---
title: req.max_stale_if_error
summary: null
url: >-
  https://www.fastly.com/documentation/reference/vcl/variables/server/req-max-stale-if-error
---

**Type:** RTIME  
**Access:** can be read and set, but not unset

**Available in:** all subroutines

The maximum stale age that is acceptable for a particular request.

`beresp.stale_if_error` limits the maximum stale age for each object.
For example, if `beresp.stale_if_error` for an object is set to one hour, but 
`req.max_stale_if_error` is set to 10 minutes, 10 minutes is the maximum stale 
age for that particular request. If `beresp.stale_if_error` for an object is 
set to 10 minutes, but `req.max_stale_if_error` is set to one hour, 10 minutes 
is the maximum stale age for that particular request.