This action allows caching dependencies and build outputs to improve workflow execution time.
Two other actions are available in addition to the primary
cacheaction:
See"Caching dependencies to speed up workflows".
- Updated to node 20
- Added support for caching in GHES 3.5+.
- Fixed download issue for files > 2GB during restore.
- Updated the minimum runner version support from node 12 -> node 16.
- Fixed avoiding empty cache save when no files are available for caching.
- Fixed tar creation error while trying to create tar with path as
~/home folder onubuntu-latest. - Fixed zstd failing on amazon linux 2.0 runners.
- Fixed cache not working with github workspace directory or current directory.
- Fixed the download stuck problem by introducing a timeout of 1 hour for cache downloads.
- Fix zstd not working for windows on gnu tar in issues.
- Allowing users to provide a custom timeout as input for aborting download of a cache segment using an environment variable
SEGMENT_DOWNLOAD_TIMEOUT_MINS.Default is 10 minutes. - New actions are available for granular control over caches -restoreandsave.
- Support cross-os caching as an opt-in feature. SeeCross OS cachingfor more info.
- Added option to fail job on cache miss. SeeExit workflow on cache missfor more info.
- Fix zstd not being used after zstd version upgrade to 1.5.4 on hosted runners
- Added option to lookup cache without downloading it.
- Reduced segment size to 128MB and segment timeout to 10 minutes to fail fast in case the cache download is stuck.
See thev2 README.mdfor older updates.
Create a workflow.ymlfile in your repository's.github/workflowsdirectory. Anexample workflowis available below. For more information, see the GitHub Help Documentation forCreating a workflow file.
If you are using this inside a container, a POSIX-complianttarneeds to be included and accessible from the execution path.
If you are using aself-hostedWindows runner,GNU tarandzstdare required forCross-OS cachingto work. They are also recommended to be installed in general so the performance is on par withhostedWindows runners.
key- An explicit key for a cache entry. Seecreating a cache key.path- A list of files, directories, and wildcard patterns to cache and restore. See@actions/globfor supported patterns.restore-keys- An ordered multiline string listing the prefix-matched keys, that are used for restoring stale cache if no cache hit occurred for key.enableCrossOsArchive- An optional boolean when enabled, allows Windows runners to save or restore caches that can be restored or saved respectively on other platforms. Default:falsefail-on-cache-miss- Fail the workflow if cache entry is not found. Default:falselookup-only- If true, only checks if cache entry exists and skips download. Does not change save cache behavior. Default:false
SEGMENT_DOWNLOAD_TIMEOUT_MINS- Segment download timeout (in minutes, default10) to abort download of the segment if not completed in the defined number of minutes.Read more
cache-hit- A string value to indicate an exact match was found for the key.- If there's a cache hit, this will be 'true' or 'false' to indicate if there's an exact match for
key. - If there's a cache miss, this will be an empty string.
- If there's a cache hit, this will be 'true' or 'false' to indicate if there's an exact match for
SeeSkipping steps based on cache-hitfor info on using this output
The cache is scoped to the key,version,and branch. The default branch cache is available to other branches.
SeeMatching a cache keyfor more info.
name:Caching Primes
on:push
jobs:
build:
runs-on:ubuntu-latest
steps:
-uses:actions/checkout@v4
-name:Cache Primes
id:cache-primes
uses:actions/cache@v4
with:
path:prime-numbers
key:${{ runner.os }}-primes
-name:Generate Prime Numbers
if:steps.cache-primes.outputs.cache-hit!= 'true'
run:/generate-primes.sh -d prime-numbers
-name:Use Prime Numbers
run:/primes.sh -d prime-numbersThecacheaction provides acache-hitoutput which is set totruewhen the cache is restored using the primarykeyandfalsewhen the cache is restored usingrestore-keysor no cache is restored.
name:Caching Primes
on:push
jobs:
build:
runs-on:ubuntu-latest
steps:
-uses:actions/checkout@v4
-name:Restore cached Primes
id:cache-primes-restore
uses:actions/cache/restore@v4
with:
path:|
path/to/dependencies
some/other/dependencies
key:${{ runner.os }}-primes
.
.//intermediate workflow steps
.
-name:Save Primes
id:cache-primes-save
uses:actions/cache/save@v4
with:
path:|
path/to/dependencies
some/other/dependencies
key:${{ steps.cache-primes-restore.outputs.cache-primary-key }}Note You must use the
cacheorrestoreaction in your workflow before you need to use the files that might be restored from the cache. If the providedkeymatches an existing cache, a new cache is not created and if the providedkeydoesn't match an existing cache, a new cache is automatically created provided the job completes successfully.
With the introduction of therestoreandsaveactions, a lot of caching use cases can now be achieved. Please see thecaching strategiesdocument for understanding how you can use the actions strategically to achieve the desired goal.
