diff --git a/scripts/generate-md-exports.mjs b/scripts/generate-md-exports.mjs
index 229a700691e29..35bbfb55c442e 100644
--- a/scripts/generate-md-exports.mjs
+++ b/scripts/generate-md-exports.mjs
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import imgLinks from '@pondorasti/remark-img-links';
 import {selectAll} from 'hast-util-select';
 import {createHash} from 'node:crypto';
 import {createReadStream, createWriteStream, existsSync} from 'node:fs';
-import {mkdir, opendir, readFile, rm, writeFile} from 'node:fs/promises';
+import {mkdir, opendir, readdir, readFile, rm, writeFile} from 'node:fs/promises';
 import {cpus} from 'node:os';
 import * as path from 'node:path';
 import {compose, Readable} from 'node:stream';
@@ -58,7 +58,20 @@ async function uploadToCFR2(s3Client, relativePath, data) {
   return;
 }
 
-function taskFinishHandler({id, success, failedTasks}) {
+// Global set to track which cache files are used across all workers
+let globalUsedCacheFiles = null;
+
+function taskFinishHandler({id, success, failedTasks, usedCacheFiles}) {
+  // Collect cache files used by this worker into the global set
+  if (usedCacheFiles && globalUsedCacheFiles) {
+    console.log(`🔍 Worker[${id}]: returned ${usedCacheFiles.length} cache files.`);
+    usedCacheFiles.forEach(file => globalUsedCacheFiles.add(file));
+  } else {
+    console.warn(
+      `⚠️ Worker[${id}]: usedCacheFiles=${!!usedCacheFiles}, globalUsedCacheFiles=${!!globalUsedCacheFiles}`
+    );
+  }
+
   if (failedTasks.length === 0) {
     console.log(`✅ Worker[${id}]: converted ${success} files successfully.`);
     return false;
@@ -93,8 +106,16 @@ async function createWork() {
   if (noCache) {
     console.log(`ℹ️ No cache directory found, this will take a while...`);
     await mkdir(CACHE_DIR, {recursive: true});
+  } else {
+    const initialCacheFiles = await readdir(CACHE_DIR);
+    console.log(
+      `📦 Cache directory has ${initialCacheFiles.length} files from previous build`
+    );
   }
 
+  // Track which cache files are used during this build
+  globalUsedCacheFiles = new Set();
+
   // On a 16-core machine, 8 workers were optimal (and slightly faster than 16)
   const numWorkers = Math.max(Math.floor(cpus().length / 2), 2);
   const workerTasks = new Array(numWorkers).fill(null).map(() => []);
@@ -175,12 +196,14 @@ async function createWork() {
     });
   });
   // The main thread can also process tasks -- That's 65% more bullet per bullet! -Cave Johnson
+  const mainThreadUsedFiles = new Set();
   workerPromises.push(
     processTaskList({
       id: workerTasks.length - 1,
       tasks: workerTasks[workerTasks.length - 1],
       cacheDir: CACHE_DIR,
       noCache,
+      usedCacheFiles: mainThreadUsedFiles,
     }).then(data => {
       if (taskFinishHandler(data)) {
         throw new Error(`Worker[${data.id}] had some errors.`);
@@ -190,13 +213,42 @@ async function createWork() {
 
   await Promise.all(workerPromises);
 
+  // Clean up unused cache files to prevent unbounded growth
+  if (!noCache) {
+    try {
+      const allFiles = await readdir(CACHE_DIR);
+      const filesToDelete = allFiles.filter(file => !globalUsedCacheFiles.has(file));
+      const overlaps = allFiles.filter(file => globalUsedCacheFiles.has(file));
+
+      console.log(`📊 Cache tracking stats:`);
+      console.log(`   - Files in cache dir (after build): ${allFiles.length}`);
+      console.log(`   - Files tracked as used: ${globalUsedCacheFiles.size}`);
+      console.log(`   - Files that existed and were used: ${overlaps.length}`);
+      console.log(`   - Files to delete (old/unused): ${filesToDelete.length}`);
+      console.log(`   - Expected after cleanup: ${overlaps.length} files`);
+
+      if (filesToDelete.length > 0) {
+        await Promise.all(
+          filesToDelete.map(file => rm(path.join(CACHE_DIR, file), {force: true}))
+        );
+        console.log(`🧹 Cleaned up ${filesToDelete.length} unused cache files`);
+      }
+
+      // Verify cleanup worked
+      const remainingFiles = await readdir(CACHE_DIR);
+      console.log(`✅ Cache directory now has ${remainingFiles.length} files`);
+    } catch (err) {
+      console.warn('Failed to clean unused cache files:', err);
+    }
+  }
+
   console.log(`📄 Generated ${numFiles} markdown files from HTML.`);
   console.log('✅ Markdown export generation complete!');
 }
 
