cache-manager

Directory-based cache and artifact path management with crate-root discovery, grouped cache paths, and optional eviction on directory initialization.

This crate is intentionally tool-agnostic — it only manages cache/artifact directory layout and paths and does not assume or depend on any specific consumer tooling. Any tool or library that reads or writes files can use cache-manager to compute/manage project-scoped cache paths and apply eviction rules.

It has zero runtime dependencies (standard library only for library consumers).

It is suitable for:

• Artifact storage (build outputs, generated files, intermediate data, etc.).
• Monorepos or multi-crate workspaces that need centralized cache/artifact management via a shared root (for example with CacheRoot::from_root(...)).

Tested on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

Usage

Mental model: root -> groups -> entries

• CacheRoot: project/workspace anchor path.
• CacheGroup: subdirectory under a root where a class of cache files lives.
• Entries: files under a group (for example v1/index.bin).

CacheRoot and CacheGroup are lightweight path objects. Constructing them does not create directories.

Quick start

Using touch (convenient when you want this crate to create the file):

use cache_manager::CacheRoot;

let root = CacheRoot::from_root("/tmp/project");
let group = root.group("artifacts/json");

// Create the group directory if needed.
group.ensure_dir().expect("ensure group");

// `index.bin` is just an example artifact filename that another program might generate.
let entry: std::path::PathBuf = group.touch("v1/index.bin").expect("touch entry");
println!("{}", entry.display());

Without touch (compute from group.path() and write with your own I/O):

use cache_manager::CacheRoot;
use std::fs;

let root = CacheRoot::from_root("/tmp/project");
let group = root.group("artifacts/json");

group.ensure_dir().expect("ensure group");

let entry_without_touch = group.path().join("v1/index.bin");
fs::create_dir_all(entry_without_touch.parent().expect("entry parent"))
	.expect("create entry parent");
fs::write(&entry_without_touch, b"artifact bytes").expect("write artifact");
println!("{}", entry_without_touch.display());

Filesystem effects

• Pure path operations: CacheRoot::from_root, CacheRoot::discover_cache_path, CacheRoot::cache_path, CacheRoot::group, CacheGroup::entry_path, CacheGroup::subgroup
• Create dirs: CacheRoot::ensure_group, CacheGroup::ensure_dir
• Create dirs + optional eviction: CacheRoot::ensure_group_with_policy, CacheGroup::ensure_dir_with_policy
• Create file (creates parents): CacheGroup::touch

Note: eviction only runs when you pass a policy to the *_with_policy methods.

Discovering cache paths

Discover a cache path for the current crate/workspace and resolve an entry path.

Note: discover_cache_path only computes a filesystem path — it does not create directories or files.

Behavior:

• Searches upward from the current working directory for a Cargo.toml and uses that crate root when found; otherwise it falls back to the current working directory.
• The discovered root is canonicalized when possible to avoid surprising differences between logically-equal paths.
• If the relative_path argument is absolute, it is returned unchanged.

use cache_manager::CacheRoot;
use std::path::Path;

// Compute a path like <crate-root>/.cache/tool/data.bin without creating it.
let cache_path = CacheRoot::discover_cache_path(".cache", "tool/data.bin");
println!("cache path: {}", cache_path.display());
// Expected relative location under the discovered crate root:
assert!(cache_path.ends_with(Path::new(".cache").join("tool").join("data.bin")));
// The call only computes the path; it does not create files or directories.
assert!(!cache_path.exists());

// If you already have an absolute entry path, it's returned unchanged:
let absolute = std::path::PathBuf::from("/tmp/custom/cache.json");
let kept = CacheRoot::discover_cache_path(".cache", &absolute);
assert_eq!(kept, absolute);

Eviction Policy

Use EvictPolicy with:

• CacheGroup::ensure_dir_with_policy(...)
• CacheRoot::ensure_group_with_policy(...)
• CacheGroup::eviction_report(...) to preview which files would be evicted.

