Page not revalidated when fetch no longer returns 404

[joostmeijles]

Link to the code that reproduces this issue

https://github.com/joostmeijles/cache-revalidate-404-issue

To Reproduce

1. Set item value by performing a POST call to http://localhost:3000/set-item with body:

{
  "item": "example value"
}

2. Visit http://localhost:3000 → page correctly displays actual data
3. Unset item value by performing a POST call to http://localhost:3000/set-item with body

{
  "item": null
}

4. Verify that a 404 is returned by visiting http://localhost:3000/get-item
5. Revalidate the data cache by performing a POST call to http://localhost:3000/revalidate
6. Visit http://localhost:3000 → page shows a 404
7. Set item value by performing a POST call to http://localhost:3000/set-item with body:

{
  "item": "example value"
}

8. Revalidate the data cache by performing a POST call to http://localhost:3000/revalidate
9. Visit http://localhost:3000 → page wrongly displays 404

Current vs. Expected behavior

The page is not revalidated after the underlying cached fetch value was updated and cached item revalidated. Revalidation has no effect on this. I expect the page to be regenerated when the cached value is revalidated.

Details

The rendered page retrieves the data from the backend using a fetch call. The fetch call has the following properties set:

const res = await fetch(`https://${process.env.VERCEL_URL}/get-item`, {
    cache: 'force-cache',
    next: {
      tags: ['my-cachetag']
    }
  });

After the page rendered a 404 cache revalidation no longer works, i.e. the page is never re-rendered.

Provide environment information

Operating System:
  Platform: win32
  Arch: x64
  Version: Windows 10 Enterprise
  Available memory (MB): 32472
  Available CPU cores: 16
Binaries:
  Node: 18.20.2
  npm: 10.5.0
  Yarn: 1.22.19
  pnpm: 9.9.0
Relevant Packages:
  next: 15.1.1-canary.6 // Latest available version is detected (15.1.1-canary.6).
  eslint-config-next: N/A
  react: 19.0.0
  react-dom: 19.0.0
  typescript: 5.3.3
Next.js Config:
  output: N/A

Which area(s) are affected? (Select all that apply)

Runtime

Which stage(s) are affected? (Select all that apply)

Vercel (Deployed)

Additional context

This can be reproduced locally in production mode by npm run build and npm run start.

NB. Set VERCEL_URL="cache-revalidate-404-issue.vercel.app" in your env for the page pre-render to work.

[fikrikarim]

I'm having the same issue. It's driving me a bit crazy since I've been debugging this issue for a whole day. I thought the problem was in our Next.js app or in our library.

My conclusion: revalidateTag() does not work on 404. revalidatePath does work.

Repo: https://github.com/fikrikarim/nextjs-revalidate-tag-404-bug

Live link: https://revalidate-tag-404-bug.vercel.app/

revalidation-404-bug-small.mp4

[fikrikarim]

Might be related: #66540

[eps1lon]

Created a smaller repro that doesn't require Redis or any VERCEL_URL: https://github.com/eps1lon/cache-revalidate-404-issue. May not work when deployed but that doesn't seem important since it already repros locally with next start.

Bisected with my repro and found that revalidateTag was not sufficient up until 14.3.0-canary.73. 14.3.0-canary.74 fixed it and then we regressed again in 15.0.0-canary.183

[joostmeijles]

May be solved by #74577?

[joostmeijles]

Confirming that this is solved by upgrading to NextJS v15.1.4: joostmeijles/cache-revalidate-404-issue@4dc962c

[fikrikarim]

I also confirm that this solves the issue in our project

[github-actions]

This closed issue has been automatically locked because it had no new activity for 2 weeks. If you are running into a similar issue, please create a new issue with the steps to reproduce. Thank you.