 const md5 = data => createHash('md5').update(data).digest('hex');
 
-async function genMDFromHTML(source, target, {cacheDir, noCache}) {
+async function genMDFromHTML(source, target, {cacheDir, noCache, usedCacheFiles}) {
   const leanHTML = (await readFile(source, {encoding: 'utf8'}))
     // Remove all script tags, as they are not needed in markdown
     // and they are not stable across builds, causing cache misses
@@ -210,6 +262,11 @@ async function genMDFromHTML(source, target, {cacheDir, noCache}) {
       );
       await writeFile(target, data, {encoding: 'utf8'});
 
+      // Track that we used this cache file
+      if (usedCacheFiles) {
+        usedCacheFiles.add(cacheKey);
+      }
+
       return {cacheHit: true, data};
     } catch (err) {
       if (err.code !== 'ENOENT') {
@@ -304,10 +361,20 @@ async function genMDFromHTML(source, target, {cacheDir, noCache}) {
     ).catch(err => console.warn('Error writing cache file:', err)),
   ]);
 
+  // Track that we created this cache file
+  if (usedCacheFiles) {
+    usedCacheFiles.add(cacheKey);
+  }
+
   return {cacheHit: false, data};
 }
 
-async function processTaskList({id, tasks, cacheDir, noCache}) {
+async function processTaskList({id, tasks, cacheDir, noCache, usedCacheFiles}) {
+  // Workers don't receive usedCacheFiles in workerData, so create a new Set
+  if (!usedCacheFiles) {
+    usedCacheFiles = new Set();
+  }
+
   const s3Client = getS3Client();
   const failedTasks = [];
   let cacheMisses = [];
@@ -318,6 +385,7 @@ async function processTaskList({id, tasks, cacheDir, noCache}) {
       const {data, cacheHit} = await genMDFromHTML(sourcePath, targetPath, {
         cacheDir,
         noCache,
+        usedCacheFiles,
       });
       if (!cacheHit) {
         cacheMisses.push(relativePath);
@@ -345,6 +413,11 @@ async function processTaskList({id, tasks, cacheDir, noCache}) {
       `📤 Worker[${id}]: Updated the following files on R2: \n${r2CacheMisses.map(n => ` - ${n}`).join('\n')}`
     );
   }
+  const cacheHits = success - cacheMisses.length;
+  console.log(
+    `📈 Worker[${id}]: Cache stats: ${cacheHits} hits, ${cacheMisses.length} misses (${((cacheMisses.length / success) * 100).toFixed(1)}% miss rate)`
+  );
+
   if (cacheMisses.length / tasks.length > 0.1) {
     console.warn(`⚠️ Worker[${id}]: More than 10% cache miss rate during build.`);
   } else if (cacheMisses.length > 0) {
@@ -357,6 +430,7 @@ async function processTaskList({id, tasks, cacheDir, noCache}) {
     id,
     success,
     failedTasks,
+    usedCacheFiles: Array.from(usedCacheFiles),
   };
 }
 
diff --git a/src/mdx.ts b/src/mdx.ts
index 459caea86d37f..1fc5189fad55e 100644
--- a/src/mdx.ts
+++ b/src/mdx.ts
@@ -68,6 +68,58 @@ if (process.env.CI) {
 
 const md5 = (data: BinaryLike) => createHash('md5').update(data).digest('hex');
 
