[Feature Request] custom build cache so that incremental build can be done without a plugin?

For now it caches $NETLIFY_BUILD_BASE/.cache. That means if we want to cache sth. for next build, it has to be in there.

However, the build script clones the repo into $NETLIFY_REPO_DIR, which is not $NETLIFY_BUILD_BASE. As a result, if we create a build script for netlify, and if we want it also run locally, we have to somehow deal with /opt/buildhome or $NETLIFY_REPO_DIR.

What I actually want to do is to also cache $NETLIFY_REPO_DIR/.cache, or let’s call it ./.cache.

However, this cannot be a default, since, it might be a part of the repo.

So I am suggesting instead, a custom build cache entry, which can be similar to how we set publish directory, like this:

[build]
publish = "dist/"
cache = ".cache/"

or

[build]
cache = [ ".cache/" ]

Or maybe,

[build]
publish = "dist/"
cache = [ ".cache/", "dist/" ]

This way, incremental build can be implemented without a plugin.

This is definitely beneficial for tool chains without official incremental build support on netlify. It can also be good for next.js and gatsby, since the plugin is no longer needed.

hey @yw662 ! thank you for writing such a thoughtful feature request - can we ask you to go file it on this repo so we can consider it?

We do always love the opportunity to integrate thoughtful improvements like these - i can’t promise a definitive ETA but filing an issue is a great start.