bazel__book/rules_go.md

rules_go

Ignores the builtin test caching

Command	Compilation Caching	Test Result Caching
bazel test	Cached (re-uses .a files)	Cached (won't re-run if inputs match)
bazel run	Cached (re-uses .a files)	Not Cached (always re-executes the binary)
go test (no args)	Cached (re-uses GOCACHE)	Not cached: always re-runs the test binary
go test ./...	Cached (re-uses GOCACHE)	Cached (prints "cached")

Go test caching is disable when using -cpu_profile, -memprofile or -coverprofile flags.

With it, bazel test" on Go, does NOT run go test`. It implements its own test runner

Feature	Standard go test	Bazel rules_go
Cache Location	GOCACHE (usually ~/.cache)	Bazel Output Base (_bazel_user/...)
Granularity	Package level (mostly)	Action level (compile vs link vs test)
Hermeticity	Uses host environment	Uses isolated sandbox
Sharing	Hard to share across machines	Easily shared via Remote Cache