update GitHub Actions for vmui workflows: optimize caching and dependency installation process

[arturminchukov]

Describe Your Changes

Update GitHub Actions for vmui workflows: optimize caching and dependency installation process

Checklist

The following checks are mandatory:

• My change adheres to VictoriaMetrics contributing guidelines.
• My change adheres to VictoriaMetrics development goals.

[func25]

I don't get it. Every time CI runs make vmui-lint/vmui-test/vmui-typecheck, it runs npm ci again anyway. Since npm ci always does a clean install, it doesn't really use the cache. Am I missing something?

[arturminchukov]

Yeah, you're right, changed it to npm i, because it takes the existing node_modules folder and validates it.

[func25]

I have two concerns...

What's the goal of these commands? running them manually or improving CI speed? If it's the latter, then npm i still runs 3x for lin, test, typecheck (not too long, but not too short either, and it still takes time), right? You might consider adding a VMUI_SKIP_INSTALL env var if these commands are also used manually.

If you change the workflow to run npm i only when needed (after resolving the above), then it's better to use npm ci (since it's faster and more secure). So the usual practice is:

• cache hit -> skip install (don't run npm i or npm ci at all)
• cache miss -> run npm ci once -> cache node_modules

[func25]

I guess a single uses: actions/cache@v5 step is enough and simpler. From what I understand about actions/cache, it also saves the cache automatically at the end of the job if the key wasn't hit

If the provided key matches an existing cache, a new cache is not created and if the provided key doesn't match an existing cache, a new cache is automatically created provided the job completes successfully.

So it's enough to do this:

- name: Cache node_modules
  id: cache
  uses: actions/cache@v5
  with:
    path: app/vmui/packages/vmui/node_modules
    key: vmui-deps-${{ runner.os }}-${{ hashFiles('app/vmui/packages/vmui/package-lock.json') }}

- name: Install dependencies
  if: steps.cache.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
  run: make vmui-install

[func25]

The key field change looks better than the previous one, you may also want to account for the Dockerfile-build (because node_modules are produced inside a Docker image and depnd on the base image?)

key: vmui-deps-${{ runner.os }}-${{ hashFiles('app/vmui/packages/vmui/package-lock.json', 'app/vmui/Dockerfile-build') }}

[func25]

I have two concerns...

What's the goal of these commands? running them manually or improving CI speed? If it's the latter, then npm i still runs 3x for lin, test, typecheck (not too long, but not too short either, and it still takes time), right? You might consider adding a VMUI_SKIP_INSTALL env var if these commands are also used manually.

If you change the workflow to run npm i only when needed (after resolving the above), then it's better to use npm ci (since it's faster and more secure). So the usual practice is:

• cache hit -> skip install (don't run npm i or npm ci at all)
• cache miss -> run npm ci once -> cache node_modules