GitHub Actions Workflow Template for Node.js

A complete, caching-enabled GitHub Actions workflow for Node.js. Drop it in .github/workflows/ci.yml and adjust.

This template builds and tests a Node.js project with dependency caching and sensible defaults. It uses setup-node built-in caching.

The workflow

name: CI
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 20
          cache: npm
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm run lint --if-present
      - run: npm run build --if-present
      - run: npm test

What it does

• Installs with npm ci for reproducible builds
• Caches the npm store
• Runs lint, build, and tests

Run it cheaper

Change runs-on: ubuntu-latest to a Latchkey label to run this same workflow at roughly 69% lower per-minute cost, with self-healing for transient failures.

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