How to Reduce Checkout Time with Shallow and Sparse Clones

On big repos, checkout alone can cost minutes. You rarely need full history or the whole tree to build.

actions/checkout defaults to fetch-depth 1, but submodules, large history, and unneeded paths still add time. Trim each.

Keep the clone shallow

fetch-depth: 1 (the default) grabs only the latest commit. Only raise it if a step truly needs history.

- uses: actions/checkout@v4
  with:
    fetch-depth: 1

Sparse-checkout only what you build

In a monorepo, fetch just the directories a job needs.

- uses: actions/checkout@v4
  with:
    sparse-checkout: |
      apps/web
      packages/ui

Skip submodules you do not need

submodules: false (default) avoids recursive fetches. Only enable when a job actually compiles a submodule.

Key takeaways

• Default shallow depth; only deepen when needed.
• Sparse-checkout the directories a job builds.
• Skip submodules unless a job needs them.

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