Preview mode

While a signed cookie is present, static pages skip the cache and render fresh. Use it to show drafts or unpublished content to editors.

Enable it from your own route

You decide who can preview, with your usual middleware:

use Fydellys\InertiaStatic\Facades\StaticCache;

Route::get('/preview/enable', fn (Request $request) => redirect($request->query('to', '/'))
    ->withCookie(StaticCache::enablePreview(minutes: 60)))
    ->middleware(['auth', 'can:preview']);

Route::get('/preview/disable', fn () => redirect('/')->withCookie(StaticCache::disablePreview()));

Show drafts

public function show(Post $post)
{
    abort_unless($post->isPublished() || StaticCache::isPreview(), 404);

    return Inertia::render('Post/Show', ['post' => $post, 'preview' => StaticCache::isPreview()]);
}

What happens

	Normal visitor	Preview cookie
HTML	from the CDN	origin, no-store (X-Inertia-Static-Reason: preview)
SPA visits	cached page JSON	never-cached live endpoint
StaticCache::isPreview()	false	true

enablePreview() lasts preview.minutes (default 60) when called without minutes. The cookie is signed with your APP_KEY and expires on its own; a forged or expired cookie is ignored. It is not HttpOnly (the client reads it), and it only grants "skip the cache", never any access.

Configure the CDN

The CDN must not answer preview requests from its cache:

CDN	Rule
Cloudflare	Cache Rule: http.cookie contains "inertia_static_preview=" → Bypass cache
nginx	proxy_cache_bypass $cookie_inertia_static_preview; and proxy_no_cache $cookie_inertia_static_preview;
Varnish	if (req.http.Cookie ~ "inertia_static_preview=") { return (pass); } (in vcl_recv)

The cookie name is configurable (inertia-static.preview.cookie).