Caching Dependencies

Workflow runs often reuse the same downloaded dependencies (like Maven or npm packages) from one run to another. Caching these files can significantly speed up your workflow.

Example Workflow

This example shows how to cache the local Maven repository.

name: caching-dependencies

on: workflow_dispatch

env:
  MVN_TARGET_FOLDER: "target"
  MVN_WAR_FILE_NAME: "hello-world.war"

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Setup Maven
        uses: stCarolas/setup-maven@v4.5
        with:
          maven-version: 3.6.0
      - name: Cache local Maven repository
        uses: actions/cache@v3
        with:
          path: ~/.m2/repository
          key: maven-dependencies
      - name: Maven Build
        run: |
          mvn clean package
          pwd && ls -l
          ls -l ${{ env.MVN_TARGET_FOLDER }}

Detailed Explanation

actions/cache@v3

• path: The directory on the runner to cache (e.g., ~/.m2/repository for Maven).
• key: A key for restoring the cache. If a cache hit occurs for this key, the files are restored.

Note: If the cache key changes (e.g., if you base it on a hash of pom.xml), a new cache will be created.

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