`unit-test` job can fail with "Unable to download artifact(s): Artifact not found for name: compile-cache-{PRNUM}"

[trentm]

I have a unit-test job can failing with

Unable to download artifact(s): Artifact not found for name: compile-cache-${PRNUM}

For example https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-js-contrib/actions/runs/20117049153/job/57946234366?pr=3288 is failing for me:

- unit-test (22)
  - Download Build Artifacts

Run actions/download-artifact@v5
  with:
    name: compile-cache-1928
    path: .nx
    merge-multiple: false
    repository: open-telemetry/opentelemetry-js-contrib
    run-id: 20117049153
...

Downloading single artifact
Error: Unable to download artifact(s): Artifact not found for name: compile-cache-1928
        Please ensure that your artifact is not expired and the artifact was uploaded using a compatible version of toolkit/upload-artifact.
        For more information, visit the GitHub Artifacts FAQ: https://github.com/actions/toolkit/blob/main/packages/artifact/docs/faq.md

This is for PR #3288
I had been getting a number of flaky test failures, so the workflow run above was the third run of "Re-run failed jobs".

My guess is that the compile-cache-1928 artifact from the "compile" job of this workflow has now timed out / gone stale (the original run was 2d ago), so now it is impossible to get a step re-run to work.

This is not a critical bug. If my guess is correct, this is only something that will happen when re-running jobs on a workflow run from over 2d earlier.

My guess is that doing a full re-run of all jobs will workaround the issue.

/cc @david-luna

[david-luna]

My guess is that the compile-cache-1928 artifact from the "compile" job of this workflow has now timed out / gone stale (the original run was 2d ago), so now it is impossible to get a step re-run to work.

The cache is configured with retention-days: 1 and it was created in Dec 10th. I think you're right. Compile step should be run again to have the cache entry in place.

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:36 GMT Run actions/upload-artifact@v4
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:36 GMT   with:
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:36 GMT     name: compile-cache-1928
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:36 GMT     path: .nx
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:36 GMT     include-hidden-files: true
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:36 GMT     if-no-files-found: error
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:36 GMT     retention-days: 1
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:36 GMT     compression-level: 6
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:36 GMT     overwrite: false
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:36 GMT   env:
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:36 GMT     NPM_CONFIG_UNSAFE_PERM: true
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:36 GMT     NODE_OPTIONS: --max-old-space-size=4096
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:36 GMT     NX_BASE: origin/main
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:36 GMT     NX_HEAD: HEAD
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:36 GMT With the provided path, there will be 3407 files uploaded
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:36 GMT Artifact name is valid!
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:36 GMT Root directory input is valid!
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:37 GMT Beginning upload of artifact content to blob storage
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:40 GMT Uploaded bytes 7766818
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:40 GMT Finished uploading artifact content to blob storage!
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:40 GMT SHA256 digest of uploaded artifact zip is d3ef642280...
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:40 GMT Finalizing artifact upload
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:40 GMT Artifact compile-cache-1928.zip successfully finalized. Artifact ID 4831652531
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:57:40 GMT Artifact compile-cache-1928 has been successfully uploaded! Final size is 7766818 bytes. Artifact ID is 4831652531

[trentm]

The current cache entries can be seen here (depending on your perms): https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-js-contrib/actions/caches

I'm guessing eventually we'll close this as "won't fix", but something for devs to be aware of.