How Misconfigured Docker BuildKit Cache Silently Kills CI Build Speed

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A developer discovered that a client's Docker builds were taking nine minutes per pull request despite appearing to use caching, because BuildKit cache had never actually hit in three months. The root cause was using a drifting ':latest' tag as the cache source, which caused silent full rebuilds every time without any error message. BuildKit determines cache hits using a combination of base image digest, build context checksum, and instruction match — meaning even minor file changes can invalidate entire dependency layers. Common mistakes include placing 'COPY . .' before dependency installs, relying on ephemeral CI runner disk storage instead of exporting cache to a registry, and using the now-deprecated inline cache method. Properly configuring registry-based or GitHub Actions cache backends is essential to achieving genuine build speed improvements in CI pipelines.

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Open-source tool tokenscope helps developers track hidden AI agent context costs

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ProgrammingHacker News ·

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ProgrammingDEV Community ·

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ProgrammingDEV Community ·

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