Examples described herein relate to standardizing content requests and responses in a content delivery network (CDN). An edge node receives a control object including sets of instructions each implementing portions of a customer's business logic. The edge node may receive, from a client, a content request identifying a content item, and may apply a set of the instructions which causes the edge node to (i) determine whether any changes are needed for the benefit of a cache server and whether any changes are need for the benefit of an origin server, and (ii) generate a processed client request identifying the content item and including, if needed, any changes for the benefit of the cache server and the origin server. The edge node transmits the processed client request to the cache server, receives a response from the cache server, and transmits a processed client response to the client.