HardReload

HardReload is an informal term used in computing to describe a full page refresh that bypasses the browser cache, forcing the browser to re-fetch all resources from the server. By discarding locally stored HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images and other assets, a HardReload aims to load the most up-to-date version of a site or application.

In practice, HardReload is commonly achieved by a cache-bypass reload command, such as Ctrl+F5 or Ctrl+Shift+R on Windows, and Command+Shift+R on macOS. Some browsers provide an explicit option to empty caches before reloading. The exact shortcut can vary by browser and platform.

Soft reload versus HardReload: a soft reload reloads the page but may reuse cached resources and may not fetch every asset anew. A HardReload bypasses the browser cache for all resources, ensuring fresh copies but potentially increasing load time and server requests. It does not guarantee that content is free from server-side caches, such as CDN or proxy caches.

Usage and limitations: developers use HardReload during debugging after deployment to verify updates. It may not clear CDN, reverse proxy, or origin caches; to ensure complete freshness, developers may perform cache busting by changing resource URLs, or use development tools to disable caches. In production environments, relying on HardReload alone is insufficient to guarantee freshness across all caching layers.

See also: hard refresh, soft refresh, cache busting.