Speeding up GitHub Actions by caching npm dependencies

[WEREWOLF-DEMON]

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How do I cache npm dependencies in GitHub Actions?

I have a Node.js project with a workflow that installs dependencies using npm install. Every run takes a lot of time because it re-installs everything from scratch.

Is there a way to cache the node_modules folder (or npm cache) between runs so the workflow is faster?

[Notookk]

@WEREWOLF-DEMON Yes 🙂 You can speed up your Node.js workflow by caching npm dependencies with the built-in actions/cache. Here’s an example:

- uses: actions/cache@v3
  with:
    path: ~/.npm
    key: ${{ runner.os }}-node-${{ hashFiles('**/package-lock.json') }}
    restore-keys: |
      ${{ runner.os }}-node-

This caches the npm folder based on your package-lock.json. When the lockfile changes, the cache updates.

Alternatively, if you’re using npm ci, this works well with cache too. It can cut install time a lot.