How to Delete All GitHub Actions Caches at Once

Deleting GitHub Actions caches one by one through the web interface is tedious when you need to clear them all.

Prerequisites

Install GitHub CLI via Homebrew:

brew install gh
gh auth login

Solution

gh cache delete --all

Run this from your local repository directory. The --all flag handles bulk deletion in a single command.

For a specific repository from any directory:

gh cache delete --all -R owner/repo

Automated Cleanup Workflow

Schedule automatic cache cleanup with a GitHub Actions workflow:

name: Clear GitHub Actions Caches
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: "0 4 * * 0"  # Weekly on Sundays at 4 AM
  workflow_dispatch:      # Manual trigger option

jobs:
  clear-caches:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      actions: write
    steps:
      - run: gh cache delete --all --repo $
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: $

The actions: write permission is required for cache deletion.

API Method

For programmatic control over individual caches:

gh api --paginate -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
  /repos/owner/repo/actions/caches \
  | jq '.actions_caches[].id' \
  | xargs -I {} gh api --method DELETE \
    -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
    /repos/owner/repo/actions/caches/{}

This lists all cache IDs and deletes each one via the REST API.

Third-Party Action

The easimon/wipe-cache action provides workflow-based cache clearing:

- name: Clear caches
  uses: easimon/wipe-cache@main
  with:
    dry-run: 'false'

When to Clear Caches

• Dependency lock file changes not reflecting in builds
• Cache corruption causing intermittent failures
• Significant changes to build configuration
• Storage quota approaching limits