Automatic Rebase workflow (airbnb/javascript)

The Automatic Rebase workflow from airbnb/javascript, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Automatic Rebase workflow from the airbnb/javascript repository, a real project running GitHub Actions. It is shown here with attribution under its MIT license.

Below, Latchkey shows a faster, safer version produced by its optimization engine.

The workflow

name: Automatic Rebase

on: [pull_request_target]

permissions:
  contents: read

jobs:
  _:
    permissions:
      contents: write  # for ljharb/rebase to push code to rebase
      pull-requests: read  # for ljharb/rebase to get info about PR
    name: "Automatic Rebase"

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v6
    - uses: ljharb/rebase@master
      env:
        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

The same workflow, on Latchkey

Removes redundant runs and caps runaway jobs. Added and changed lines are highlighted.

name: Automatic Rebase
 
on: [pull_request_target]
 
permissions:
  contents: read
 
jobs:
  _:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    permissions:
      contents: write  # for ljharb/rebase to push code to rebase
      pull-requests: read  # for ljharb/rebase to get info about PR
    name: "Automatic Rebase"
 
    runs-on: latchkey-small
 
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v6
    - uses: ljharb/rebase@master
      env:
        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 

What changed

• Run on Latchkey managed runners with one line (runs-on), which apply the fixes below automatically and self-heal transient failures. This example uses latchkey-small; pick the runner size that fits the job.
• Add a job timeout so a hung step cannot burn hours of runner time.

1 third-party action is referenced by a movable tag. Pin it to the commit SHA (Latchkey resolves and applies this automatically) so a repointed tag cannot change what runs.

This workflow runs 1 job per trigger. On Latchkey the same minutes cost up to 58% less than GitHub-hosted, with zero queue time.

Actions used in this workflow