Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about Trident Velocity Engine.
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General
What is Trident Velocity Engine?
Trident is a high-performance HTTP caching proxy built in Rust. It sits between your users and your backend servers, caching responses to deliver content faster and reduce backend load. Think of it as a modern alternative to Varnish Cache, with simpler configuration and more built-in features.
Who is Trident for?
Trident is designed for e-commerce platforms, content-heavy websites, APIs, and any application that benefits from caching. It's particularly popular with Magento, Shopify, and WooCommerce stores, as well as agencies managing multiple client sites.
How is Trident different from a CDN?
CDNs cache content at edge locations worldwide. Trident caches at your origin/server level. Many teams use both: Trident as the origin cache (smart invalidation, dynamic content) and a CDN for static assets and global distribution.
Features
What makes Trident different from Varnish?
Three main things: (1) Simple JSON config instead of VCL programming, (2) Built-in features that cost extra in Varnish Plus (cache tags, compression, HTTP/2), and (3) Memory safety from being built in Rust. See our detailed comparison at /compare/varnish.
Does Trident support cache tags?
Yes! Native cache tags are included in all plans. You can use AND/OR logic, wildcards, and regex patterns. Bulk URL purge is 68x faster than Varnish because it's a single API call instead of individual HTTP requests.
What is cache compression?
Trident can compress cached content using zstd, reducing memory usage by up to 91%. This means you can cache 10x more content on the same hardware. This feature isn't available in any Varnish edition.
What is Launch Mode?
Launch Mode is an Enterprise feature for zero-downtime deployments. It shows a maintenance page while pre-warming your entire cache in the background, then atomically swaps to the new cache. Perfect for product launches, price changes, or major updates.
Does Trident support HTTP/2?
Yes, native HTTP/2 for both client connections and backend connections. Varnish OSS only supports HTTP/1.1, and even Varnish Plus doesn't support HTTP/2 to backends.
Can I use Trident with Kubernetes?
Absolutely. Trident supports DNS-based backend discovery, which works perfectly with Kubernetes Services. It automatically detects new pods without restarts. We also provide Helm charts and example manifests.
Pricing & Plans
How much does Trident cost?
Starter is free (up to 10,000 requests/day). Professional is €99/month with unlimited requests and advanced features. Enterprise has custom pricing. We also offer a Lifetime License for early adopters — contact us for pricing.
What's included in the free Starter plan?
Up to 10,000 requests/day, basic cache tags, HTTP/2 support, email support, and 14-day data retention. Perfect for development, staging, or small sites.
What's the Lifetime License?
Early adopters get all Enterprise features forever on a single server with unlimited domains. This includes custom feature development - tell us what you need and we'll prioritize building it. Contact us for pricing details.
Is there a free trial?
Yes! Professional includes a 30-day free trial. No credit card required to start. The Starter plan is also completely free with no trial period.
Do you offer volume discounts?
Yes, for hosting providers and agencies managing multiple sites. Contact our sales team to discuss OEM pricing and white-label options.
Migration
How hard is it to migrate from Varnish?
Most teams complete migration in a single afternoon. JSON configuration is much simpler than VCL, and most common patterns map directly. We provide a migration guide and can help translate your VCL.
Can I run Trident alongside Varnish during migration?
Yes! We recommend this approach. Run Trident in "shadow mode" to compare responses with your existing Varnish setup before switching traffic.
What VCL features don't have equivalents?
Inline C code, custom VMODs, and some advanced VCL patterns don't have direct equivalents. However, 95% of real-world VCL configurations translate cleanly to JSON. If you have complex VCL, contact us for a free migration assessment.
Do you support ESI (Edge Side Includes)?
Yes! ESI support (include, remove, comments) shipped in v1.1. Nested includes and advanced directives like try/except are on the roadmap. See our Ideas page for details.
Technical
What are the system requirements?
Trident runs on Linux (kernel 4.9+), macOS, and Windows. Minimum: 1 CPU, 512MB RAM. Recommended: 2+ CPUs, 4GB+ RAM. More memory = larger cache. Available as a binary, Docker image, or Kubernetes Helm chart.
How do I configure Trident?
Everything is configured via a single config file — TOML, JSON, or JSONC (JSON with comments). No programming required. Changes can be applied via config reload without restart, or via the REST Admin API for runtime changes.
Does Trident support HTTPS?
Yes. Trident terminates TLS for client connections and supports HTTPS, mTLS, and custom CA certificates for backend connections.
How does request coalescing work?
When multiple requests arrive for the same uncached URL, Trident sends only one request to your backend. All waiting clients receive the same response. This protects your origin during flash sales or after cache purges.
What monitoring is available?
Built-in Prometheus metrics endpoint (/metrics), detailed access logs, and a REST API for cache statistics. We provide example Grafana dashboards. Real-time SSE events for cache operations are also available.
Is Trident thread-safe / async?
Yes. Trident is built on Tokio (Rust's async runtime) and uses lock-free data structures where possible. It's designed to saturate high-core-count servers.
Security
Is Trident secure?
Trident is built in Rust with zero unsafe code in the core. This eliminates entire classes of vulnerabilities (buffer overflows, use-after-free) that have affected Varnish. We also implement protections against request smuggling and CRLF injection.
Does Trident support mTLS?
Yes. Mutual TLS (client certificate authentication) is supported for both the admin API and backend connections.
How do I restrict admin API access?
The admin API listens on a separate port (default 8081) and can be bound to localhost only. You can also require API keys and restrict by IP address.
What about DDoS protection?
Trident includes basic rate limiting and connection limits. For serious DDoS protection, we recommend pairing with a CDN (Cloudflare, Fastly) or a dedicated DDoS mitigation service.
Support
What support is included?
Starter: Community forum and email. Professional: Priority email with 24-hour response time. Enterprise: Dedicated account manager, 4-hour SLA, and optional on-site training.
Do you offer professional services?
Yes! We offer migration assistance, performance audits, custom feature development, and training. Contact sales for details.
Where can I report bugs or request features?
GitLab Issues for bug reports. GitLab Discussions for feature requests. Enterprise customers can request features directly through their account manager.
Is there a community?
Yes! Join our Discord server for community support, or check out the GitLab Discussions. Early adopters get access to a private channel with the development team.
Still have questions?
We're here to help. Reach out and we'll get back to you within 24 hours.