---
title: Cache management with GitHub Actions
linkTitle: Cache management
keywords: ci, github actions, gha, buildkit, buildx, cache
---

This page contains examples on using the cache storage backends with GitHub
Actions.

> [!NOTE]
>
> See [Cache storage backends](../../cache/backends/_index.md) for more
> details about cache storage backends.

## Inline cache

In most cases you want to use the [inline cache exporter](../../cache/backends/inline.md).
However, note that the `inline` cache exporter only supports `min` cache mode.
To use `max` cache mode, push the image and the cache separately using the
registry cache exporter with the `cache-to` option, as shown in the [registry cache example](#registry-cache).

```yaml
name: ci

on:
  push:

jobs:
  docker:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
      
      - name: Login to Docker Hub
        uses: docker/login-action@v3
        with:
          username: ${{ vars.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}
      
      - name: Build and push
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v6
        with:
          push: true
          tags: user/app:latest
          cache-from: type=registry,ref=user/app:latest
          cache-to: type=inline
```

## Registry cache

You can import/export cache from a cache manifest or (special) image
configuration on the registry with the [registry cache exporter](../../cache/backends/registry.md).

```yaml
name: ci

on:
  push:

jobs:
  docker:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
      
      - name: Login to Docker Hub
        uses: docker/login-action@v3
        with:
          username: ${{ vars.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}
      
      - name: Build and push
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v6
        with:
          push: true
          tags: user/app:latest
          cache-from: type=registry,ref=user/app:buildcache
          cache-to: type=registry,ref=user/app:buildcache,mode=max
```

## GitHub cache

### Cache backend API

{{% experimental %}}
This cache exporter is experimental. Please provide feedback on the
[BuildKit repository](https://github.com/moby/buildkit)
if you experience any issues.
{{% /experimental %}}

The [GitHub Actions cache exporter](../../cache/backends/gha.md)
backend uses the [GitHub Cache API](https://github.com/tonistiigi/go-actions-cache/blob/master/api.md)
to fetch and upload cache blobs. That's why you should only use this cache
backend in a GitHub Action workflow, as the `url` (`$ACTIONS_CACHE_URL`) and
`token` (`$ACTIONS_RUNTIME_TOKEN`) attributes only get populated in a workflow
context.

```yaml
name: ci

on:
  push:

jobs:
  docker:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
      
      - name: Login to Docker Hub
        uses: docker/login-action@v3
        with:
          username: ${{ vars.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}
      
      - name: Build and push
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v6
        with:
          push: true
          tags: user/app:latest
          cache-from: type=gha
          cache-to: type=gha,mode=max
```

### Cache mounts

BuildKit doesn't preserve cache mounts in the GitHub Actions cache by default.
If you wish to put your cache mounts into GitHub Actions cache and reuse it
between builds, you can use a workaround provided by
[`reproducible-containers/buildkit-cache-dance`](https://github.com/reproducible-containers/buildkit-cache-dance).

This GitHub Action creates temporary containers to extract and inject the
cache mount data with your Docker build steps.

The following example shows how to use this workaround with a Go project.

Example Dockerfile in `build/package/Dockerfile`

```Dockerfile
FROM golang:1.21.1-alpine as base-build

WORKDIR /build
RUN go env -w GOMODCACHE=/root/.cache/go-build

COPY go.mod go.sum ./
RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/go-build go mod download

COPY ./src ./
RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/go-build go build -o /bin/app /build/src
...
```

Example CI action

```yaml
name: ci

on:
  push:

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Set up QEMU
        uses: docker/setup-qemu-action@v3

      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3

      - name: Docker meta
        id: meta
        uses: docker/metadata-action@v5
        with:
          images: YOUR_IMAGE
          tags: |
            type=ref,event=branch
            type=ref,event=pr
            type=semver,pattern={{version}}
            type=semver,pattern={{major}}.{{minor}}

      - name: Go Build Cache for Docker
        uses: actions/cache@v4
        with:
          path: go-build-cache
          key: ${{ runner.os }}-go-build-cache-${{ hashFiles('**/go.sum') }}

      - name: inject go-build-cache into docker
        uses: reproducible-containers/buildkit-cache-dance@4b2444fec0c0fb9dbf175a96c094720a692ef810 # v2.1.4
        with:
          cache-source: go-build-cache

      - name: Build and push
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v6
        with:
          cache-from: type=gha
          cache-to: type=gha,mode=max
          file: build/package/Dockerfile
          push: ${{ github.event_name != 'pull_request' }}
          tags: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }}
          labels: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.labels }}
          platforms: linux/amd64,linux/arm64
```

For more information about this workaround, refer to the
[GitHub repository](https://github.com/reproducible-containers/buildkit-cache-dance).

### Local cache

> [!WARNING]
>
> At the moment, old cache entries aren't deleted, so the cache size [keeps growing](https://github.com/docker/build-push-action/issues/252).
> The following example uses the `Move cache` step as a workaround (see [`moby/buildkit#1896`](https://github.com/moby/buildkit/issues/1896)
> for more info).

You can also leverage [GitHub cache](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/caching-dependencies-to-speed-up-workflows)
using the [actions/cache](https://github.com/actions/cache) and [local cache exporter](../../cache/backends/local.md)
with this action:

```yaml
name: ci

on:
  push:

jobs:
  docker:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
      
      - name: Cache Docker layers
        uses: actions/cache@v4
        with:
          path: /tmp/.buildx-cache
          key: ${{ runner.os }}-buildx-${{ github.sha }}
          restore-keys: |
            ${{ runner.os }}-buildx-
      
      - name: Login to Docker Hub
        uses: docker/login-action@v3
        with:
          username: ${{ vars.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}
      
      - name: Build and push
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v6
        with:
          push: true
          tags: user/app:latest
          cache-from: type=local,src=/tmp/.buildx-cache
          cache-to: type=local,dest=/tmp/.buildx-cache-new,mode=max
      
      - # Temp fix
        # https://github.com/docker/build-push-action/issues/252
        # https://github.com/moby/buildkit/issues/1896
        name: Move cache
        run: |
          rm -rf /tmp/.buildx-cache
          mv /tmp/.buildx-cache-new /tmp/.buildx-cache
```