Every programming language and framework has its own way of caching.
SeeExamplesfor a list ofactions/cacheimplementations for use with:
- Bun
- C# - NuGet
- Clojure - Lein Deps
- D - DUB
- Deno
- Elixir - Mix
- Go - Modules
- Haskell - Cabal
- Haskell - Stack
- Java - Gradle
- Java - Maven
- Node - npm
- Node - Lerna
- Node - Yarn
- OCaml/Reason - esy
- PHP - Composer
- Python - pip
- Python - pipenv
- R - renv
- Ruby - Bundler
- Rust - Cargo
- Scala - SBT
- Swift, Objective-C - Carthage
- Swift, Objective-C - CocoaPods
- Swift - Swift Package Manager
- Swift - Mint
A cache key can include any of the contexts, functions, literals, and operators supported by GitHub Actions.
For example, using thehashFilesfunction allows you to create a new cache when dependencies change.
-uses:actions/cache@v4
with:
path:|
path/to/dependencies
some/other/dependencies
key:${{ runner.os }}-${{ hashFiles('**/lockfiles') }}Additionally, you can use arbitrary command output in a cache key, such as a date or software version:
#http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/date.1.html
-name:Get Date
id:get-date
run:|
echo "date=$(/bin/date -u" +%Y%m%d ")" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
shell:bash
-uses:actions/cache@v4
with:
path:path/to/dependencies
key:${{ runner.os }}-${{ steps.get-date.outputs.date }}-${{ hashFiles('**/lockfiles') }}SeeUsing contexts to create cache keys
A repository can have up to 10GB of caches. Once the 10GB limit is reached, older caches will be evicted based on when the cache was last accessed. Caches that are not accessed within the last week will also be evicted.
Using thecache-hitoutput, subsequent steps (such as install or build) can be skipped when a cache hit occurs on the key. It is recommended to install missing/updated dependencies in case of a partial key match when the key is dependent on thehashof the package file.
Example:
steps:
-uses:actions/checkout@v4
-uses:actions/cache@v4
id:cache
with:
path:path/to/dependencies
key:${{ runner.os }}-${{ hashFiles('**/lockfiles') }}
-name:Install Dependencies
if:steps.cache.outputs.cache-hit!= 'true'
run:/install.shNoteThe
iddefined inactions/cachemust match theidin theifstatement (i.e.steps.[ID].outputs.cache-hit)
Cache version is a hashgeneratedfor a combination of compression tool used (Gzip, Zstd, etc. based on the runner OS) and thepathof directories being cached. If two caches have different versions, they are identified as unique caches while matching. This, for example, means that a cache created on awindows-latestrunner can't be restored onubuntu-latestas cacheVersions are different.
Pro tip: Thelist cachesAPI can be used to get the version of a cache. This can be helpful to troubleshoot cache miss due to version.
Example
The workflow will create 3 unique caches with same keys. Ubuntu and windows runners will use different compression technique and hence create two different caches. And `build-linux` will create two different caches as the `paths` are different.jobs:
build-linux:
runs-on:ubuntu-latest
steps:
-uses:actions/checkout@v4
-name:Cache Primes
id:cache-primes
uses:actions/cache@v4
with:
path:prime-numbers
key:primes
-name:Generate Prime Numbers
if:steps.cache-primes.outputs.cache-hit!= 'true'
run:./generate-primes.sh -d prime-numbers
-name:Cache Numbers
id:cache-numbers
uses:actions/cache@v4
with:
path:numbers
key:primes
-name:Generate Numbers
if:steps.cache-numbers.outputs.cache-hit!= 'true'
run:./generate-primes.sh -d numbers
build-windows:
runs-on:windows-latest
steps:
-uses:actions/checkout@v4
-name:Cache Primes
id:cache-primes
uses:actions/cache@v4
with:
path:prime-numbers
key:primes
-name:Generate Prime Numbers
if:steps.cache-primes.outputs.cache-hit!= 'true'
run:./generate-primes -d prime-numbersThere are a number of community practices/workarounds to fulfill specific requirements. You may choose to use them if they suit your use case. Note these are not necessarily the only solution or even a recommended solution.
- Cache segment restore timeout
- Update a cache
- Use cache across feature branches
- Cross OS cache
- Force deletion of caches overriding default cache eviction policy
Please note that Windows environment variables (like%LocalAppData%) will NOT be expanded by this action. Instead, prefer using~in your paths which will expand to the HOME directory. For example, instead of%LocalAppData%,use~\AppData\Local.For a list of supported default environment variables, see theLearn GitHub Actions: Variablespage.
We would love for you to contribute toactions/cache.Pull requests are welcome! Please see theCONTRIBUTING.mdfor more information.
The scripts and documentation in this project are released under theMIT License
