---
breadcrumb:
  - ORM
  - Cache
summary-order: ;2
---

# Cache

**Hector ORM** includes an internal caching strategy designed to improve performance by avoiding redundant operations
during runtime. It automatically stores and reuses:

* Schema metadata (table structure, columns, primary keys, etc.)
* Data type mappings
* Reflection data for entities

This caching mechanism is built upon the [PSR-16 Simple Cache](https://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-16/) specification and is
abstracted internally to allow flexibility and extensibility.

To manage and persist cached data, Hector ORM provides a factory class: `Hector\Orm\OrmFactory`. It handles cache
initialization and usage automatically but also allows you to customize or plug in your own PSR-16 cache implementation
if needed.

> 💡 You can inject your own `Psr\SimpleCache\CacheInterface` into the factory to take full control over cache
> persistence (e.g. file-based, memory, Redis, etc.).

Example:

```php
use Hector\Orm\OrmFactory;
use Symfony\Component\Cache\Adapter\FilesystemAdapter;
use Symfony\Component\Cache\Psr16Cache;

$psr6Adapter = new FilesystemAdapter();
$cache = new Psr16Cache($psr6Adapter);

$orm = OrmFactory::create($connection, $cache);
```

By default, if no cache is provided, Hector ORM falls back to a lightweight in-memory cache.