diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index bca214af664914277377d179c61ce2716f066e12..564fefa5f71c6596928cbc1df48eecf708e58b3a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
   by setting the server property `EXT_ENTITY_STATE=ENABLED`. See
   [!62](https://gitlab.com/caosdb/caosdb-server/-/merge_requests/62) for more
   information.
+* `ETag` property for the query. The `ETag` tags a server state and is being
+  updated each time the server state is being updated (i.e. the stored entities
+  change). This can be used to debug the query cache and also allows a client
+  to determine whether the server's state has changed between queries.
 * Basic caching for queries. The caching is enabled by default and can be
   controlled by the usual "cache" flag.
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/caosdb/server/query/Query.java b/src/main/java/org/caosdb/server/query/Query.java
index deee34bfea87f15167689c602ab4a238cea547fe..cd323bd972b21a261c84bfa6c16c08ea54558fd0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/caosdb/server/query/Query.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/caosdb/server/query/Query.java
@@ -239,6 +239,12 @@ public class Query implements QueryInterface, ToElementable, TransactionInterfac
    */
   private boolean cachable = true;
 
+  /**
+   * Tags the query cache and is renewed each time the cache is being cleared, i.e. each time the
+   * database is being updated.
+   *
+   * <p>As the name suggests, the idea is similar to the ETag header of the HTTP protocol.
+   */
   private static String cacheETag = UUID.randomUUID().toString();
 
   public Type getType() {
@@ -979,4 +985,16 @@ public class Query implements QueryInterface, ToElementable, TransactionInterfac
   public Role getRole() {
     return this.role;
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Return the ETag.
+   *
+   * <p>The ETag tags the query cache and is renewed each time the cache is being cleared, i.e. each
+   * time the database is being updated.
+   *
+   * @return The ETag
+   */
+  public static String getETag() {
+    return cacheETag;
+  }
 }
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/caosdb/server/query/QueryTest.java b/src/test/java/org/caosdb/server/query/QueryTest.java
index edbefab78fdfb5846c59a058fdfb67b55a6707cb..9ca813701ada8e5dd7f311ece5cf9f423974e79f 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/caosdb/server/query/QueryTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/caosdb/server/query/QueryTest.java
@@ -1,10 +1,15 @@
 package org.caosdb.server.query;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertNull;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import org.caosdb.server.CaosDBServer;
+import org.caosdb.server.database.access.InitAccess;
+import org.caosdb.server.transaction.WriteTransaction;
 import org.junit.BeforeClass;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
@@ -61,4 +66,36 @@ public class QueryTest {
     assertNull(q.getEntity());
     assertEquals(Query.Role.ENTITY, q.getRole());
   }
+
+  /** Assure that {@link WriteTransaction#commit()} calls {@link Query#clearCache()}. */
+  @Test
+  public void testEtagChangesAfterWrite() {
+    String old = Query.getETag();
+    assertNotNull(old);
+
+    WriteTransaction w =
+        new WriteTransaction(null) {
+
+          @Override
+          public boolean useCache() {
+            // this function is being overriden purely for the purpose of calling
+            // commit() (which is protected)
+            try {
+              // otherwise the test fails because getAccess() return null;
+              setAccess(new InitAccess(null));
+
+              commit();
+            } catch (Exception e) {
+              fail("this should not happen");
+            }
+            return false;
+          }
+        };
+
+    // trigger commit();
+    w.useCache();
+
+    String neu = Query.getETag();
+    assertNotEquals(old, neu, "old and new tag should not be equal");
+  }
 }