character/online is not updating online status on some occasions when downtime hits

[esinoob]

Bug

After daily downtime, the character online endpoint sometimes returns online: true for characters whose last_login timestamp is before the most recent or even longer ago downtimes.
Instead of getting a 200 response it stays a 304 with unchanged data, trying it without ETag also gives the wrong data.
The character has not logged in since before downtime, yet the API reports them as online.
Happens on some characters, not all, and only sometimes but stays until next login.

Request

GET /latest/characters/{character_id}/online/?datasource=tranquility

Response

Status Code

304

Headers

Date: Wed, 01 Apr 2026 10:46:33 GMT                                                                                                                                                                  Expires: Wed, 01 Apr 2026 10:47:33 GMT                                                                                                                                                                 
Last-Modified: Wed, 01 Apr 2026 10:46:33 GMT                                                                                                                                                           
X-ESI-Request-ID: 1b160169-1efb-49f8-b2ce-c6355282f2c7                                                                                                                                                 
ETag: "7c1f798ca395a0328241a0c74222931fdf745b5896387271fcea41b4"                                                                                                                                       
X-Esi-Cache-Status: MISS                                                                                                                                                                               
X-Ratelimit-Group: char-location

Body

{                                                                                                                                                                                                      
      "last_login": "2026-04-01T10:45:37Z",                                                                                                                                                              
      "last_logout": "2026-04-01T10:16:09Z",                                                                                                                                                          
      "logins": 1189,
      "online": true                                                                                                                                                                                    }    

Expected

online should be false.
The character's last_login is 2026-04-01T10:45:37Z

200

Checklist

Check all boxes that apply to this issue:

• Bug description is provided
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• Response status code is provided
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• Expected response is provided

[ccp-pinky]

In your example, the response is from 15 minutes before downtime. Was this a response you got after downtime? As that response is perfectly sensible for someone that logged in 1 minute before, and doesn't appear to demonstrate the issue you describe.

The Date header is always the date the response was generated, no matter whether it was cached or not. If that response was actually made after downtime, there is another cache between ESI and you that is interfering. Doesn't invalidate what you say in any way, but does give another place to look. So my question is mostly about checking what problem we are talking about :)

[esinoob]

Oh sorry, i should have given a better example and also checked my cached stuff before using it as an example.
I also keep the original header since last 200 and used that one for debugging instead of the fresh 304 header.

Here a better example:

{
"last_login":"2026-02-09T10:11:55Z",
"last_logout":"2025-12-08T10:48:36Z",
"logins":1896,
"online":true
}

Date: Tue, 07 Apr 2026 10:36:53 GMT
Last-Modified: Tue, 07 Apr 2026 10:36:53 GMT
X-Esi-Cache-Status: HIT
X-Esi-Request-Id: 66ea499e-7c1f-4891-8849-bbc45b706d8d
Etag: "cb0e87b5c9e6ba1e953a2ad0a248943f98bd6fb3404f4fc0b2a7028f"
Expires: Tue, 07 Apr 2026 10:37:53 GMT

That character wasnt logged in for almost 2 months (verified with the owner), but still it shows him online.
In my debugging so far, it looks like it only happens (some times), if the character is online when downtime hits.