Dzone iconDzoneSep 15, 2026

KV Cache vs Prompt Cache: What's the Difference, and How Are They Related?

For the latest version and future updates, please visit the original post: https://jaketao.com/language/en/kv-cache-vs-prompt-cache/. Every time a large language model generates a token, it draws on the content that came before it.

KV Cache vs Prompt Cache: What's the Difference, and How Are They Related?

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For the latest version and future updates, please visit the original post: https://jaketao.com/language/en/kv-cache-vs-prompt-cache/.

Every time a large language model generates a token, it draws on the content that came before it.

When building an agent, the same set of system prompts, tool definitions, and conversation history is used over and over again.

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For the latest version and future updates, please visit the original post: https://jaketao.com/language/en/kv-cache-vs-prompt-cache/. Every time a large language model generates a token, it draws on the content that came before it. When building an agent, the same set of system prompts, tool definitions, and conversation history is used over and over again.

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  • If these were reprocessed each time, latency and computational costs would continually increase.

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