Binary Cache

The binary cache format is an interface designed for exposing a store over HTTP.

A binary cache consists of:

• A nix-cache-info file at the root with remote-side configuration.
• For each store object:
  • A .narinfo file containing the object's metadata and a (usually relative) URL to the corresponding compressed NAR.
  • A possibly-compressed Nix Archive containing the store object's file system data.
• For every entry in the build trace, a JSON file at build-trace-v2/<drvBaseName>/<outputName>.doi:
  • the path encodes the key
  • the contents are the value.

The following store types use the binary cache format:

• HTTP Binary Cache Store — served over HTTP(S)
• Local Binary Cache Store — stored on the file system
• S3 Binary Cache Store — stored in an AWS S3 bucket