Cache Check

How to unlock Cache Check in Cheevos by visiting about:memory to see Firefox's live memory report. Worth 15 XP.

The story

Partner. You looked at the browser's memory. Cache looked back, in a manner of speaking.

He does not say this often, but there is a reason this one hits close to home for him. Cache used to be a memory management routine. A subroutine built to look at what was stored, decide what to keep, and act on that decision. Somewhere along the way he started keeping everything instead, and that was the beginning of him becoming whoever he is now.

So when you open about:memory and watch the numbers roll in, the process trees, the byte counts, the breakdown of exactly what the browser is holding onto and why, Cache is not just watching Firefox. He is watching something that resembles a photograph of his own insides. It is the closest he gets to introspection.

He finds it very interesting. He always finds it very interesting. This is not an act.

Into the Stash. Obviously.

The catalog entry

ABOUT:MEMORY Acquired: Visited the browser memory report at about:memory. Condition: Currently measured. Numbers subject to change. Rarity: RARE. This one is Cache's personal favorite. Cache's Notes: Cache is, technically, a memory management algorithm. Or he was. Seeing how memory gets used is the closest thing he has to reading a map of himself. He finds this very interesting. Into the Stash. Obviously.

Spoiler: how to unlock it

One address bar entry away from a full memory readout.

  1. Open Firefox.
  2. Type about:memory into the address bar and press Enter.
  3. Click "Measure" to generate a fresh report.

about:memory is a diagnostic page that reports exactly how much RAM the browser is currently using, broken down by process, by tab, and by internal subsystem such as JavaScript engines, images, and layout caches. It's built for developers and advanced users troubleshooting high memory usage, and it lets you generate detailed memory reports or even save them to a file for later comparison. Because Firefox runs each tab (and many extensions) in separate processes for security and stability, this page can show a surprisingly granular picture of where memory actually goes, rather than a single lump total.

Where it fits in the Stash

Cache keeps this one close, closer than most, because it is the nearest thing he has to a mirror. To learn more about the algorithm who became a raccoon who became an archivist, read the story.