Installation 

Method 1: Composer (recommended) 

composer require netresearch/nr-temporal-cache
vendor/bin/typo3 extension:setup
vendor/bin/typo3 cache:flush

extension:setup performs the database migrations, which is what creates the four indexes.

Method 2: TER (Extension Repository) 

1. Go to Admin Tools → Extensions
2. Click Get Extensions
3. Search for nr_temporal_cache
4. Click Import and Install
5. Activate the extension

Method 3: Manual installation 

1. Download from GitHub
2. Extract to typo3conf/ext/nr_temporal_cache/ (classic mode) or packages/nr_temporal_cache/ (Composer mode)
3. Activate in the Extension Manager
4. Clear all caches

Zero configuration 

The extension works immediately after installation. It automatically:

• Registers the PSR-14 listener for ModifyCacheLifetimeForPageEvent under the identifier temporal-cache/modify-cache-lifetime
• Monitors the pages and tt_content tables
• Caps the page cache lifetime at the next transition, using global scoping and dynamic timing

All twelve settings and their defaults are listed in Configuration.

Optional: Monitor custom tables 

If you have custom extension tables with starttime/endtime fields, you can register them for temporal cache monitoring using the TemporalMonitorRegistry.

Recommended: Configure in Configuration/Services.yaml (modern dependency injection):

services:
  # Register custom news table
  my_ext_news_table_registration:
    class: 'Closure'
    factory: ['@Netresearch\TemporalCache\Service\TemporalMonitorRegistry', 'registerTable']
    arguments:
      - 'tx_news_domain_model_news'
      - ['uid', 'pid', 'title', 'starttime', 'endtime', 'hidden', 'deleted', 'sys_language_uid']

  # Register custom event table
  my_ext_events_table_registration:
    class: 'Closure'
    factory: ['@Netresearch\TemporalCache\Service\TemporalMonitorRegistry', 'registerTable']
    arguments:
      - 'tx_events_domain_model_event'
      - ['uid', 'pid', 'title', 'starttime', 'endtime', 'hidden', 'deleted', 'sys_language_uid']

Alternative: For ext_localconf.php (when DI not available):

<?php
use Netresearch\TemporalCache\Service\TemporalMonitorRegistry;
use TYPO3\CMS\Core\Utility\GeneralUtility;

// Only use makeInstance() in ext_localconf.php where DI is not yet available
$registry = GeneralUtility::makeInstance(TemporalMonitorRegistry::class);
$registry->registerTable('tx_news_domain_model_news', [
    'uid', 'pid', 'title', 'starttime', 'endtime', 'hidden', 'deleted', 'sys_language_uid'
]);

Field requirements

registerTable() rejects a registration that misses one of these:

• uid
• starttime
• endtime

Recommended in addition, because the queries and the backend module use them:

• pid — parent page id
• hidden and deleted — the transition queries exclude records whose TCA delete and enablecolumns.disabled fields are set
• sys_language_uid — the queries filter on the language of the context
• a label field such as title, header or name for display

Passing an empty field list applies the default list uid, pid, title, starttime, endtime, hidden, deleted, sys_language_uid.

Default tables

pages and tt_content are monitored out of the box. Re-registering either of them throws an exception.

Each registered table adds two MIN() queries to a transition lookup — see High database load.

Optional: Adjust the maximum lifetime 

advanced.default_max_lifetime caps the cache lifetime the extension calculates, and is the lifetime used when no transition is scheduled at all.

Default: 86400 seconds (24 hours)

Configure it in Admin Tools → Extensions → nr_temporal_cache → Configure, under Default Cache Lifetime (seconds), or in PHP:

<?php

$GLOBALS['TYPO3_CONF_VARS']['EXTENSIONS']['nr_temporal_cache']['advanced']['default_max_lifetime'] = 43200;

TypoScript config.cache_period takes precedence over this setting; see Advanced options.

Check the setup 

vendor/bin/typo3 temporalcache:verify

The command confirms that the indexes and the columns the queries rely on exist, and that the configured strategy names are valid. System → Reports → Temporal Cache shows the same configuration from the backend.

Test scheduled content 

1. Create a test page:

   • Set Start to 5 minutes in the future
   • Enable In menu
   • Save
2. Check the frontend menu — the page must not appear yet
3. Wait until the start time and reload — the page appears without any cache being cleared by hand

The page cache lifetime is capped at the transition, so the first request after the start time regenerates the page.

Test expiring content 

1. Create a content element with Stop 5 minutes in the future
2. View the page — the element is visible
3. Wait until the stop time and reload — the element is gone

Inspect what the extension calculated 

advanced.debug_logging = 1

Each page cache generation then logs the lifetime that was written, the uncapped value, and which maximum applied. See Advanced options.

Content does not update 

1. Confirm the extension is loaded:

   vendor/bin/typo3 extension:list

   Copied!
2. Confirm the timing strategy. scheduler always depends on the scheduler task, and hybrid does when at least one of timing.hybrid.pages and timing.hybrid.content is set to scheduler. In those cases confirm the task exists and cron is running it — see Scheduler task. A hybrid configuration with both rules on dynamic needs no task.

3. Clear all caches:

   vendor/bin/typo3 cache:flush

   Copied!
4. Work through Troubleshooting

Slow page generation 

The dynamic timing strategy runs two MIN() queries per monitored table on every page cache generation. Confirm the indexes exist:

SHOW INDEX FROM pages WHERE Key_name LIKE 'idx_temporalcache%';
SHOW INDEX FROM tt_content WHERE Key_name LIKE 'idx_temporalcache%';

If they are missing, run the database compare — the definitions ship with the extension:

vendor/bin/typo3 extension:setup

To log the extension's own messages into a separate file:

<?php

$GLOBALS['TYPO3_CONF_VARS']['LOG']['Netresearch']['TemporalCache']['writerConfiguration'] = [
    \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Log\LogLevel::DEBUG => [
        \TYPO3\CMS\Core\Log\Writer\FileWriter::class => [
            'logFile' => 'typo3temp/var/log/temporal_cache.log',
        ],
    ],
];

Workspace and language 

Every transition query resolves the workspace and the language from the Context API and filters on both. A transition scheduled in another language therefore does not shorten the lifetime of the page you are looking at.