Publish to npm workflow (andrewyng/context-hub)

The Publish to npm workflow from andrewyng/context-hub, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

CI health: C - fair

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Source: andrewyng/context-hub.github/workflows/publish.ymlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the Publish to npm workflow from the andrewyng/context-hub 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)

name: Publish to npm

on:
  release:
    types: [created]

jobs:
  publish:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: read
      id-token: write
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 22
          registry-url: 'https://registry.npmjs.org'
      - run: npm install
      - run: cd cli && npm test
      - name: Verify versioned help is already live on the CDN
        run: |
          CLI_VERSION=$(node -e "const fs = require('node:fs'); console.log(JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('cli/package.json', 'utf8')).version)")
          export CLI_VERSION
          for attempt in $(seq 1 30); do
            if curl --fail --silent --show-error --location \
              "https://cdn.aichub.org/v1/help/${CLI_VERSION}.json" \
              -o /tmp/chub-help.json; then
              if node -e 'const fs = require("node:fs"); const version = process.env.CLI_VERSION; const payload = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync("/tmp/chub-help.json", "utf8")); if (payload.cli_version !== version) { console.error(`Expected cli_version ${version}, got ${payload.cli_version}`); process.exit(1); } if (typeof payload.content !== "string" || payload.content.trim().length === 0) { console.error("Remote help payload is empty"); process.exit(1); }'; then
                exit 0
              fi
            fi

            if [ "$attempt" -eq 30 ]; then
              echo "Timed out waiting for https://cdn.aichub.org/v1/help/${CLI_VERSION}.json to become available" >&2
              exit 1
            fi

            sleep 10
          done
      - run: cd cli && npm publish --access public
        env:
          NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}

The same workflow, on Latchkey

Estimated ~20% faster on cache hits, plus fewer wasted runs and a safer supply chain. Added and changed lines are highlighted.

name: Publish to npm
 
on:
  release:
    types: [created]
 
jobs:
  publish:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    permissions:
      contents: read
      id-token: write
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          cache: 'npm'
          node-version: 22
          registry-url: 'https://registry.npmjs.org'
      - run: npm install
      - run: cd cli && npm test
      - name: Verify versioned help is already live on the CDN
        run: |
          CLI_VERSION=$(node -e "const fs = require('node:fs'); console.log(JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('cli/package.json', 'utf8')).version)")
          export CLI_VERSION
          for attempt in $(seq 1 30); do
            if curl --fail --silent --show-error --location \
              "https://cdn.aichub.org/v1/help/${CLI_VERSION}.json" \
              -o /tmp/chub-help.json; then
              if node -e 'const fs = require("node:fs"); const version = process.env.CLI_VERSION; const payload = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync("/tmp/chub-help.json", "utf8")); if (payload.cli_version !== version) { console.error(`Expected cli_version ${version}, got ${payload.cli_version}`); process.exit(1); } if (typeof payload.content !== "string" || payload.content.trim().length === 0) { console.error("Remote help payload is empty"); process.exit(1); }'; then
                exit 0
              fi
            fi
 
            if [ "$attempt" -eq 30 ]; then
              echo "Timed out waiting for https://cdn.aichub.org/v1/help/${CLI_VERSION}.json to become available" >&2
              exit 1
            fi
 
            sleep 10
          done
      - run: cd cli && npm publish --access public
        env:
          NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_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.
Cache dependency installs on the setup step so they are served from cache.
Add a job timeout so a hung step cannot burn hours of runner time.

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
Network fetches

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

actions/checkout actions/setup-node