I want to make a GitHub Actions pipeline with 3 jobs:

1. dependency installation with npm install
2. linting with npm run lint: "lint": "eslint api/ --ext .js,.jsx ."
3. testing with npm run test: "test": "jest --ci --forceExit --detectOpenHandles --runInBand --verbose --logHeapUsage"

My problem is that, for both linting and testing jobs, it’s a prerequisite to install all my dependencies in order to run ESLint or Jest.

I would like to solve it with having the dependencies installed once by a job and then sharing my node_modules folder with the linting and testing jobs without needing them having to reinstall all my dependencies.

My package structure is the following:

.github folder
client folder
 --package.json
server folder
 --package.json

Currently my CI workflow file looks like this:

name: CI Pipeline

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main, develop ]

jobs:
  dependency-install-server:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Use Node.js 16
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: 16

      - name: Install dependencies - server
        working-directory: ./server
        run: npm install

      - name: Cache dependencies - server
        uses: actions/cache@v3
        with:
          path: |
            ./server/node_modules
            ./client/node_modules
          key: node_modules-${{ hashFiles('./server/package-lock.json') }}
          restore-keys: |
            ./server/node_modules
            ./client/node_modules

  dependency-install-client:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Use Node.js 16
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: 16

      - name: Install dependencies - client
        working-directory: ./client
        run: npm install

  lint-server:
    needs: [dependency-install-server]
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Use Node.js 16
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: 16

      - name: Lint server code
        working-directory: ./server
        run: npm run lint

  lint-client:
    needs: [dependency-install-client]
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Use Node.js 16
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: 16

      - name: Lint client code
        working-directory: ./client
        run: npm run lint

  test-server:
    needs: [dependency-install-server]
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Use Node.js 16
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: 16

      - name: Run tests - server
        working-directory: ./server
        run: npm run test

  test-client:
    needs: [dependency-install-client]
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Use Node.js 16
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: 16

      - name: Run tests - client
        working-directory: ./client
        run: npm run test

My first attempt was to use a cache but in the meantime I realized that it only caches within the actual job and I can’t share my node_modules folder between other jobs.

Is it possible to share my node_modules folder between jobs?

If not, what alternative solution would be the most optimal for my project? I was thinking of splitting my current jobs into separate workflow files and using caching on each of them when I install the dependencies.