Content-addressed storage (CAS)

Content-addressed storage (CAS) is a method to store information so that it can be retrieved based on content rather than location and is an important aspect of location independence and overall performance optimization in distributed systems.

Content-addressed storage typically works by hashing content to derive an identifier that can be used to retrieve the same content later.

General benefits of CAS

Reliable caching
Simplified data versioning
Naturally idempotent

Real-world examples of content-addressed storage

Docker hashes each layer of a container image to identify it.
Git uses the hash of each commit as its identity.
Angular uses output hashing in its compiled output to prevent version mismatches.