Dependency Review workflow (AlaSQL/alasql)

The Dependency Review workflow from AlaSQL/alasql, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

CI health: C - fair

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Source: AlaSQL/alasql.github/workflows/dependency-review.ymlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the Dependency Review workflow from the AlaSQL/alasql 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

workflow (.yml)

# Dependency Review Action
#
# This Action will scan dependency manifest files that change as part of a Pull Request,
# surfacing known-vulnerable versions of the packages declared or updated in the PR.
# Once installed, if the workflow run is marked as required,
# PRs introducing known-vulnerable packages will be blocked from merging.
#
# Source repository: https://github.com/actions/dependency-review-action
name: 'Dependency Review'
on: [pull_request]

permissions:
  contents: read

jobs:
  dependency-review:
    # Blacksmith is much faster and gives better dashboards than github actions, but we are not being sponsored anymore so had to revert. 
    # runs-on: blacksmith-4vcpu-ubuntu-2204
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Harden Runner
        uses: step-security/harden-runner@fe104658747b27e96e4f7e80cd0a94068e53901d # v2.16.1
        with:
          egress-policy: audit

      - name: 'Checkout Repository'
        uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
      - name: 'Dependency Review'
        uses: actions/dependency-review-action@2031cfc080254a8a887f58cffee85186f0e49e48 # v4.9.0

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

# Dependency Review Action
#
# This Action will scan dependency manifest files that change as part of a Pull Request,
# surfacing known-vulnerable versions of the packages declared or updated in the PR.
# Once installed, if the workflow run is marked as required,
# PRs introducing known-vulnerable packages will be blocked from merging.
#
# Source repository: https://github.com/actions/dependency-review-action
name: 'Dependency Review'
on: [pull_request]
 
permissions:
  contents: read
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  dependency-review:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    # Blacksmith is much faster and gives better dashboards than github actions, but we are not being sponsored anymore so had to revert. 
    # runs-on: blacksmith-4vcpu-ubuntu-2204
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - name: Harden Runner
        uses: step-security/harden-runner@fe104658747b27e96e4f7e80cd0a94068e53901d # v2.16.1
        with:
          egress-policy: audit
 
      - name: 'Checkout Repository'
        uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
      - name: 'Dependency Review'
        uses: actions/dependency-review-action@2031cfc080254a8a887f58cffee85186f0e49e48 # v4.9.0

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.
Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.
Add a job timeout so a hung step cannot burn hours of runner time.

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

step-security/harden-runner actions/checkout actions/dependency-review-action