BuildBuddy has implemented Content-Defined Chunking (CDC) in Bazel's remote cache to optimize build processes by only transferring changed portions of files rather than entire outputs. This approach has shown significant improvements, reducing data uploads by 40% and disk cache size by 40% in their internal testing. The feature is available in Bazel 8.7 or 9.1+ through the --experimental_remote_cache_chunking flag.
Background
Build systems like Bazel use remote caching to store and reuse build outputs across different machines and CI jobs, but traditional approaches often require transferring entire files even when only small portions have changed. Content-Defined Chunking (CDC) is a technique that breaks files into smaller chunks based on their content, allowing for more efficient differential updates.
- Source
- Lobsters
- Published
- May 17, 2026 at 11:29 AM
- Score
- 7.0 / 10