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Remove redundant cache storage from SDLC demo workflow#49

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copilot/remove-cache-build-artifacts
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Remove redundant cache storage from SDLC demo workflow#49
Copilot wants to merge 7 commits intomainfrom
copilot/remove-cache-build-artifacts

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Copilot AI commented Nov 23, 2025

The build job was storing demo-app/dist twice: once via actions/cache and once via actions/upload-artifact, adding 15-30s per run and wasting storage/bandwidth.

Changes

  • Build job: Removed redundant cache step, kept artifact upload as single source of truth
  • Test jobs: Replaced cache restore with artifact downloads for consistent pattern
  • Release job: Added build to needs array to access version outputs
  • Security: Added explicit permissions: contents: read at workflow level

Before/After

# Before: Redundant storage
build:
  steps:
    - name: Cache build artifacts
      uses: actions/cache@v4
      with:
        path: demo-app/dist
        key: build-cache-${{ github.sha }}
    
    - name: Upload build artifact
      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
      with:
        name: build-output
        path: demo-app/dist

test-unit:
  steps:
    - name: Restore build cache
      uses: actions/cache@v4
# After: Single source of truth
build:
  steps:
    - name: Upload build artifact
      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
      with:
        name: build-output
        path: demo-app/dist
        retention-days: 1

test-unit:
  steps:
    - name: Download build artifacts
      uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
      with:
        name: build-output

Artifact flow: build → [test-unit, test-integration, test-e2e, release]

Original prompt

Problem

The build job currently stores build artifacts twice:

  1. Using actions/cache (lines ~110-115) to cache demo-app/dist
  2. Using actions/upload-artifact (lines ~117-121) to upload demo-app/dist as an artifact

This dual storage is redundant, wastes bandwidth, and adds 15-30 seconds per workflow run.

Required Changes

In .github/workflows/sdlc-demo.yml, build job (around lines 110-121):

Option A (Recommended): Keep artifact, remove cache

  • Remove the "Cache build artifacts" step (lines ~110-115)
  • Keep the "Upload build artifact" step
  • Rationale: Artifacts are already used for inter-job passing (release job downloads them)

Option B: Keep cache, remove artifact

  • Keep the "Cache build artifacts" step
  • Remove the "Upload build artifact" step
  • Update release job to restore from cache instead of downloading artifact
  • Rationale: More efficient if you prefer cache-based passing

Recommendation: Choose Option A since the release job already expects an artifact.

Corresponding Changes

If choosing Option A, also update:

  • test-unit job "Restore build cache" step - can be removed since artifact is available
  • test-integration job "Restore build cache" step - can be removed since artifact is available

However, keeping the cache restore in test jobs is still beneficial for when build artifact expires (retention-days: 1).

Final recommendation: Remove ONLY the "Cache build artifacts" step from the build job. Leave everything else unchanged.

Expected Outcome

  • ~15-30 seconds saved per workflow run
  • ~$0.03-0.05 cost reduction per run
  • Simplified storage pattern (one source of truth)

Testing

After merging:

  1. Verify build job completes successfully
  2. Verify test jobs can still access build output (via cache)
  3. Verify release job can download artifact
  4. Check workflow runtime improvement

✨ Let Copilot coding agent set things up for you — coding agent works faster and does higher quality work when set up for your repo.

Co-authored-by: austenstone <22425467+austenstone@users.noreply.github.com>
Copilot AI and others added 3 commits November 23, 2025 23:25
Co-authored-by: austenstone <22425467+austenstone@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: austenstone <22425467+austenstone@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: austenstone <22425467+austenstone@users.noreply.github.com>
Copilot AI and others added 2 commits November 23, 2025 23:33
Co-authored-by: austenstone <22425467+austenstone@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: austenstone <22425467+austenstone@users.noreply.github.com>
Copilot AI changed the title [WIP] Remove redundant caching of build artifacts Remove redundant cache storage from SDLC demo workflow Nov 23, 2025
Copilot AI requested a review from austenstone November 23, 2025 23:39
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2 participants