Nginx Proxy & FastCGI Cache (/var/cache/nginx)

Bottom Line: It is 100% safe to clear the Nginx cache (/var/cache/nginx). Clearing it will not delete your website files, databases, or Nginx server configuration.

What is the /var/cache/nginx Directory?

Located at /var/cache/nginx on Linux web servers, this directory is created when Nginx is configured as a reverse proxy or caching web server (proxy_cache or fastcgi_cache).

Nginx saves pre-rendered web pages, API responses, CSS, JS, and image files into this directory. When website visitors request a page, Nginx serves the cached copy from /var/cache/nginx instantly without querying backend PHP or Node.js servers.

Over time, or on high-traffic websites, the Nginx cache directory can expand to 10 GB to 100 GB+.

Can You Delete /var/cache/nginx?

✅ Yes, it is completely safe to clear.

• Zero website data loss: Your web application source code, databases (MySQL/PostgreSQL), and original media files are stored elsewhere.
• Purges stale content: Wiping the Nginx cache forces Nginx to fetch fresh web pages from your backend server.

How to Safely Clear Nginx Cache

Method 1: Delete Cache Files & Reload Nginx (Recommended)

1. Open your server terminal.
2. Delete all cached files inside the Nginx cache directory:

   sudo rm -rf /var/cache/nginx/*

3. Reload Nginx to reset cache index handles:

   sudo systemctl reload nginx

Related Guides

• Learn about cleaning [Redis dump.rdb snapshots].
• How to clean up Linux /var/log.
• Check if you can clean Browser Cache.