diff --git a/platformio/debug/config/base.py b/platformio/debug/config/base.py
index 6efcbf47..c53c7d0f 100644
--- a/platformio/debug/config/base.py
+++ b/platformio/debug/config/base.py
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ class DebugConfigBase:  # pylint: disable=too-many-instance-attributes
         )
 
     def _load_build_data(self):
-        data = load_build_metadata(os.getcwd(), self.env_name)
+        data = load_build_metadata(os.getcwd(), self.env_name, cache=True)
         if data:
             return data
         raise DebugInvalidOptionsError("Could not load a build configuration")
diff --git a/platformio/project/helpers.py b/platformio/project/helpers.py
index 047a7169..bc8d324a 100644
--- a/platformio/project/helpers.py
+++ b/platformio/project/helpers.py
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ def compute_project_checksum(config):
     return checksum.hexdigest()
 
 
-def load_build_metadata(project_dir, env_or_envs, cache=True):
+def load_build_metadata(project_dir, env_or_envs, cache=False):
     assert env_or_envs
     env_names = env_or_envs
     if not isinstance(env_names, list):