diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/build-cache/index.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/build-cache/index.ts
index 4cf3d8ef02..2d9a33d9f2 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/commands/build-cache/index.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands/build-cache/index.ts
@@ -14,9 +14,162 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
+import fs from 'fs-extra';
+import { resolve as resolvePath, relative as relativePath } from 'path';
+import { promisify } from 'util';
+import { exec as execCb } from 'child_process';
+import { Command } from 'commander';
+import { ExitCodeError } from '../../helpers/errors';
+const exec = promisify(execCb);
+
+const INFO_FILE = '.backstage-build-cache';
+
+type Options = {
+  inputs: string[];
+  output: string;
+  cacheDir: string;
+  repoRoot: string;
+};
+
+async function parseOptions(cmd: Command): Promise<Options> {
+  const repoRoot = await run('git rev-parse --show-toplevel');
+  const argTransformer = (arg: string) =>
+    resolvePath(arg.replace(/<repoRoot>/g, repoRoot).replace(/'/g, ''));
+
+  const inputs = cmd.input.map(argTransformer) as string[];
+  if (inputs.length === 0) {
+    inputs.push(argTransformer('.'));
+  }
+  const output = argTransformer(cmd.output);
+  const cacheDir = argTransformer(cmd.cacheDir);
+  return { inputs, output, cacheDir, repoRoot };
+}
+
 /*
  * The build-cache command is used to make builds a no-op if there are no changes to the package.
  * It supports both local development where the output directory remains intact, as well as CI
  * where the output directory is stored in a separate cache dir.
  */
-export default async () => {};
+export default async (cmd: Command, args: string[]) => {
+  const options = await parseOptions(cmd);
+  console.log('DEBUG: options =', options);
+  console.log('DEBUG: args =', args);
+
+  const cache = await readCache(options);
+  console.log('DEBUG: cache =', cache);
+
+  const trees = await getInputHashes(options);
+  console.log('DEBUG: trees =', trees);
+
+  const cacheHit = cache.readable && cache.trees?.join(',') === trees.join(',');
+  if (!cacheHit) {
+    await build(options);
+
+    await fs.writeFile(
+      resolvePath(options.output, INFO_FILE),
+      JSON.stringify({ trees }, null, 2),
+      'utf-8',
+    );
+    if (cache.writable) {
+      console.log(`DEBUG: write cache`);
+      console.log('DEBUG: cache.location =', cache.location);
+      await fs.remove(cache.location);
+      console.log('DEBUG: options.output =', options.output);
+      await fs.copy(options.output, cache.location);
+    }
+  } else if (cache.needsCopy) {
+    console.log(`DEBUG: would copy cache`);
+    await fs.remove(options.output);
+    await fs.copy(cache.location, options.output);
+  }
+
+  const ls = await run('ls derp');
+  console.log('DEBUG: ls =', ls);
+};
+
+async function build(options: Options): Promise<void> {
+  console.log(`Imma build ${options.output}`);
+}
+
+async function run(cmd: string) {
+  try {
+    const { stdout } = await exec(cmd);
+    return stdout.trim();
+  } catch (error) {
+    if (error.stderr) {
+      process.stderr.write(error.stderr);
+    }
+    throw new ExitCodeError(error.code, cmd);
+  }
+}
+
+type Cache = {
+  // External location of the cache outside the output folder
+  location: string;
+  readable?: boolean;
+  writable?: boolean;
+  needsCopy?: boolean;
+  trees?: string[];
+};
+
+async function readCache(options: Options): Promise<Cache> {
+  const repoPath = relativePath(options.repoRoot, process.cwd());
+  const location = resolvePath(options.cacheDir, repoPath);
+
+  // Make sure we don't have any uncommitted changes to the input, in that case we consider the cache to be missing
+  try {
+    await exec(`git diff --quiet HEAD -- ${options.inputs.join(' ')}`);
+  } catch (error) {
+    return { location };
+  }
+
+  try {
+    const outputCacheExists = await fs.pathExists(
+      resolvePath(options.output, INFO_FILE),
+    );
+    if (outputCacheExists) {
+      const trees = await readInfoFile(options.output);
+      if (trees) {
+        return {
+          location,
+          trees,
+          readable: true,
+          writable: true,
+        };
+      }
+    }
+
+    const externalCacheExists = await fs.pathExists(location);
+    if (externalCacheExists) {
+      const trees = await readInfoFile(location);
+      if (trees) {
+        return {
+          location,
+          trees,
+          readable: true,
+          writable: true,
+          needsCopy: true,
+        };
+      }
+    }
+  } catch (error) {
+    console.log(`Cache not found, ${error}`);
+  }
+  return { location, writable: true };
+}
+
+async function readInfoFile(dir: string): Promise<string[] | undefined> {
+  const infoContents = await fs.readFile(resolvePath(dir, INFO_FILE), 'utf-8');
+  const { trees } = JSON.parse(infoContents);
+  return trees;
+}
+
+async function getInputHashes(options: Options): Promise<string[]> {
+  const trees = [];
+  for (const input of options.inputs) {
+    const output = await run(`git ls-tree HEAD '${input}'`);
+    const [, , sha] = output.split(/\s+/, 3);
+    trees.push(sha);
+  }
+  return trees;
+}