Conditional cache on a release path could not be resolved

📋 What is this?

A release or publish job enables or disables a build cache through a GitHub expression Plumber cannot resolve per trigger: an opt-in enable input or a default-mode disable input outside the github.event_name ==/!= '<event>' shapes. The cache may be off exactly on the runs that publish - the safe pattern - or on for them; the expression does not say which statically.

⚠️ Impact

🔧 How to fix

Make the condition statically checkable: use the ${{ github.event_name != '<publish trigger>' && '<manager>' || '' }} form (or its == inverse) so the cache is provably off on the publish trigger, split caching into a step whose if: excludes the publish trigger, or scope the cache key (and any restore-keys) to the release ref.

# .github/workflows/release.yml - ❌ Cache enablement Plumber cannot resolve
on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  pull_request:
jobs:
  publish:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/setup-java@v4
        with:
          cache: ${{ vars.CACHE_MANAGER }}   # on? off? depends on a repo variable
      - run: npm publish

# .github/workflows/release.yml - ✅ Provably off on the publish trigger
on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  pull_request:
jobs:
  publish:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/setup-java@v4
        with:
          cache: ${{ github.event_name != 'workflow_dispatch' && 'maven' || '' }}
      - name: Publish
        if: github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch'
        run: npm publish

💡 Tips

• The resolvable shapes are github.event_name ==/!= '<event>' comparisons: as a step or job if:, as the enable form ... && '<manager>' || '', or as a bare comparison on a default-mode disable input (cache: ${{ github.event_name != 'release' }} on actions/setup-go).
• Any other whole-value expression (a vars.*, an inputs.*, a compound condition) is unresolvable and reports this code when the step can still share an event with a publish.
• In a reusable workflow (workflow_call) github.event_name is the caller's event, and Plumber resolves the comparisons against it - conditions on the same event still cancel out.
• PR builds keep their cache: the point of the conditional form is disabling the restore only on publish runs, not everywhere.

⚙️ Configure this control

🔗 Related issues