Originally published on AI Tech Connect.
Three layers that share a name and nothing else Ask three engineers what "caching the LLM" means and you will get three answers, all correct and mutually incompatible. One means the provider skipping prefill on a repeated prompt prefix. One means a vector lookup that returns a stored answer without calling the model at all. One means a hash in Redis. They sit at different points in the request path, they save different parts of the bill, and — the part that matters most — they fail in ways that have nothing in common. One fails by quietly saving you no money. Another fails by quietly answering the wrong question. That last distinction is why "add caching" is not a decision. It is three decisions, and the order you make them in determines whether you end up with a cheaper product or a…
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