Release workflow (automerge/automerge)

The Release workflow from automerge/automerge, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

CI health: C - fair

Point runs-on at Latchkey and get caching, job timeouts, SHA-pinned actions, self-healing for flaky steps, and up to 58% lower cost, applied automatically.

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Source: automerge/automerge.github/workflows/release.yamlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the Release workflow from the automerge/automerge 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: Release
on:
  release:
    types: [published]

jobs:
  publish-js:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    defaults:
      run:
        working-directory: ./javascript
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          node-version: "20.x"
          registry-url: "https://registry.npmjs.org"
      - uses: jetli/wasm-bindgen-action@v0.2.0
        with:
          # Optional version of wasm-bindgen to install(eg. '0.2.83', 'latest')
          version: "0.2.121"
      - name: Install wasm32 target
        working-directory: rust
        run: rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown
      - name: npm install
        run: npm install
      - name: build js
        run: node ./scripts/build.mjs
      - name: "npm publish pre-release"
        if: "github.event.release.prerelease"
        run: npm publish --tag next --access public
        env:
          NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
      - name: "npm publish release"
        if: "!github.event.release.prerelease"
        run: npm publish --access public
        env:
          NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}

  publish-js-docs:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    if: "!github.event.release.prerelease"
    defaults:
      run:
        working-directory: ./javascript
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          node-version: "20.x"
          registry-url: "https://registry.npmjs.org"
      - name: Install wasm-bindgen-cli
        run: cargo install wasm-bindgen-cli wasm-opt
      - name: Install wasm32 target
        working-directory: rust
        run: rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown
      - name: npm install
        run: npm install
      - name: build js
        run: node ./scripts/build.mjs
      - name: build js docs
        id: build_release
        run: |
          npx typedoc --out api-docs
      - name: Deploy 🚀
        uses: JamesIves/github-pages-deploy-action@v4
        with:
          branch: gh-pages
          folder: ./javascript/api-docs
          target-folder: api-docs/js

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: Release
on:
  release:
    types: [published]
 
jobs:
  publish-js:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    defaults:
      run:
        working-directory: ./javascript
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          cache: 'npm'
          node-version: "20.x"
          registry-url: "https://registry.npmjs.org"
      - uses: jetli/wasm-bindgen-action@v0.2.0
        with:
          # Optional version of wasm-bindgen to install(eg. '0.2.83', 'latest')
          version: "0.2.121"
      - name: Install wasm32 target
        working-directory: rust
        run: rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown
      - name: npm install
        run: npm install
      - name: build js
        run: node ./scripts/build.mjs
      - name: "npm publish pre-release"
        if: "github.event.release.prerelease"
        run: npm publish --tag next --access public
        env:
          NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
      - name: "npm publish release"
        if: "!github.event.release.prerelease"
        run: npm publish --access public
        env:
          NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
 
  publish-js-docs:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    if: "!github.event.release.prerelease"
    defaults:
      run:
        working-directory: ./javascript
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          cache: 'npm'
          node-version: "20.x"
          registry-url: "https://registry.npmjs.org"
      - name: Install wasm-bindgen-cli
        run: cargo install wasm-bindgen-cli wasm-opt
      - name: Install wasm32 target
        working-directory: rust
        run: rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown
      - name: npm install
        run: npm install
      - name: build js
        run: node ./scripts/build.mjs
      - name: build js docs
        id: build_release
        run: |
          npx typedoc --out api-docs
      - name: Deploy 🚀
        uses: JamesIves/github-pages-deploy-action@v4
        with:
          branch: gh-pages
          folder: ./javascript/api-docs
          target-folder: api-docs/js

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.

2 third-party actions are referenced by a movable tag. Pin them 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 2 jobs 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