+// Worker-level registry cache to avoid fetching multiple times per worker
+let cachedRegistryHash: Promise<string> | null = null;
+
+/**
+ * Fetch registry data and compute its hash, with retry logic and exponential backoff.
+ * Retries up to maxRetries times with exponential backoff starting at initialDelayMs.
+ */
+async function getRegistryHashWithRetry(
+  maxRetries = 3,
+  initialDelayMs = 1000
+): Promise<string> {
+  let lastError: Error | null = null;
+
+  for (let attempt = 0; attempt <= maxRetries; attempt++) {
+    try {
+      const [apps, packages] = await Promise.all([
+        getAppRegistry(),
+        getPackageRegistry(),
+      ]);
+      return md5(JSON.stringify({apps, packages}));
+    } catch (err) {
+      lastError = err as Error;
+
+      if (attempt < maxRetries) {
+        const delay = initialDelayMs * Math.pow(2, attempt);
+        // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
+        console.warn(
+          `Failed to fetch registry (attempt ${attempt + 1}/${maxRetries + 1}). Retrying in ${delay}ms...`,
+          err
+        );
+        await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, delay));
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  throw lastError || new Error('Failed to fetch registry after all retries');
+}
+
+/**
+ * Get the registry hash, using cached value if available.
+ * This ensures we only fetch the registry once per worker process.
+ * If the fetch fails, the error is cached so subsequent calls fail fast.
+ */
+function getRegistryHash(): Promise<string> {
+  if (!cachedRegistryHash) {
+    // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
+    console.info('Fetching registry hash for the first time in this worker');
+    cachedRegistryHash = getRegistryHashWithRetry();
+  }
+  return cachedRegistryHash;
+}
+
 async function readCacheFile<T>(file: string): Promise<T> {
   const reader = createReadStream(file);
   const decompressor = createBrotliDecompress();
@@ -541,23 +593,41 @@ export async function getFileBySlug(slug: string): Promise<SlugFile> {
     // continue anyway - images should already exist from build time
   }
 
-  // If the file contains content that depends on the Release Registry (such as an SDK's latest version), avoid using the cache for that file, i.e. always rebuild it.
-  // This is because the content from the registry might have changed since the last time the file was cached.
-  // If a new component that injects content from the registry is introduced, it should be added to the patterns below.
-  const skipCache =
+  // Detect if file contains content that depends on the Release Registry
+  // If it does, we include the registry hash in the cache key so the cache
+  // is invalidated when the registry changes.
+  const dependsOnRegistry =
     source.includes('@inject') ||
     source.includes('<PlatformSDKPackageName') ||
     source.includes('<LambdaLayerDetail');
 
   // Check cache in CI environments
   if (process.env.CI) {
-    if (skipCache) {
-      // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
-      console.info(
-        `Not using cached version of ${sourcePath}, as its content depends on the Release Registry`
-      );
+    const sourceHash = md5(source);
+
+    // Include registry hash in cache key for registry-dependent files
+    if (dependsOnRegistry) {
+      try {
+        const registryHash = await getRegistryHash();
+        cacheKey = `${sourceHash}-${registryHash}`;
+        // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
+        console.info(
+          `Using registry-aware cache for ${sourcePath} (registry hash: ${registryHash.slice(0, 8)}...)`
+        );
+      } catch (err) {
+        // If we can't get registry hash, skip cache for this file
+        // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
+        console.warn(
+          `Failed to get registry hash for ${sourcePath}, skipping cache:`,
+          err
+        );
+        cacheKey = null;
+      }
     } else {
-      cacheKey = md5(source);
+      cacheKey = sourceHash;
+    }
+
+    if (cacheKey) {
       cacheFile = path.join(CACHE_DIR, `${cacheKey}.br`);
       assetsCacheDir = path.join(CACHE_DIR, cacheKey);
 
@@ -711,7 +781,7 @@ export async function getFileBySlug(slug: string): Promise<SlugFile> {
     },
   };
 
-  if (assetsCacheDir && cacheFile && !skipCache) {
+  if (assetsCacheDir && cacheFile && cacheKey) {
     try {
       await cp(assetsCacheDir, outdir, {recursive: true});
     } catch (e) {