Question

A Node.js project uses actions/cache to speed up dependency installs. The team wants the cache to be keyed on the exact hash of package-lock.json, but if no exact match exists (for example after a dependency bump), they want the runner to restore the most recent previous cache for the same OS rather than starting from an empty cache. Which configuration achieves this?

Accepted Answer

Set `key: ${{ runner.os }}-node-${{ hashFiles('**/package-lock.json') }}` and add `restore-keys: |
  ${{ runner.os }}-node-`

Answer

Set `key: ${{ runner.os }}-node-${{ hashFiles('**/package-lock.json') }}` only, since actions/cache automatically falls back to the newest cache when no exact key matches

Answer

Set both `key` and `restore-keys` to `${{ runner.os }}-node-${{ hashFiles('**/package-lock.json') }}` so the exact hash is tried twice

Answer

Set `key: ${{ runner.os }}-node-` and add `restore-keys: |
  ${{ runner.os }}-node-${{ hashFiles('**/package-lock.json') }}`