Dependency cache

The dependency cache keeps downloaded packages (npm, Composer, pip folder...) between runs to speed up the pipeline. It is identified by a key, often derived from the lock file's hash; when that file changes, the cache is rebuilt.

Example

uses: actions/cache@v4
with:
  path: ~/.npm
  key: npm-${{ hashFiles('package-lock.json') }}

Related concepts

The whole glossary