Using artifact as cache key file

[Nathan Taal]

I want to cache dependencies per branch, therefore I create a text file containing the branch number

definitions:
 steps:
  - step: &prepare
 name: prepare environment
script:
 - echo ${BITBUCKET_BRANCH} > branch.txt
artifacts:
- branch.txt

But I'm unable to use branch.txt in the cache definitions. I tried this:

caches:
 node-modules:
key:
 files:
  - branch.txt
 path: node_modules/

How can I achieve this?

[Theodora Boudale]

Hi Nathan and welcome to the community!

It is not possible to use an artifact as a cache key file. The cache key file needs to be committed in the Bitbucket Cloud repo.

Please keep in mind that even if you commit such a file in the repo, editing it during the Pipelines build will not generate a new cache. The file needs to be changed in a commit of the repo in order for the new cache to be generated. This approach has the following drawback though:

• Assume you have a file branch.txt in main branch with content 'main'
• You create a branch out of main, named feature/a
• You edit branch.txt in feature/a and change the content into 'feature/a'
• When you merge feature/a into main, the content of branch.txt in main will change from 'main' to 'feature/a'

Could you please share why you are looking to cache dependencies per branch?

For node, if you specify for example the package.json file as a cache key file, and you change the dependencies in package.json in feature/a branch, then a new cache will be generated.

Kind regards,
Theodora