Nextcloud: memcache \OC\Memcache\APCu not available for local cache

What the message looks like

Memcache \OC\Memcache\APCu not available for local cache (Is the matching PHP module installed and enabled?)

Common causes

• apc.enable_cli is not set to 1 in the CLI configuration (default is 0).
• php-apcu installed only for FPM, not for the CLI version.
• occ runs with a different PHP version than the web server, e.g. php points to 8.1 while FPM uses 8.3.
• config.php names APCu but the module was never installed.

Check

1. Check that the CLI loads the module
   php -m | grep -i apcuCopy
2. Show apc.enable_cli and the CLI's loaded php.ini
   php -i | grep -E 'apc.enable_cli|Loaded Configuration File'Copy
3. Show the configured local cache
   sudo -u www-data php /var/www/nextcloud/occ config:system:get memcache.localCopy
4. Search existing entries in the CLI configuration
   grep -r 'apc.enable_cli' /etc/php/*/cli/Copy

Fix

• Add apc.enable_cli=1 to /etc/php/8.3/mods-available/apcu.ini.
• Install the missing module: apt install php8.3-apcu – matching the PHP version in use.
• Call occ and cron with the right version, e.g. php8.3 occ and php8.3 -f cron.php.
• No APCu possible? Use 'memcache.local' => '\OC\Memcache\Redis' instead.
• Then check with occ status that the message is gone.

FAQ

Do I need to restart PHP-FPM?

Not for the CLI – it reads its config on every call. Only if you reinstall the module for FPM do you need to restart PHP-FPM.

Does this fix the cron job too?

Often, yes. cron.php aborts with the same message, and Nextcloud then reports stale background jobs.