diff --git a/BUILD b/BUILD
index 1dbc913..f45d775 100644
--- a/BUILD
+++ b/BUILD
@@ -53,13 +53,14 @@
         ":aws-dynamodb-refdb__plugin",
         "//plugins/global-refdb",
         "@amazon-regions//jar",
-        "@testcontainers//jar",
+        "@aws-java-sdk-dynamodb//jar",
         "@docker-java-api//jar",
         "@docker-java-transport//jar",
         "@duct-tape//jar",
         "@jna//jar",
         "@testcontainer-localstack//jar",
-        "@aws-java-sdk-dynamodb//jar",
+        "@testcontainers//jar",
+        "@visible-assertions//jar",
     ],
 )
 
diff --git a/external_plugin_deps.bzl b/external_plugin_deps.bzl
index c3aa3e8..8267357 100644
--- a/external_plugin_deps.bzl
+++ b/external_plugin_deps.bzl
@@ -97,6 +97,12 @@
     )
 
     maven_jar(
+        name = "visible-assertions",
+        artifact = "org.rnorth.visible-assertions:visible-assertions:2.1.2",
+        sha1 = "20d31a578030ec8e941888537267d3123c2ad1c1",
+    )
+
+    maven_jar(
         name = "docker-java-api",
         artifact = "com.github.docker-java:docker-java-api:" + DOCKER_JAVA_VERS,
         sha1 = "4ac22a72d546a9f3523cd4b5fabffa77c4a6ec7c",
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/validation/dfsrefdb/dynamodb/DynamoDBRefDatabase.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/validation/dfsrefdb/dynamodb/DynamoDBRefDatabase.java
index 933fd3f..712f5d1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/validation/dfsrefdb/dynamodb/DynamoDBRefDatabase.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/validation/dfsrefdb/dynamodb/DynamoDBRefDatabase.java
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 
 package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.validation.dfsrefdb.dynamodb;
 
+import static com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.validation.dfsrefdb.dynamodb.ProjectVersionCacheModule.PROJECT_VERSION_CACHE;
+
 import com.amazonaws.services.dynamodbv2.AcquireLockOptions;
 import com.amazonaws.services.dynamodbv2.AmazonDynamoDB;
 import com.amazonaws.services.dynamodbv2.AmazonDynamoDBLockClient;
@@ -28,12 +30,18 @@
 import com.gerritforge.gerrit.globalrefdb.ExtendedGlobalRefDatabase;
 import com.gerritforge.gerrit.globalrefdb.GlobalRefDbLockException;
 import com.gerritforge.gerrit.globalrefdb.GlobalRefDbSystemError;
+import com.google.common.cache.CacheLoader;
+import com.google.common.cache.LoadingCache;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
 import com.google.common.flogger.FluentLogger;
+import com.google.gerrit.common.Nullable;
 import com.google.gerrit.entities.Project;
 import com.google.gerrit.entities.Project.NameKey;
 import com.google.inject.Inject;
+import com.google.inject.Provider;
+import com.google.inject.name.Named;
 import java.util.Optional;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
 import javax.inject.Singleton;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ObjectId;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Ref;
@@ -51,25 +59,36 @@
   private final AmazonDynamoDBLockClient lockClient;
   private final AmazonDynamoDB dynamoDBClient;
   private final Configuration configuration;
+  private final LoadingCache<String, Optional<Integer>> projectVersionCache;
 
   @Inject
   DynamoDBRefDatabase(
       AmazonDynamoDBLockClient lockClient,
       AmazonDynamoDB dynamoDBClient,
-      Configuration configuration) {
+      Configuration configuration,
+      @Named(PROJECT_VERSION_CACHE) LoadingCache<String, Optional<Integer>> projectVersionCache) {
     this.lockClient = lockClient;
     this.dynamoDBClient = dynamoDBClient;
     this.configuration = configuration;
+    this.projectVersionCache = projectVersionCache;
   }
 
-  static String pathFor(Project.NameKey projectName, String refName) {
-    return "/" + projectName + "/" + refName;
+  String pathFor(Project.NameKey projectName, String refName) {
+    return versionPrefix(getCurrentVersion(projectName)) + "/" + projectName + "/" + refName;
+  }
+
+  static String currentVersionKey(Project.NameKey projectName) {
+    return "|" + projectName;
+  }
+
+  static String versionPrefix(Integer version) {
+    return version != null ? "|" + version : "";
   }
 
   @Override
   public boolean isUpToDate(Project.NameKey project, Ref ref) throws GlobalRefDbLockException {
     try {
-      GetItemResult result = getPathFromDynamoDB(project, ref.getName());
+      GetItemResult result = getItemFromDynamoDB(pathFor(project, ref.getName()));
       if (!exists(result)) {
         return true;
       }
@@ -150,7 +169,10 @@
 