Apply policy directly to a CacheGroup:

use cache_manager::{CacheRoot, EvictPolicy};

let root = CacheRoot::from_root("/tmp/project");
let group = root.group("artifacts");

let policy = EvictPolicy {
	max_files: Some(100),
	..Default::default()
};

group
	.ensure_dir_with_policy(Some(&policy))
	.expect("ensure and evict");

Apply policy through CacheRoot convenience API:

use cache_manager::{CacheRoot, EvictPolicy};
use std::time::Duration;

let root = CacheRoot::from_root("/tmp/project");
let policy = EvictPolicy {
	max_age: Some(Duration::from_secs(60 * 60 * 24 * 30)), // 30 days
	..Default::default()
};

root
	.ensure_group_with_policy("artifacts", Some(&policy))
	.expect("ensure group and evict");

Preview evictions without deleting files:

use cache_manager::{CacheRoot, EvictPolicy};

let root = CacheRoot::from_root("/tmp/project");
let group = root.group("artifacts");
let policy = EvictPolicy {
	max_bytes: Some(10_000_000),
	..Default::default()
};

let report = group.eviction_report(&policy).expect("eviction report");
for path in report.marked_for_eviction {
	println!("would remove: {}", path.display());
}

Policy fields:

• max_age: remove files older than or equal to the age threshold.
• max_files: keep at most N files.
• max_bytes: keep total file bytes at or below the threshold.

Policies can be combined by setting multiple fields in one EvictPolicy. When combined, all configured limits are enforced in order.

use cache_manager::EvictPolicy;
use std::time::Duration;

let combined = EvictPolicy {
	max_age: Some(Duration::from_secs(60 * 60 * 24 * 30)), // 30 days
	max_files: Some(200),
	max_bytes: Some(500 * 1024 * 1024), // 500 MB
};

Eviction order is always:

1. max_age
2. max_files
3. max_bytes

For max_files and max_bytes, files are evicted oldest-first by modified time (ascending), then by path for deterministic tie-breaking.

eviction_report(...) and ensure_*_with_policy(...) use the same selection logic.

How max_bytes works

• Scans regular files recursively under the managed directory.
• Sums metadata.len() across those files.
• If total exceeds max_bytes, removes files oldest-first until total is <= max_bytes.
• Directories are not counted as bytes.
• Enforcement happens only during policy-aware ensure_*_with_policy calls (not continuously in the background).

Additional examples

Create or update a cache entry (ensures parent directories exist):

use cache_manager::CacheRoot;

let root = CacheRoot::from_root("/tmp/project");
let group = root.group("artifacts/json");

let entry = group.touch("v1/index.bin").expect("touch entry");
println!("touched: {}", entry.display());

Per-subdirectory policies

Different subdirectories under the same CacheRoot can use independent policies; call ensure_dir_with_policy on each CacheGroup separately to apply per-group rules.

Note: calling CacheGroup::ensure_dir() is equivalent to CacheGroup::ensure_dir_with_policy(None). Likewise, CacheRoot::ensure_group(...) behaves the same as CacheRoot::ensure_group_with_policy(..., None).

Get the root path

To obtain the underlying filesystem path for a CacheRoot, use path():

use cache_manager::CacheRoot;

let root = CacheRoot::from_root("/tmp/project");
let root_path = root.path();
println!("root path: {}", root_path.display());

Also obtain a CacheGroup path and resolve an entry path under that group:

use cache_manager::CacheRoot;

let root = CacheRoot::from_root("/tmp/project");
let group = root.group("artifacts");

let group_path = group.path();
println!("group path: {}", group_path.display());

let entry_path = group.entry_path("v1/index.bin");
println!("entry path: {}", entry_path.display());

License

cache-manager is primarily distributed under the terms of both the MIT license and the Apache License (Version 2.0).

See LICENSE-APACHE and LICENSE-MIT for details.