Install and test AVA workflow (avajs/ava)

The Install and test AVA workflow from avajs/ava, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

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Source: avajs/ava.github/workflows/ci.ymlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the Install and test AVA workflow from the avajs/ava 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: Install and test AVA
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
  pull_request:
    paths-ignore:
      - "*.md"
      - "docs/**"
      - "media/**"
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
jobs:
  nodejs:
    name: Node.js
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        node-version: [^22.20, ^24.12, ^26]
        os: [ubuntu-latest, windows-latest, macos-latest]
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - name: Enable symlinks
        if: matrix.os == 'windows-latest'
        run: |
          git config core.symlinks true
          git reset --hard
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}
          cache: npm
      - run: npm install --no-audit
      - run: ./scripts/ci.sh
        shell: bash
      - uses: codecov/codecov-action@v5
        with:
          disable_search: true
          files: coverage/lcov.info
          name: ${{ matrix.os }}/${{ matrix.node-version }}
          token: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}

  typescript:
    name: TypeScript compatibility
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        ts-version: [~5.9, ~6.0]
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          node-version-file: package.json
          cache: npm
      - run: npm install --no-audit
      - run: npm i typescript@${TS_VERSION}
        env:
          TS_VERSION: ${{ matrix.ts-version }}
      - run: ./node_modules/typescript/bin/tsc --version
      - run: ./node_modules/typescript/bin/tsc --noEmit

  lockfile_churn:
    name: Test package-lock for unexpected modifications
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          node-version-file: package.json
          cache: npm
      - run: npm install --no-audit
      - name: Test package-lock for unexpected modifications
        run: |
          npm -v
          checksum=$(sha512sum package-lock.json)
          npm install --package-lock-only --no-audit
          if ! echo ${checksum} | sha512sum --quiet -c -; then
            echo "package-lock.json was modified unexpectedly. Please rebuild it using npm@$(npm -v) and commit the changes."
            exit 1
          fi

  without_lockfile:
    name: Install dependencies without using a lockfile
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          node-version-file: package.json
      - run: npm install --no-package-lock --no-audit
      - run: ./scripts/ci.sh
        shell: bash

  xo:
    name: Lint source files
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          node-version-file: package.json
          cache: npm
      - run: npm install --no-audit
      - run: npx xo

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: Install and test AVA
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
  pull_request:
    paths-ignore:
      - "*.md"
      - "docs/**"
      - "media/**"
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
jobs:
  nodejs:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Node.js
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        node-version: [^22.20, ^24.12, ^26]
        os: [ubuntu-latest, windows-latest, macos-latest]
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - name: Enable symlinks
        if: matrix.os == 'windows-latest'
        run: |
          git config core.symlinks true
          git reset --hard
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}
          cache: npm
      - run: npm install --no-audit
      - run: ./scripts/ci.sh
        shell: bash
      - uses: codecov/codecov-action@v5
        with:
          disable_search: true
          files: coverage/lcov.info
          name: ${{ matrix.os }}/${{ matrix.node-version }}
          token: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}
 
  typescript:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: TypeScript compatibility
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    strategy:
      matrix:
        ts-version: [~5.9, ~6.0]
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          node-version-file: package.json
          cache: npm
      - run: npm install --no-audit
      - run: npm i typescript@${TS_VERSION}
        env:
          TS_VERSION: ${{ matrix.ts-version }}
      - run: ./node_modules/typescript/bin/tsc --version
      - run: ./node_modules/typescript/bin/tsc --noEmit
 
  lockfile_churn:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Test package-lock for unexpected modifications
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          node-version-file: package.json
          cache: npm
      - run: npm install --no-audit
      - name: Test package-lock for unexpected modifications
        run: |
          npm -v
          checksum=$(sha512sum package-lock.json)
          npm install --package-lock-only --no-audit
          if ! echo ${checksum} | sha512sum --quiet -c -; then
            echo "package-lock.json was modified unexpectedly. Please rebuild it using npm@$(npm -v) and commit the changes."
            exit 1
          fi
 
  without_lockfile:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Install dependencies without using a lockfile
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          cache: 'npm'
          node-version-file: package.json
      - run: npm install --no-package-lock --no-audit
      - run: ./scripts/ci.sh
        shell: bash
 
  xo:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Lint source files
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          node-version-file: package.json
          cache: npm
      - run: npm install --no-audit
      - run: npx xo

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.

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 5 jobs (14 with the matrix expanded) 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 codecov/codecov-action