The lifecycles of caching depend on deterministic evaluations: Add a way to download github actions caches · Issue #9125
gh api \ -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \ /repos/:owner/:repo/actions/caches
A build compiles perfectly on a local workstation but fails consistently inside the remote CI/CD runner.
: If you see Cache restored... but your build is still slow, your path might be incorrect, or the files are being overwritten by your build tool. 3. Inspect and Manage Caches via UI debug-action-cache
CI/CD pipelines must be fast. In GitHub Actions, caching dependencies, build artifacts, and package managers is the most effective way to slash execution times. However, caching mechanisms are notoriously difficult to visibility inspect. When a cache fails to save, drops unexpectedly, or corrupts your build environment, you need specialized tools to diagnose the issue.
: Here you can see cache sizes, last used dates, and delete problematic caches to force a fresh rebuild. 4. Common Troubleshooting Scenarios
Understanding the Debug-Action-Cache In the world of modern software development, speed is a competitive advantage. As codebases grow, build times often become a bottleneck, leading developers to implement or action caching (commonly seen in tools like Bazel, Gradle, or Nx). While these systems drastically reduce build times by reusing outputs from previous tasks, they introduce a unique set of challenges. When a cache returns an incorrect or outdated result—a phenomenon known as "cache poisoning"—understanding how to debug the action cache becomes a critical skill. The Role of the Action Cache their creation times
| Tool | Purpose | |------|---------| | ACTIONS_RUNNER_DEBUG=true | Full runner logs | | ACTIONS_STEP_DEBUG=true | Step-level cache logs | | gh api /repos/.../actions/caches | List existing caches | | restore-keys with wildcard | Catch similar caches | | lookup-only: true | Test restore without saving |
: In your GitHub repository, go to Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions and add the following as repository secrets:
The simplest way to see exactly what files are being cached is to enable . and their explicit keys
To view a complete list of all saved caches, their sizes, their creation times, and their explicit keys, run:
: Cache not found for key: linux-npm-xyz123
To fix these performance bottlenecks, teams frequently need to implement a dedicated troubleshooting workflow—often organized under automated diagnostics or pipelines named . 🚀 Understanding the Action Cache Ecosystem