Does putting ARG at top of Dockerfile prevent layer re-use?

To be more precise than the accepted response, not all lines are cache invalidated after an ARG declaration. Only those that use ARG values and RUNs. The docker documentation the details:

Impact on build caching

ARG variables are not persisted into the built image as ENV variables are. However, ARG variables do impact the build cache in similar ways. If a Dockerfile defines an ARG variable whose value is different from a previous build, then a “cache miss” occurs upon its first usage, not its definition. In particular, all RUN instructions following an ARG instruction use the ARG variable implicitly (as an environment variable), thus can cause a cache miss. All predefined ARG variables are exempt from caching unless there is a matching ARG statement in the Dockerfile.

• https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/builder/#impact-on-build-caching

You'll have to move your ARGs under the RUNs that would not need the argument in order to keep layer cache optimized.

For more info:

• https://github.com/moby/moby/issues/18017
• https://github.com/moby/moby/pull/18161
• RUN explanation here: https://github.com/moby/moby/pull/21885

If you change the value of a build argument all of the layers after that ARG line will be invalidated. So I guess you should include it just before you use the ARG.

Just before you need it:

 docker build --build-arg TEST_ARG=test .
 Sending build context to Docker daemon 2.048 kB
 Step 1 : FROM ubuntu
 ---> 104bec311bcd
 Step 2 : RUN echo "no arg used"
 ---> Using cache
 ---> 5c29cb363a27
 Step 3 : ARG TEST_ARG
 ---> Using cache
 ---> 73b6080f973b
 Step 4 : RUN echo $TEST_ARG
 ---> 0acd55c24441
 Successfully built 0acd55c24441

At the top:

docker build --build-arg TEST_ARG=test .
Sending build context to Docker daemon 2.048 kB
Step 1 : FROM ubuntu
 ---> 104bec311bcd
Step 2 : ARG TEST_ARG
---> Using cache
---> b611a1023fe3
Step 3 : RUN echo "no arg used"
---> Running in 63e0f803c6b2
no arg used
---> 592311ccad72
Removing intermediate container 63e0f803c6b2
Step 4 : RUN echo $TEST_ARG
---> Running in 1515aa8702f0
test
---> fc2d850fbbeb
Removing intermediate container 1515aa8702f0
Successfully built fc2d850fbbeb

In the first example two layers are used from the cache and in the second one only one layer (funnily enough, the ARG layer itself) is used from the cache.