Lets just see this idea

Co-Authored-By: Codex <267193182+codex@users.noreply.github.com>

.github/actions/apt-install/action.yml

@@ -1,53 +1,62 @@
 name: Install apt packages
 description: >
-  Installs apt packages with a per-attempt timeout and retries. The hosted runner's Azure apt mirror intermittently serves archives at a crawl, which apt's own timeout does not catch. A stuck attempt is killed and retried, which usually lands on a healthy mirror node.
+  Caches apt packages and their dependencies for an exact hosted runner image. Cache hits install offline; cache misses download from Ubuntu mirrors with bounded retries.
 
 inputs:
   packages:
-    description: Space separated list of packages to install
+    description: Space separated list of package names to install
     required: true
   attempts:
-    description: Maximum number of attempts
+    description: Maximum number of download attempts
     default: "3"
   attempt-timeout:
-    description: Seconds before a single attempt is killed
+    description: Seconds before a single download attempt is killed
     default: "180"
 runs:
   using: composite
   steps:
+    - name: Identify apt cache
+      id: cache-key
+      shell: bash
+      env:
+        PACKAGES: ${{ inputs.packages }}
+      run: |
+        # The bundle contains only dependencies missing from this runner. Never
+        # restore it onto a different image or initial package installation.
+        # Without an image version (e.g. self-hosted), download normally.
+        if [ -n "${ImageVersion:-}" ]; then
+          fingerprint=$({
+            printf '%s\n' "$PACKAGES"
+            dpkg --print-architecture
+            dpkg-query -W -f='${binary:Package}=${Version} ${db:Status-Abbrev}\n'
+            sha256sum "$GITHUB_ACTION_PATH/action.yml" "$GITHUB_ACTION_PATH/install.sh" | cut -d ' ' -f 1
+          } | sha256sum | cut -d ' ' -f 1)
+          echo "key=apt-v1-${ImageOS}-${ImageVersion}-${fingerprint}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+        fi
+    - name: Restore apt packages
+      id: cache
+      if: steps.cache-key.outputs.key != ''
+      uses: actions/cache/restore@55cc8345863c7cc4c66a329aec7e433d2d1c52a9 # v6.1.0
+      with:
+        path: |
+          ${{ runner.temp }}/apt-packages/*.deb
+          ${{ runner.temp }}/apt-packages/complete
+        key: ${{ steps.cache-key.outputs.key }}
     - name: Install ${{ inputs.packages }}
       shell: bash
       env:
         PACKAGES: ${{ inputs.packages }}
         ATTEMPTS: ${{ inputs.attempts }}
         ATTEMPT_TIMEOUT: ${{ inputs.attempt-timeout }}
-      run: |
-        SUDO=""
-        if [ "$(id -u)" -ne 0 ]; then
-          SUDO="sudo"
-        fi
-
-        attempt_install() {
-          $SUDO apt-get update -q
-          # Intentionally unquoted, this is a list of package names
-          $SUDO apt-get install -q --yes --no-install-recommends $PACKAGES
-        }
-        export -f attempt_install
-        export SUDO PACKAGES
-
-        for attempt in $(seq 1 "${ATTEMPTS}"); do
-          echo "::group::apt install attempt ${attempt}/${ATTEMPTS}"
-          start=$(date +%s)
-          if timeout --kill-after=10 "${ATTEMPT_TIMEOUT}" bash -c attempt_install; then
-            echo "::endgroup::"
-            echo "Installed in $(( $(date +%s) - start ))s"
-            exit 0
-          fi
-          echo "::endgroup::"
-          echo "::warning::apt install attempt ${attempt}/${ATTEMPTS} failed or exceeded ${ATTEMPT_TIMEOUT}s"
-          # A killed attempt can leave dpkg half configured
-          $SUDO dpkg --configure -a || true
-        done
-
-        echo "::error::apt install failed after ${ATTEMPTS} attempts"
-        exit 1
+        CACHE_DIR: ${{ runner.temp }}/apt-packages
+        CACHE_HIT: ${{ steps.cache.outputs.cache-hit }}
+      run: bash "$GITHUB_ACTION_PATH/install.sh"
+    # Save immediately: a later test failure must not discard a good apt bundle.
+    - name: Save apt packages
+      if: steps.cache-key.outputs.key != '' && steps.cache.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
+      uses: actions/cache/save@55cc8345863c7cc4c66a329aec7e433d2d1c52a9 # v6.1.0
+      with:
+        path: |
+          ${{ runner.temp }}/apt-packages/*.deb
+          ${{ runner.temp }}/apt-packages/complete
+        key: ${{ steps.cache-key.outputs.key }}

