Build and Deploy workflow (algorithm-archivists/algorithm-archive)

The Build and Deploy workflow from algorithm-archivists/algorithm-archive, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Build and Deploy workflow from the algorithm-archivists/algorithm-archive 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: Build and Deploy
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  build-and-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    if: github.repository == 'algorithm-archivists/algorithm-archive'
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
        with:
          persist-credentials: false

      - name: Install and build
        run: |
          npm install
          npx honkit build

      - name: Deploy
        uses: JamesIves/github-pages-deploy-action@4.1.4
        with:
          branch: gh-pages
          folder: _book

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Build and Deploy
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  build-and-deploy:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    if: github.repository == 'algorithm-archivists/algorithm-archive'
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
        with:
          persist-credentials: false
 
      - name: Install and build
        run: |
          npm install
          npx honkit build
 
      - name: Deploy
        uses: JamesIves/github-pages-deploy-action@4.1.4
        with:
          branch: gh-pages
          folder: _book
 

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• Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.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.

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.

What Latchkey heals here

This workflow has steps that commonly fail on transient issues (network, registries, flaky browsers). On Latchkey managed runners they are detected, retried, and self-healed instead of failing your build:

• Dependency installs

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