Github Actions restored cache is not being used - github

Question

I'm having hard time figuring out how to make the pipeline use the restored cache of npm modules.
Here's the manifest file:
jobs:
setup-build-push-deploy:
name: Setup, Build, Push, and Deploy
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
# Checkout the repo
- name: Checkout
uses: actions/checkout#v2
- name: Setup NodeJS
uses: actions/setup-node#v1
with:
node-version: '12.14'
# Cache the npm node modules
- name: Cache node modules
uses: actions/cache#v1
id: cache-node-modules
env:
CACHE_NAME: cache-node-modules
with:
# npm cache files are stored in `~/.npm` on Linux/macOS
path: ~/.npm
key: ${{ env.CACHE_NAME }}-${{ hashFiles('app/package-lock.json') }}
restore-keys: |
${{ env.CACHE_NAME }}-
# Install NPM dependencies
- name: Install Dependencies
if: steps.cache-node-modules.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
run: |
cd app/
npm install
# Compile Typescript to Javascript
- name: Compile Typescript
run: |
cd app/
npm run make
The "cache" step does make a successful cache hit, and therefore the "install dependencies" step is skipped. But then the "compile" step fails, because it cannot find any installed npm modules.
The docs here and here and the SO question, eg. here, do not specify any certain step or configuration that points towards where to pick up the cached modules from. Seems like they should be picked up automatically from ~/.npm, but that's not the case.

Answer 1

I was able to solve this by changing the path to node_modules:
Here's an example:
jobs:
prepare-npm-cache:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout#v2
- uses: actions/setup-node#v2
with:
node-version: 12.22.0
- name: Cache node modules
uses: actions/cache#v2
id: npm_cache_id
with:
path: node_modules
key: ${{ runner.os }}-npm-cache-${{ hashFiles('**/package-lock.json') }}
restore-keys: |
${{ runner.os }}-npm-cache-
${{ runner.os }}-
- name: Install Dependencies
if: steps.npm_cache_id.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
run: npm ci

Answer 2

I found myself in the exact same situation.
The node_modules seems to be cached but then the next job immediately fails due to missing dependencies.
I ended up using this GitHub action by Gleb Bahmutov.
Specifically this part:
- uses: bahmutov/npm-install#v1.4.5
- run: npm install
- run: npm run ***
Detailed description can be found in this article:
https://glebbahmutov.com/blog/do-not-let-npm-cache-snowball/