Optimizing CI Build Times with Turborepo Remote Caching

Background

Our client, a leading European research university, was experiencing slow CI build times. With 18 minutes as the current build time, they were looking for ways to improve their development workflow.

Solution Overview

We implemented Turborepo, a popular open-source tool for managing dependencies and caching in software projects. One of its key features is remote caching, which allows us to store frequently-used build artifacts on a cloud-based server.

Before and After Results

Before implementing Turborepo with remote caching, our client's CI build times were around 18 minutes. After the implementation, we saw a significant reduction in build time to just 4 minutes.

How it Works

Turborepo's remote caching feature works by storing frequently-used build artifacts on a cloud-based server. When a developer makes changes to their code, Turborepo checks if the artifact is already cached. If it is, it can skip the rebuild and use the cached version instead.

Example Configuration

Here's an example of how we configured Turborepo for remote caching: yml remoteCache: 'https://example.com/cache' cacheDir: '/tmp/turborepo-cache'

Conclusion

By implementing Turborepo with remote caching, we were able to reduce our client's CI build time by 75%. This significant reduction in build time has improved their development workflow and enabled them to deliver software faster.