Additional caching configurations

[schustmi]

Describe changes

This PR adds some additional options to configure caching:

• Files for which content changes should invalidate the caching
• Python objects (modules, classes, functions) for which code changes should invalidate the caching
• Custom cache function, for which a different result invalidates caching
• Cache expiration: The amount of seconds for which a step run should stay a valid cache candidate

Pre-requisites

Please ensure you have done the following:

• I have read the CONTRIBUTING.md document.
• I have added tests to cover my changes.
• I have based my new branch on develop and the open PR is targeting develop. If your branch wasn't based on develop read Contribution guide on rebasing branch to develop.
• IMPORTANT: I made sure that my changes are reflected properly in the following resources:
  • ZenML Docs
  • Dashboard: Needs to be communicated to the frontend team.
  • Templates: Might need adjustments (that are not reflected in the template tests) in case of non-breaking changes and deprecations.
  • Projects: Depending on the version dependencies, different projects might get affected.

Types of changes

• Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
• New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
• Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to change)
• Other (add details above)

[github-actions]

Documentation Link Check Results

❌ Absolute links check failed
There are broken absolute links in the documentation. See workflow logs for details
✅ Relative links check passed
_{Last checked: 2025-10-17 02:37:03 UTC}

[github-actions]

ZenML CLI Performance Comparison (Threshold: 1.0s, Timeout: 60s, Slow: 5s)

❌ Failed Commands on Current Branch (feature/additional-caching-options)

• zenml stack list: Command failed on run 1 (exit code: 1)
• zenml pipeline list: Command failed on run 1 (exit code: 1)
• zenml model list: Command failed on run 1 (exit code: 1)

🚨 New Failures Introduced

The following commands fail on your branch but worked on the target branch:

• zenml stack list
• zenml pipeline list
• zenml model list

Performance Comparison

Command	develop Time (s)	feature/additional-caching-options Time (s)	Difference	Status
zenml --help	1.377354 ± 0.024104	1.375037 ± 0.015524	-0.002s	✓ No significant change
zenml model list	Not tested	Failed	N/A	❌ Broken in current branch
zenml pipeline list	Not tested	Failed	N/A	❌ Broken in current branch
zenml stack --help	1.379097 ± 0.023917	1.382190 ± 0.011314	+0.003s	✓ No significant change
zenml stack list	Not tested	Failed	N/A	❌ Broken in current branch

Summary

• Total commands analyzed: 5
• Commands compared for timing: 2
• Commands improved: 0 (0.0% of compared)
• Commands degraded: 0 (0.0% of compared)
• Commands unchanged: 2 (100.0% of compared)
• Failed commands: 3 (NEW FAILURES INTRODUCED)
• Timed out commands: 0
• Slow commands: 0

Environment Info

• Target branch: Linux 6.11.0-1018-azure
• Current branch: Linux 6.11.0-1018-azure
• Test timestamp: 2025-10-17T02:37:43Z
• Timeout: 60 seconds
• Slow threshold: 5 seconds