Cloudflare cache not working: DYNAMIC and BYPASS mean config, not failure

TL;DR

Check the origin's Cache-Control headers first (frameworks love sending no-store on everything), then the Cache Rules for a bypass action, then whether the request carries cookies that defeat the cache key.

Steps

1. Cloudflare did not attempt to cache this response. This is the default for content types Cloudflare does not cache without instruction (HTML pages, API responses). It is not a malfunction: nobody told the edge to cache it.
2. Fix: add a Cache Rule matching the content (e.g. cache the marketing pages, the versioned assets). Then confirm the header flips to MISS then HIT.
3. Something actively told Cloudflare not to cache: a Cache-Control: no-store / private header from the origin, a Cache Rule with bypass, or a cookie in the request that opts out of cache.
4. - MISS on first request after purge: normal, the edge is refilling.

• MISS on every request: the cache key varies per request (per-user cookie, random query param) or the origin sends no-cache. Fix the key or the headers.
• EXPIRED constantly with a short TTL: the TTL is just short; that is the config working as written.

5. - Header first, config second, origin third.

• After any fix, two requests: expect MISS then HIT.
• If the origin sends the wrong Cache-Control, fix the origin: edge rules cannot fully compensate for hostile headers.

When to use

You are seeing this: When "caching is not working", the CF-Cache-Status header already tells you why. Use this skill when you run into "Cloudflare cache not working: DYNAMIC and BYPASS mean config, not failure".

When not to use

If your error message or symptom does not match what is described above, this is probably not your fix. Search for your exact error text instead of forcing this one to fit.

Versions

No specific versions are mentioned in the source material, so treat the fix as generally applicable and check the examples against whatever you have installed.

Why this happens

The original report does not dig into a root cause. It documents the symptom and the fix that resolved it.

Verified against the live Cache concepts docs: CF-Cache-Status semantics (HIT/MISS/EXPIRED/BYPASS/DYNAMIC), default cache behavior for dynamic content. Ref: https://developers.cloudflare.com/cache/concepts/cache-responses/