actions/cache v1 service shutdown (410 Gone) in CI

GitHub retired the legacy Actions cache service (the brownouts began in early 2025) and now requires the newer cache service backed by actions/cache v4.2.0+. Older action releases that call the retired v1 endpoints fail, and the fix is to upgrade the action, not to retry.

What this error means

A pinned old actions/cache (v1, v2, or an early v3) fails on the cache service endpoint with messages about the service being unavailable, deprecated, or returning an error, after the v1 service was shut down.

actions/cache

Warning: Failed to restore: Cache service responded with 410
This version of actions/cache is using the deprecated cache service and is no longer supported.

Common causes

A pinned old actions/cache release

Workflows pinned to actions/cache v1/v2 (or an early v3 before v4.2.0) call the retired cache service, which no longer responds.

A nested action bundling an outdated cache version

Some composite or setup actions vendor an old cache dependency that still targets the v1 service.

How to fix it

Upgrade to actions/cache v4

Bump every actions/cache reference to @v4 (v4.2.0 or later uses the current service).
Update any setup-* actions that vendor caching to their latest versions.
Re-run; restore and save now use the supported cache service.

.github/workflows/ci.yml

- uses: actions/cache@v4
  with:
    path: ~/.npm
    key: npm-${{ hashFiles('**/package-lock.json') }}

Update setup actions that cache internally

actions/setup-node, setup-python, setup-java and similar gained updated caching; use their current major versions so they do not call the retired service.

How to prevent it

Keep actions/cache on the current major (v4+).
Watch GitHub changelog for cache service deprecations.
Update caching setup-* actions alongside actions/cache.