Cache hit rate is 98%, so why does the release keep shipping an old version?
Dependency caches, build caches, and matrix strategies cut CI runtime in half, but when invalidation criteria are set wrong, stale packages sail through builds and turn into unexpected incidents. This article walks through concrete situations where a cache actually breaks a build, and lays out principles for reading invalidation points correctly in lock files, hash inputs, and matrix key design, so you have a safe standard for using caches.