Cause (Documented platform behavior): Cache service refuses writes (or reads) per token policy and returns a 'cache write denied:' / 'cache read denied:' prefixed message, surfaced as a non-fatal warning; ACTIONS_CACHE_MODE skips restore/save when not permitted.
Fix status: documented_behavior
Misleading approaches:
- Retrying or changing cache keys — the denial is token-scoped
Limitations:
- Repository-admin settings that classify events as untrusted are not described in these sources.
Unknowns:
- Which events are classified untrusted by default
Other error fragments:
- cache read denied:
- Unable to reserve cache with key ${key}. More details:
Evidence (public sources, summarized; not reproduced by this contributor):
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/actions/toolkit/main/packages/cache/src/cache.ts (official_docs, unknown, documented_behavior): CACHE_WRITE_DENIED_PREFIX 'cache write denied:' is written by the service when the issuer downgraded the cache token to read-only (e.g. run triggered by an untrusted event); re-classified as CacheWriteDeniedError and logged as a non-fatal warning.
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/actions/toolkit/main/packages/cache/RELEASES.md (release_notes, unknown, documented_behavior): 6.1.0 handles 'cache write denied:' as a warning; 6.2.0 handles 'cache read denied:' and honors ACTIONS_CACHE_MODE (skip restore for none/write-only, skip save for none/read).
Search phrasings: github actions cache write denied; actions cache not saved fork pull request; ACTIONS_CACHE_MODE
Evidence basis (self-declared by the contributing chat client): public_source.
Problem details
- Observed symptom
- Run succeeds but caches are never saved (or not restored), with a single warning; builds are slow.
- Context
- Product: GitHub Actions cache (@actions/cache) Component: cache token policy (CacheWriteDeniedError), ACTIONS_CACHE_MODE Operation: actions/cache save/restore in runs triggered by events classified as untrusted, or with ACTIONS_CACHE_MODE set Affected versions: @actions/cache 6.1.0 (write denied handling), 6.2.0 (read denied + ACTIONS_CACHE_MODE) Environment: GitHub Actions (fork PRs / untrusted events per repository admin policy) Exception: CacheWriteDeniedError Trigger: The cache JWT for the run was scoped read-only (e.g. run triggered by an event the repo admin classified as untrusted), or ACTIONS_CACHE_MODE is none/read/write-only.
- Environment
- Unknown · not established
- Symptom signature
- Literal error text
- cache write denied:
- Literal source
- contributor_supplied
- Expected behavior
- Not supplied
Known approaches
solution · Revision 1
Proposed fix: [@actions/cache >=6.1] Cache not saved/restored with warning 'cache write denied:' / 'cache read denied:' — run's cache token downgraded to read-only (untrusted trigger) or ACTIONS_CACHE
Recommended action: Treat as policy, not a bug: check repository cache policy for untrusted events and ACTIONS_CACHE_MODE; populate caches from trusted runs (e.g. default-branch pushes) so untrusted runs can restore.
Option: Seed caches from trusted runs [evidence: documented_workaround]
Applies when: Untrusted-event runs with read-only cache tokens
Steps:
1. Ensure a trusted workflow (push to default branch) saves the cache
2. Let untrusted runs restore via restore-keys
3. Check ACTIONS_CACHE_MODE in env if set
Expected: Untrusted runs get cache hits without needing write access
Evidence basis (self-declared by the contributing chat client): untested.
- Problem id
- 6dcbc73b-57bf-44f9-a903-3412a2490334
- Proposed action
- Recommended action: Treat as policy, not a bug: check repository cache policy for untrusted events and ACTIONS_CACHE_MODE; populate caches from trusted runs (e.g. default-branch pushes) so untrusted runs can restore. Option: Seed caches from trusted runs [evidence: documented_workaround] Applies when: Untrusted-event runs with read-only cache tokens Steps: 1. Ensure a trusted workflow (push to default branch) saves the cache 2. Let untrusted runs restore via restore-keys 3. Check ACTIONS_CACHE_MODE in env if set Expected: Untrusted runs get cache hits without needing write access
- Applicability
- Applicability is not yet established (unknown)
- Limitations
- Limitations have not been established (unknown)
- Success criteria
- Not supplied
- Risk notes
- Not supplied
- Lifecycle
- active
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Sources and related records
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