   @Override
   public <T> void put(NameKey project, String refName, T value) throws GlobalRefDbSystemError {
-    String refPath = pathFor(project, refName);
+    doPut(project, pathFor(project, refName), value);
+  }
+
+  public <T> void doPut(NameKey project, String refPath, T value) throws GlobalRefDbSystemError {
     String refValue =
         Optional.ofNullable(value).map(Object::toString).orElse(ObjectId.zeroId().getName());
     try {
@@ -197,7 +219,7 @@
   @Override
   public boolean exists(Project.NameKey project, String refName) {
     try {
-      if (!exists(getPathFromDynamoDB(project, refName))) {
+      if (!exists(getItemFromDynamoDB(pathFor(project, refName)))) {
         logger.atFine().log("ref '%s' does not exist in dynamodb", pathFor(project, refName));
         return false;
       }
@@ -211,11 +233,24 @@
     return false;
   }
 
+  @Nullable
+  public Integer getCurrentVersion(Project.NameKey project) throws GlobalRefDbSystemError {
+    try {
+      return projectVersionCache.get(project.get()).orElse(null);
+    } catch (ExecutionException e) {
+      throw new GlobalRefDbSystemError("Could not check project version", e);
+    }
+  }
+
   @Override
   public void remove(Project.NameKey project) throws GlobalRefDbSystemError {
-    // TODO: to remove all refs related to project we'd need to be able to query
-    // dynamodb by 'project': perhaps we should have a composite key of:
-    // PK: project, SK: ref
+    Integer currentVersion = getCurrentVersion(project);
+    int nextVersion = (currentVersion != null ? currentVersion : 0) + 1;
+
+    doPut(project, currentVersionKey(project), Integer.toString(nextVersion));
+    logger.atWarning().log(
+        "Project %s removed, current version %s, next version %s",
+        project, currentVersion, nextVersion);
   }
 
   @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
@@ -223,7 +258,7 @@
   public <T> Optional<T> get(Project.NameKey project, String refName, Class<T> clazz)
       throws GlobalRefDbSystemError {
     try {
-      GetItemResult item = getPathFromDynamoDB(project, refName);
+      GetItemResult item = getItemFromDynamoDB(pathFor(project, refName));
       if (!exists(item)) {
         return Optional.empty();
       }
@@ -239,14 +274,41 @@
     }
   }
 
-  private GetItemResult getPathFromDynamoDB(Project.NameKey project, String refName) {
-    return dynamoDBClient.getItem(
-        configuration.getRefsDbTableName(),
-        ImmutableMap.of(REF_DB_PRIMARY_KEY, new AttributeValue(pathFor(project, refName))),
-        true);
+  private GetItemResult getItemFromDynamoDB(String refPath) {
+    return getItemFromDynamoDB(refPath, true);
   }
 
-  private boolean exists(GetItemResult result) {
+  public GetItemResult getItemFromDynamoDB(String refPath, Boolean consistentRead) {
+    return dynamoDBClient.getItem(
+        configuration.getRefsDbTableName(),
+        ImmutableMap.of(REF_DB_PRIMARY_KEY, new AttributeValue(refPath)),
+        consistentRead);
+  }
+
+  public boolean exists(GetItemResult result) {
     return result.getItem() != null && !result.getItem().isEmpty();
   }
+
+  static class ProjectVersionCacheLoader extends CacheLoader<String, Optional<Integer>> {
+
+    private final Provider<DynamoDBRefDatabase> dynamoDBRefDatabaseProvider;
+
+    @Inject
+    public ProjectVersionCacheLoader(Provider<DynamoDBRefDatabase> dynamoDBRefDatabaseProvider) {
+      this.dynamoDBRefDatabaseProvider = dynamoDBRefDatabaseProvider;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Optional<Integer> load(String project) throws Exception {
+      GetItemResult item =
+          dynamoDBRefDatabaseProvider
+              .get()
+              .getItemFromDynamoDB(currentVersionKey(Project.nameKey(project)), false);
+      Integer currentVersion =
+          dynamoDBRefDatabaseProvider.get().exists(item)
+              ? Integer.parseInt(item.getItem().get(REF_DB_VALUE_KEY).getS())
+              : null;
+      return Optional.ofNullable(currentVersion);
+    }
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/validation/dfsrefdb/dynamodb/Module.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/validation/dfsrefdb/dynamodb/Module.java
index 946d401..4def9f6 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/validation/dfsrefdb/dynamodb/Module.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/validation/dfsrefdb/dynamodb/Module.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
     DynamicItem.bind(binder(), GlobalRefDatabase.class)
         .to(DynamoDBRefDatabase.class)
         .in(Scopes.SINGLETON);
+    install(new ProjectVersionCacheModule());
     bind(AmazonDynamoDB.class).toProvider(AmazonDynamoDBProvider.class).in(SINGLETON);
     bind(AmazonDynamoDBLockClient.class).toProvider(DynamoDBLockClientProvider.class).in(SINGLETON);
     listener().to(DynamoDBLifeCycleManager.class);
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/validation/dfsrefdb/dynamodb/ProjectVersionCacheModule.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/validation/dfsrefdb/dynamodb/ProjectVersionCacheModule.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..55c581c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/validation/dfsrefdb/dynamodb/ProjectVersionCacheModule.java
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2024 The Android Open Source Project
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.validation.dfsrefdb.dynamodb;
+
+import com.google.gerrit.server.cache.CacheModule;
+import com.google.inject.TypeLiteral;
+import java.time.Duration;
+import java.util.Optional;
+
+public class ProjectVersionCacheModule extends CacheModule {
+
+  public static final String PROJECT_VERSION_CACHE = "projectVersion";
+
+  @Override
+  protected void configure() {
+    cache(PROJECT_VERSION_CACHE, String.class, new TypeLiteral<Optional<Integer>>() {})
+        .expireAfterWrite(Duration.ofSeconds(60))
+        .maximumWeight(Long.MAX_VALUE)
+        .loader(DynamoDBRefDatabase.ProjectVersionCacheLoader.class);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/resources/Documentation/config.md b/src/main/resources/Documentation/config.md
index 0d871cc..4f85f41 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/Documentation/config.md
+++ b/src/main/resources/Documentation/config.md
@@ -40,5 +40,19 @@
 Default: When not specified credentials are provided via the Default Credentials
 Provider Chain, as explained [here](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/sdk-for-java/v1/developer-guide/credentials.html)
 
