How to cache npm dependencies in GitHub action? - github

Question

Below is my dockerfile. Is there a way to cache npm in GitHub action?
FROM node
WORKDIR /app
ADD package*.json ./
RUN npm ci
ENV PATH /app/node_modules/.bin:$PATH
My GitHub actions:
name: NPM buid
on:
push:
branches:
- main
jobs:
build-npm-image:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#v1
- name: Build and Tag Node image
id: build-ui-image
run: |
export DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1
docker build -t ui -f ./ui/Dockerfile .
P.S I don't want to cache docker image. Above docker file is used just for example. objection is cache npm dependencies

Answer 1

This can be achieved with actions/setup-node#v3
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#v3
- uses: actions/setup-node#v3
with:
node-version: current
cache: npm
- name: Build and Tag Node image
id: build-ui-image
run: |
export DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1
docker build -t ui -f ./ui/Dockerfile .

Answer 2

Did you check below action ?
actions/cache#v2
So your Actions yaml would look like below,
name: NPM buid
on:
push:
branches:
- main
jobs:
build-npm-image:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#v1
- uses: actions/setup-node#v2
with:
node-version: '14'
- name: Caching node modules
uses: actions/cache#v2
with:
path: "app/node_modules"
key: node-modules-${{ hashFiles('app/package.json') }}
- name: Build and Tag Node image
id: build-ui-image
run: |
export DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1
docker build -t ui -f ./ui/Dockerfile .

Answer 3

Caching npm dependencies will not make a difference if you're building a docker image. You can use actions/setup-node for caching JS or docker/build-push-action for Docker.