.github/actions/apt-install/install.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+SUDO=()
+if [ "$(id -u)" -ne 0 ]; then
+	SUDO=(sudo)
+fi
+
+# Inputs are package names, separated by whitespace (not shell expressions).
+read -r -a requested_packages <<< "$PACKAGES"
+mkdir -p "$CACHE_DIR"
+
+install_local() {
+	local archives=("$CACHE_DIR"/*.deb)
+	if [ -e "${archives[0]}" ]; then
+		# Local .deb arguments pin the downloaded versions. No package lists or
+		# network access are needed, and apt still runs all package maintainer scripts.
+		"${SUDO[@]}" chmod a+r "${archives[@]}"
+		"${SUDO[@]}" apt-get install -q --yes --no-install-recommends \
+			--no-download -o "Dir::Cache::archives=$CACHE_DIR" "${archives[@]}"
+	fi
+	# An empty bundle is valid when the runner already includes every package.
+	local package
+	for package in "${requested_packages[@]}"; do
+		[ "$(dpkg-query -W -f='${Status}' "$package")" = "install ok installed" ]
+	done
+}
+
+if [ "$CACHE_HIT" = true ]; then
+	echo "Installing cached apt packages without contacting package repositories"
+	install_local
+	exit 0
+fi
+
+# The hosted runner gives Azure priority 1. A slow transfer never triggers its
+# fallback mirrors, so retrying alone keeps selecting the same unhealthy mirror.
+if [ -f /etc/apt/apt-mirrors.txt ]; then
+	"${SUDO[@]}" sed -i '\|azure\.archive\.ubuntu\.com|d' /etc/apt/apt-mirrors.txt
+fi
+
+# Download first so the bundle contains every missing transitive dependency.
+# Keep downloads outside apt's default cache, which Docker cleanup hooks may wipe.
+download_packages() {
+	"${SUDO[@]}" apt-get update -q --error-on=any
+	"${SUDO[@]}" apt-get install -q --yes --no-install-recommends \
+		--download-only -o "Dir::Cache::archives=$CACHE_DIR" "${requested_packages[@]}"
+}
+# Recreate the sudo and package arrays in the timed child process.
+if [ "${1:-}" = download ]; then
+	download_packages
+	exit 0
+fi
+
+for attempt in $(seq 1 "$ATTEMPTS"); do
+	echo "::group::apt download attempt ${attempt}/${ATTEMPTS}"
+	if timeout --kill-after=10 "$ATTEMPT_TIMEOUT" bash "$0" download; then
+		echo "::endgroup::"
+		install_local
+		touch "$CACHE_DIR/complete"
+		exit 0
+	fi
+	echo "::endgroup::"
+	echo "::warning::apt download attempt ${attempt}/${ATTEMPTS} failed or exceeded ${ATTEMPT_TIMEOUT}s"
+done
+
+echo "::error::apt download failed after ${ATTEMPTS} attempts"
+exit 1

.github/workflows/ci-backend.yml

@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ jobs:
               - 'uv.lock'
               - 'docker/compose/docker-compose.ci-test.yml'
               - '.github/workflows/ci-backend.yml'
+              - '.github/actions/apt-install/**'
   test:
     needs: changes
     if: needs.changes.outputs.backend_changed == 'true'

.github/workflows/ci-frontend.yml

@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ jobs:
             frontend:
               - 'src-ui/**'
               - '.github/workflows/ci-frontend.yml'
+              - '.github/actions/apt-install/**'
   install-dependencies:
     needs: changes
     if: needs.changes.outputs.frontend_changed == 'true'