)
print(f"New expiry: {updated.expire_time}")

Delete a Cache

client.caches.delete(name="cachedContents/abc123")
print("Cache deleted.")

Related Pages

Implements Principle

• Principle:Googleapis_Python_genai_Cache_Management