How to cache firebase/emulators directory using GitHub Actions

Question

I am using the firebase emulator to run my tests and, I received a warning about a chance of optimization using the cache system.

How I can do this?

It appears you are running in a CI environment. You can avoid downloading the Firestore Emulator repeatedly by caching the /home/runner/.cache/firebase/emulators directory.

score 15 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 01 '21 at 12:58

15

Define this in GitHub Actions:

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Cache firebase emulators
        uses: actions/cache@v2
        with:
          path: ~/.cache/firebase/emulators
          key: ${{ runner.os }}-firebase-emulators-${{ hashFiles('~/.cache/firebase/emulators/**') }}
...

Then, for example, when we run this command firebase emulators:exec --project example 'npm test', if the emulator is not in the cache path, it will automatically start installing.

First run

Cache is missing

Download emulator when running test

Save cache as post action of actions/cache

Second run

Cache is found and restored and download doesn't happen.

answered Mar 01 '21 at 12:58

banyan

3,837
2
31
25

Worked like a charm. Thank you! – Johnny Oshika Mar 14 '21 at 21:58
Worked but was missing key suffix – malibeg Dec 30 '21 at 13:54
5

I would propose to use ```key: ${{ runner.os }}-firebase-emulators-${{ github.sha }} restore-keys: | ${{ runner.os }}-firebase-emulators- ```. As github caches are immutable and `${{ hashFiles('~/.cache/firebase/emulators/**') }}` will return nothing on the first attempt, this will only cache the very first version of the emulators later on and not account for changes in the emulators used or version updates. – Jarno Jan 26 '22 at 16:15

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 30 '21 at 13:56

If you need to update tool when npm package updates use something like this:

- name: Get Library Versions For Binary Caching
    id: cache-settings
    run: |
      echo "::set-output name=firebase-tools::$(yarn list -s --depth=0 --pattern firebase-tools | tail -n 1 | sed 's/.*@//g')"
      echo "::set-output name=firebase-tools::$(npm list -s --depth=0 | grep firebase-tools | tail -n 1 | sed 's/.*@//g')"

  - name: Cache Firebase Emulator Binaries
    uses: actions/cache@v2.1.2
    with:
      path: ~/.cache/firebase/emulators
      key: ${{ runner.os }}-firebase-${{ steps.cache-settings.outputs.firebase-tools }}

set-output is already deprecated: https://github.blog/changelog/2022-10-11-github-actions-deprecating-save-state-and-set-output-commands/ — Jesús Franco, Oct 21 '22 at 21:36

danilo · Answer 3 · 2023-02-21T17:52:12.867

According to documentation:
https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-workflows/caching-dependencies-to-speed-up-workflows

inside your .github/workflows/filename.yml include cache instructions:

on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
  emulator_test:
    name: Run all tests using Firebase Emulator
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
...
# other instructions
...
      - name: Cache node modules
        id: cache-npm
        uses: actions/cache@v3
        env:
          cache-name: cache-node-modules
        with:
          # npm cache files are stored in `~/.npm` on Linux/macOS
          path: ~/.npm
          key: ${{ runner.os }}-build-${{ env.cache-name }}-${{ hashFiles('**/package-lock.json') }}
          restore-keys: |
            ${{ runner.os }}-build-${{ env.cache-name }}-
            ${{ runner.os }}-build-
            ${{ runner.os }}-

      - if: ${{ steps.cache-npm.outputs.cache-hit != 'true' }}
        name: List the state of node modules
        continue-on-error: true
        run: npm list

      - name: Cache firebase emulators
        uses: actions/cache@v2
        with:
          path: ~/.cache/firebase/emulators
          key: ${{ runner.os }}-firebase-${{ steps.cache-npm.outputs.firebase-tools }}
...
# other instructions
...

Without cache instructions:

Using cache instructions.

How to cache firebase/emulators directory using GitHub Actions

3 Answers3

First run

Second run