Cache Action

A Gitea Action that caches build files as tar.xz archives on the runner filesystem. Simple, fast, no external dependencies.

Inputs

Input	Description	Required	Default
path	Single directory to cache	No	~/.cache/
key-prefix	Prefix for the cache key	Yes	—
key-file	File to hash (SHA-256) for the cache key	Yes	—

Outputs

Output	Description
cache-hit	true if exact key match found, false otherwise

How It Works

1. Hashes key-file with SHA-256, combines with key-prefix as <prefix>-<hash>
2. Stores archives at ~/.cache/.cache-store/<key>.tar.xz
3. Restores by extracting the archive to /, saves by creating one

Usage

This action must be used twice in your workflow:

1. Before build — restores cache if it exists
2. After build — saves the cache archive (only on cache miss)

Rust Example

name: Rust Build
on: push

defaults:
  run:
    shell: bash

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      # 1. Restore cache before build
      - uses: Actions/Cache@main
        id: cache
        with:
          key-prefix: 'cargo-registry'
          key-file: 'Cargo.lock'
          path: '~/.cargo/registry'

      - name: Build
        run: cargo build --release

      # 2. Save cache after build
      - uses: Actions/Cache@main
        with:
          key-prefix: 'cargo-registry'
          key-file: 'Cargo.lock'
          path: '~/.cargo/registry'

Skip Steps on Cache Hit

name: Build with Conditional Steps
on: push

defaults:
  run:
    shell: bash

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      # 1. Restore cache
      - uses: Actions/Cache@main
        id: cache
        with:
          key-prefix: 'rust'
          key-file: 'Cargo.lock'
          path: '~/.cargo/registry'

      - name: Fetch dependencies
        if: steps.cache.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
        run: cargo fetch

      - name: Build
        run: cargo build --release

      # 2. Save cache
      - uses: Actions/Cache@main
        with:
          key-prefix: 'rust'
          key-file: 'Cargo.lock'
          path: '~/.cargo/registry'