Prepare a Bazel Repository Cache on a Working Download Route

A repository cache can provide approved dependency bytes when Bazel cannot obtain them through the target environment's proxy.

1. On a machine with the intended access, use the required project state and Bazel version to fetch into a selected cache:

   bazel fetch --repository_cache=/path/to/repository-cache //...

2. Transfer the prepared cache through the project's artifact process.
3. Select its path in the target environment with the same --repository_cache option. A cache built for another project state may be incomplete.

Older workarounds use --distdir, now documented as deprecated. That mechanism requires an archive whose filename matches the URL basename and whose hash matches the declared download request. An unpacked source tree is not a substitute, and removing the hash removes part of the artifact selection.

This does not supply every offline prerequisite. Bzlmod registry metadata, Git repositories and commands launched by repository rules can have additional needs. If live proxy fetching is the requirement, investigate its actual downloader and URL rather than replacing the dependency definition to hide the connection failure.