Store npm installation task in Visual Studio Team Services cache

Question

Store npm installation task in Visual Studio Team Services cache

After setting up a private agent in VSTS and globally installing NPM, I am facing an issue where each build task is taking around 12 minutes to install NPM packages. This extended time is affecting the efficiency of my builds.

Is there a way to cache NPM installations in order to reduce the build time?

npm build azure-devops

Answer 1

Answer №1

Our development process includes the use of a tool called npm-cache, which is a node module that generates a hash of the package.json file to create a zip folder containing the node_modules content. This allows us to significantly speed up the npm install process by simply extracting a zip file during each build, as long as there are no changes to the package.json file.

The concept behind this approach is that when the tool initially downloads the npm packages, it stores them locally. During subsequent builds, if the package.json file remains unchanged, the tool retrieves the packages from the local disk and copies them to the build agent folder. It only downloads new packages from the internet if there have been changes to the package.json file.

To implement npm-cache on the build machine:

npm install npm-cache -g
In the build definition, add a Command Line task with the following details: Tool:
```
C:\Windows\User\AppData\Roaming\npm\npm-cache
```
(or simply npm-cache if the tool has been added to the environment path variables); Arguments: install npm; Working folder: $(Build.SourcesDirectory) (where the package.json is located).

Answer 2

Our development process includes the use of a tool called npm-cache, which is a node module that generates a hash of the package.json file to create a zip folder containing the node_modules content. This allows us to significantly speed up the npm install process by simply extracting a zip file during each build, as long as there are no changes to the package.json file.

The concept behind this approach is that when the tool initially downloads the npm packages, it stores them locally. During subsequent builds, if the package.json file remains unchanged, the tool retrieves the packages from the local disk and copies them to the build agent folder. It only downloads new packages from the internet if there have been changes to the package.json file.

To implement npm-cache on the build machine:

npm install npm-cache -g
In the build definition, add a Command Line task with the following details: Tool:
```
C:\Windows\User\AppData\Roaming\npm\npm-cache
```
(or simply npm-cache if the tool has been added to the environment path variables); Arguments: install npm; Working folder: $(Build.SourcesDirectory) (where the package.json is located).

Answer 3

Answer №2

Microsoft has recently added a new feature (currently in beta) that allows caching in Azure DevOps pipelines. You can read more about it at this link.

Here is an example of how you can use the feature:

variables:
  npm_config_cache: $(Pipeline.Workspace)/.npm

steps:
- task: CacheBeta@0
  inputs:
    key: $(Build.SourcesDirectory)/package-lock.json
    path: $(npm_config_cache)
  displayName: Cache npm

- script: npm ci

Answer 4

Microsoft has recently added a new feature (currently in beta) that allows caching in Azure DevOps pipelines. You can read more about it at this link.

Here is an example of how you can use the feature:

variables:
  npm_config_cache: $(Pipeline.Workspace)/.npm

steps:
- task: CacheBeta@0
  inputs:
    key: $(Build.SourcesDirectory)/package-lock.json
    path: $(npm_config_cache)
  displayName: Cache npm

- script: npm ci

Answer 5

Answer №3

Regrettably, at the moment we are unable to cache NPM installations as there is currently no built-in feature for it.

However, a user has already submitted a suggestion for this feature on UserVoice: Improving hosted build agent performance with build caches. It appears that the VSTS team is actively addressing this issue...

In the meantime, you can explore ways to accelerate NPM INSTALL on Visual Studio Team Services

Answer 6

Regrettably, at the moment we are unable to cache NPM installations as there is currently no built-in feature for it.

However, a user has already submitted a suggestion for this feature on UserVoice: Improving hosted build agent performance with build caches. It appears that the VSTS team is actively addressing this issue...

In the meantime, you can explore ways to accelerate NPM INSTALL on Visual Studio Team Services

Answer 7

Answer №4

Leverage Cache Task

Integrating caching into a pipeline involves utilizing the Cache pipeline task. This particular task functions similarly to other tasks and is included within the steps section of a job.

Below is an example configuration:

pool:
  name: Azure Pipelines

steps:
- task: Cache@2
  inputs:    
    key: 'YOUR_WEB_DIR/package.json'
    path: 'YOUR_WEB_DIR/node_modules/'

- task: Npm@1
  inputs:
    command: 'install'
    workingDir: 'YOUR_WEB_DIR/frontend'

You may also use the key YOUR_WEB_DIR/package-lock.json, but it's important to note that this file could be altered by subsequent steps like npm install, resulting in a change to its hash value as well.

Answer 8

Leverage Cache Task

Integrating caching into a pipeline involves utilizing the Cache pipeline task. This particular task functions similarly to other tasks and is included within the steps section of a job.

Below is an example configuration:

pool:
  name: Azure Pipelines

steps:
- task: Cache@2
  inputs:    
    key: 'YOUR_WEB_DIR/package.json'
    path: 'YOUR_WEB_DIR/node_modules/'

- task: Npm@1
  inputs:
    command: 'install'
    workingDir: 'YOUR_WEB_DIR/frontend'

You may also use the key YOUR_WEB_DIR/package-lock.json, but it's important to note that this file could be altered by subsequent steps like npm install, resulting in a change to its hash value as well.

Store npm installation task in Visual Studio Team Services cache

Answer №1

Answer №2

Answer №3

Answer №4

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