Why New or Updated Factorio Mods Don't Show Up in Mod Portal Search Right Away

Updated

New and updated Factorio mods can take several hours to appear in Mod Portal search results because the site caches its pages heavily. The Mod Portal states this directly: "There's a lot of caching on this page. It can take several hours for new mods and updates to show up in search results." So if you've just published a mod or pushed an update and can't find it in search or the recently updated list, the usual cause is cache refresh timing, not a rejected upload.

What the delay affects

The caching note appears on the "Browse recently updated mods" page, so the delay covers both the recently updated listing and search results. In practice, this means:

  • A mod you just published may not be findable by title, internal name, summary, or owner username yet.
  • An update to an existing mod may not be reflected in search results for several hours.
  • The recently updated listing may lag behind the actual update time.

How to check whether your mod was actually accepted

Before assuming a cache delay, confirm the upload itself succeeded:

  1. Log in to the Mod Portal.
  2. Open your own mod's page directly (by its URL) rather than relying on search.
  3. If the page exists with your latest version, the upload went through and you're only waiting on cache refresh.

If the mod page doesn't exist at all, the problem is with the upload or review process, not caching.

How search matches your mod

Understanding what search looks at helps you verify discoverability once the cache clears. The Mod Portal matches your query against:

  • the mod title
  • the internal name
  • the summary
  • the username of the mod owner

To search for a specific phrase, surround it with double quotes. You can also narrow results with the sidebar by enabling category and tag checkboxes, or exclude them with the ban button. Resetting filters is done by clicking the active tab at the top.

Practical tips while you wait

  • Search by your exact mod title in double quotes to reduce noise.
  • Check the mod's direct page instead of search to confirm the version is live.
  • Avoid re-uploading repeatedly to "force" it into search; the delay is on the display side, and the page evidence gives no indication that re-uploading speeds up cache refresh.
  • If several hours pass and the mod still isn't visible anywhere, including its direct page, treat it as an upload issue rather than a caching one.