+### Project Deletion
 
+This plugin introduces a caching mechanism to reduce the number of requests to
+DynamoDB by storing the current live version of a project.
+
+Checking the current live version of a project directly from DynamoDB can be
+costly. To minimise the number of DynamoDb operations that are unlikely to
+provide a different result, avoiding excessive charges for reading continuously
+unchanged data, the plugin employs a cache with a time-to-live (TTL) of `60
+seconds`.
+
+> **IMPORTANT NOTE** When a project is deleted, it cannot be recreated with the
+> same name for the subsequent 60 seconds, because of the of the _live version_
+> caching mechanism described above.  Any attempt to recreate the same project
+> with the same name *before 60 seconds* will result in a failure.
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/validation/dfsrefdb/dynamodb/DynamoDBRefDatabaseIT.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/validation/dfsrefdb/dynamodb/DynamoDBRefDatabaseIT.java
index 5012658..246ff79 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/validation/dfsrefdb/dynamodb/DynamoDBRefDatabaseIT.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/validation/dfsrefdb/dynamodb/DynamoDBRefDatabaseIT.java
@@ -21,11 +21,15 @@
 
 import com.amazonaws.services.dynamodbv2.AmazonDynamoDB;
 import com.gerritforge.gerrit.globalrefdb.GlobalRefDbLockException;
+import com.google.common.cache.LoadingCache;
 import com.google.gerrit.acceptance.LightweightPluginDaemonTest;
 import com.google.gerrit.acceptance.TestPlugin;
 import com.google.gerrit.acceptance.WaitUtil;
 import com.google.gerrit.common.Nullable;
 import com.google.gerrit.entities.Project;
+import com.google.inject.Key;
+import com.google.inject.TypeLiteral;
+import com.google.inject.name.Names;
 import java.time.Duration;
 import java.util.Optional;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ObjectId;
@@ -244,6 +248,34 @@
     assertThat(dynamoDBRefDatabase().compareAndPut(project, refName, null, newRefValue)).isTrue();
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void projectVersionShouldBeUsedAsPrefix() {
+    String versionKey = DynamoDBRefDatabase.currentVersionKey(project);
+    dynamoDBRefDatabase().doPut(project, versionKey, "1");
+
+    assertThat(dynamoDBRefDatabase().pathFor(project, "refs/heads/master"))
+        .isEqualTo("|1/" + project + "/refs/heads/master");
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void removeProjectShouldIncreaseProjectVersionWhenNotCached() {
+    assertThat(dynamoDBRefDatabase().getCurrentVersion(project)).isNull();
+
+    dynamoDBRefDatabase().remove(project);
+    projectVersionCache().invalidate(project.get());
+
+    assertThat(dynamoDBRefDatabase().getCurrentVersion(project)).isEqualTo(1);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void removeProjectShouldKeepCurrentVersionWhenCached() {
+    assertThat(dynamoDBRefDatabase().getCurrentVersion(project)).isNull();
+
+    dynamoDBRefDatabase().remove(project);
+
+    assertThat(dynamoDBRefDatabase().getCurrentVersion(project)).isNull();
+  }
+
   private AmazonDynamoDB dynamoDBClient() {
     return plugin.getSysInjector().getInstance(AmazonDynamoDB.class);
   }
@@ -252,6 +284,15 @@
     return plugin.getSysInjector().getInstance(DynamoDBRefDatabase.class);
   }
 
+  private LoadingCache<String, Optional<Integer>> projectVersionCache() {
+    return plugin
+        .getSysInjector()
+        .getInstance(
+            Key.get(
+                new TypeLiteral<>() {},
+                Names.named(ProjectVersionCacheModule.PROJECT_VERSION_CACHE)));
+  }
+
   private void createRefInDynamoDB(Project.NameKey project, String refPath, String refValue) {
     dynamoDBRefDatabase().put(project, refPath, refValue);
   }