Allow disabling cache

[skjnldsv]

Hi,

Because of that issue: actions/cache#720, the cypress action step takes a very long time on self-hosted runners. The difference is so big that disabling the cache is faster.

Alternatively, you could consider migrating to the buildjet/cache action, or push forward for Github to fix actions/cache#720

Thanks :)

[MikeMcC399]

@skjnldsv

Could you please share some more information?

• What is your GitHub self-hosted runner environment?
• How long does cache retrieval take? What is your expectation for how long it should take?
• What is your workflow?
• Also a workflow log with debug enabled would be useful:

  env:
    DEBUG: '@cypress/github-action'

The CI examples here all run on GitHub-hosted runners, so we only have timings available for these standard runners.

[skjnldsv]

Of course :)

What is your GitHub self-hosted runner environment?

We're on ubuntu-latest (22.04), using the same image as the official Github runners.

How long does cache retrieval take? What is your expectation for how long it should take?

Github: ~4 seconds
Self-hosted: ~70 seconds

What is your workflow?

• https://github.com/nextcloud/viewer/blob/master/.github/workflows/cypress.yml

Also a workflow log with debug enabled would be useful:

• !fixup: add @cypress/github-action debug nextcloud/viewer#1762
• https://github.com/nextcloud/viewer/actions/runs/5413086375?pr=1762

---

PS: if you want to know if a runner executed on our self hosted or github official, you can check the Setup job step output:

• Self-hosted: image
• Github: image

[MikeMcC399]

@skjnldsv
Thanks for the material!

This is a feature request, so the Cypress.io team would need to weigh in on the request to allow optional disabling of caching.

I read in the GitHub documentation Caching dependencies to speed up workflows:

"When using self-hosted runners, caches from workflow runs are stored on GitHub-owned cloud storage. A customer-owned storage solution is only available with GitHub Enterprise Server."

which probably contributes to generally longer run times for caching on self-hosted runners.

[skjnldsv]

which probably contributes to generally longer run times for caching on self-hosted runners.

If you look at the article from https://buildjet.com/for-github-actions/blog/launch-buildjet-cache as well as the issue here actions/cache#720, you'll see this is more of an issue with azure than else.

But this is also not really your call. Thus me only asking for a way to disable the cache.
The issue should be fixed by Github, I agree with you :)

[skjnldsv]

Any news @MikeMcC399 ?

[MikeMcC399]

@skjnldsv

There is no new status on your enhancement request.

• The issue you mentioned Extremely slow cache on self-hosted from time to time actions/cache#720 is still open
• The Cypress.io team has not given any opinion on your request

As a flexible alternative to using the cypress-io/github-action JavaScript GitHub action you may like to consider basing your workflow(s) on one of the two examples listed in the cypress-io/cypress-example-kitchensink > README

• single.yml
• parallel.yml

In these up-to-date example workflows the caching is set up in the workflows themselves, so the caching could be removed / commented out or could be replaced by the buildjet/cache you suggested. The workflows run under GitHub Actions and run Cypress from the CLI instead of using the Cypress Module API. These workflows have no dependency on cypress-io/github-action.