Bitbucket Pipelines Not Creating New Cache for Different Branches (File based cache key)

Question

Hello everyone,

I'm experiencing an issue with Bitbucket Pipelines where it isn't creating a new version of the cache for different branches, even though the package-lock.json file is different in each branch. Instead, it seems to be using the same cache across all branches.

Here's the cache configuration I'm using:

caches:
node-server:
key:
files:
- server/package-lock.json
path: server/node_modules

node-ui:
key:
files:
- package-lock.json
path: node_modules

In each branch, the package-lock.json files differ, so I expect Bitbucket to create a new cache for each branch. However, it keeps reusing the same cache, which causes build issues.

The cache keys are based on the package-lock.json contents, but Bitbucket isn't generating a new cache for each branch as expected.

Has anyone faced this issue? Any suggestions on how to ensure a new cache version is created for each branch when package-lock.json changes?

Thanks in advance!

Jan Nescivera · Answer

Hello,
we just experienced the same issue. In our pipeline we are usin build-in "node" cache and also custom "npm" cache with the following definition

```yarn

definitions:  caches:    npm: $HOME/.npm```We have an unmerged branch that I updated yesterday, where I updated some dependencies in package.json and PR pipeline on that branch pupulated the cache (I can see that after clicking Caches button in Pipelines screen).
Tonight our scheduled nightly pilpeline was running on main branch and it failed because one of the updated dependencies prevents main from compiling (we use typescript).
So it seems that caches are somehow shared between branches.

Theodora Boudale · Answer

Hi Uday and welcome to the community!

I cannot reproduce the issue you are reporting. One thing to check is whether you have these file-based cache definitions in the bitbucket-pipelines.yml file of each of the affected branches.

When you open the Source page of the repo on Bitbucket's website, you will see the source code of the repo's main branch. There is a dropdown with the branch name right above the the list of files and directories. Can you switch the branch and then check the bitbucket-pipelines.yml file of each of the affected branches and see if the same cache definition is in all of them?

If that looks ok, we will need to look at the build logs to figure out what is happening and we need a support ticket for that. You can create a ticket via https://support.atlassian.com/contact/#/, in "What can we help you with?" select "Technical issues and bugs" and then Bitbucket Cloud as product. When you are asked to provide the workspace URL, please make sure you enter the URL of the workspace that is on a paid billing plan to proceed with ticket creation.

Please provide in the ticket the URL of two builds on different branches using the same cache so we can further investigate. The support ticket will be visible only to you and Atlassian staff, so anything you post there won't be publicly visible.

Kind regards,
Theodora