--- title: "Persist a tool’s incremental analysis state" description: "Keep reusable configuration or analysis state in addition to dependency downloads, using the tool’s own cache contract." url: https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/techniques/persist-tool-analysis canonicalUrl: https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/techniques/persist-tool-analysis --- # Persist a tool’s incremental analysis state Keep reusable configuration or analysis state in addition to dependency downloads, using the tool’s own cache contract. ## How to choose an approach Compare the examples by repository setup, prerequisites, and risks before adopting one. Each company implemented this in its own environment; measure each change against your own baseline. - **[OpenAI](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/openai#persist-tool-analysis)**: Use it when Lint rebuilds its tools or analysis on every run despite restored dependency caches. Check before adopting: Restore, save and storage can outweigh reuse. Separate writers must never publish incomplete state under another job's key. - **[Shopify](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/shopify#enable-tool-cache)**: Use it when The build tool supports task caching and the CI commands bypass it. Check before adopting: A cached task whose inputs leave out a file restores stale work; declare shared configuration, lockfiles and tool versions as inputs. - **[Stripe](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/stripe#cache-gradle-configuration)**: Use it when Gradle spends noticeable time configuring the same task graph on every run. Check before adopting: Configuration caches can contain secrets, so use Gradle’s encryption support and keep cache writes inside a trusted boundary. Resolve configuration-cache warnings before relying on it, and keep incompatible tasks such as publishing on the uncached path. ## Apply this technique ````text Evaluate and apply this CI technique to my repository: Persist a tool’s incremental analysis state. Keep reusable configuration or analysis state in addition to dependency downloads, using the tool’s own cache contract. Read the technique and its source-backed company examples: https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/techniques/persist-tool-analysis.md Inspect this repository’s CI workflows, build and test commands, dependencies, and recent run timings. Identify where this technique applies and explain the expected benefit using this repository’s evidence. Measure a baseline from recent comparable runs: elapsed time, queue time, runner minutes and failures where available. If data is unavailable, say what cannot be measured. Compare relevant company approaches, checking prerequisites, platform differences and tradeoffs. Rank applicable options by evidence, fit and measurable opportunity; do not present company results as predictions for this repo. Recommend the smallest safe change, show what checks and fallback paths remain, and ASK ME WHICH CHANGE TO APPROVE BEFORE EDITING ANY FILES. Only after approval, work on a new feature branch, make one reversible change, and open a reviewable pull request. Never merge or push to a default or protected branch. Keep required checks, test coverage, deployment and release behavior intact. Validate the change and compare equivalent runs where possible; report limitations and what should be monitored after merge. ```` ## How companies used this technique Read what each company changed and follow the original sources. ### OpenAI: Persist the tool’s analysis state separately In the Go SDK a test job could win the shared cache key before lint saved its tools and analysis. Lint now turns off setup-go caching and owns a cache for modules, Go builds and the golangci-lint cache, keyed per revision with restore fallbacks. Evidence: Source PR/commit evidence Dedicated cache for modules, compiled tools and analysis ([Source](https://github.com/openai/openai-go/pull/996)) Use it when: Lint rebuilds its tools or analysis on every run despite restored dependency caches. Before applying it: Restore, save and storage can outweigh reuse. Separate writers must never publish incomplete state under another job's key. [Read more in the OpenAI playbook](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/openai#persist-tool-analysis) [Primary source](https://github.com/openai/openai-go/pull/996) ### Shopify: Let the build tool reuse unchanged work Shopify CLI's scripts and CI jobs passed --skip-nx-cache, and a cache input included the commit SHA. Shopify/cli#8239 declares explicit cached targets with shared inputs and the real package-local dist outputs, then removes the bypass from scripts and CI. Evidence: Source PR/commit evidence The PR reports repeated builds and bundles restoring 12 of 12 tasks from cache. ([Source](https://github.com/Shopify/cli/pull/8239)) Use it when: The build tool supports task caching and the CI commands bypass it. Before applying it: A cached task whose inputs leave out a file restores stale work; declare shared configuration, lockfiles and tool versions as inputs. [Read more in the Shopify playbook](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/shopify#enable-tool-cache) [Primary source](https://github.com/Shopify/cli/pull/8239) ### Stripe: Cache Gradle configuration as well as dependencies Stripe Android enabled Gradle’s configuration cache with dedicated restore and save steps. A later change also saved Gradle transforms, and publishing commands run with --no-configuration-cache. Evidence: Source PR/commit evidence The author reports slightly faster builds. ([Source](https://github.com/stripe/stripe-android/pull/11749)) Use it when: Gradle spends noticeable time configuring the same task graph on every run. Before applying it: Configuration caches can contain secrets, so use Gradle’s encryption support and keep cache writes inside a trusted boundary. Resolve configuration-cache warnings before relying on it, and keep incompatible tasks such as publishing on the uncached path. [Read more in the Stripe playbook](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/stripe#cache-gradle-configuration) [Primary source](https://github.com/stripe/stripe-android/pull/11749) ## CI optimization is continuous work. Apply this technique yourself, or use StarSling Runners for faster GitHub Actions and optional agent-driven optimization PRs, which teams on eligible paid plans can turn on. [Get self-improving CI](https://starsling.dev/products/runners) ## Related techniques ### [Cache package downloads and dependency stores](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/techniques/reuse-package-downloads) Restore package-manager downloads or dependency stores while keeping a locked install that validates the requested dependency graph. 7 implementations · 6 companies (DoorDash, Linear, Shopify, Spotify, Stripe, Uber) ### [Persist compiler output between runs](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/techniques/persist-compiler-cache) Restore compatible compiler outputs and intermediate objects instead of recompiling unchanged inputs. 2 implementations · 2 companies (OpenAI, Ramp) ### [Bake stable dependencies into runner images](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/techniques/prebuild-runner-images) Prepare versioned system dependencies and build downloads once in the runner image instead of installing them on every job. 2 implementations · 2 companies (Anthropic, Linear) ## Company Playbooks ### [Anthropic](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/anthropic) Run only affected tests ### [DoorDash](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/doordash) Run build and test in parallel, sharded across CI agents ### [Linear](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/linear) Benchmark the same job on faster hardware ### [Mastra](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/mastra) StarSling runners for the slowest test workflow ### [OpenAI](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/openai) Rank CI fixes by the minutes they save ### [Ramp](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/ramp) Move a CPU-bound test suite to a faster CPU ### [Shopify](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/shopify) Let an agent iterate against one CI metric ### [Spotify](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/spotify) Build arm64 on native arm64 runners ### [Stripe](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/stripe) Run only the tests a change can reach ### [Uber](https://starsling.dev/ci-playbooks/uber) Build the merge-queue speculations most likely to be needed ## Related guides Implementation guides for this technique. ### [Cache workflow dependencies](https://starsling.dev/best-practices/github-actions/cache-dependencies) Choose dependency cache paths and keys for your package manager. ### [Cut repeated test setup](https://starsling.dev/best-practices/github-actions/cut-repeated-test-setup) Share expensive setup at the scope your tests need. ### [Share setup steps across jobs](https://starsling.dev/github-actions/optimizations/avoid-duplicated-setup) Centralize repeated setup definitions and remove duplicate or unused steps. ### [Optimize npm installs](https://starsling.dev/github-actions/optimizations/optimize-npm-install) Cache npm dependencies and large downloads and remove unused tool installs. ### [Optimize pnpm installs](https://starsling.dev/github-actions/optimizations/optimize-pnpm-install) Set up the pnpm store cache in the right order and scope recursive commands.