E2E tests workflow (babel/babel)

The E2E tests workflow from babel/babel, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

CI health: C - fair

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Source: babel/babel.github/workflows/e2e-tests.ymlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the E2E tests workflow from the babel/babel 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: E2E tests

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
  pull_request:

permissions:
  contents: read

concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true

jobs:
  e2e-publish:
    name: Publish to local Verdaccio registry
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v6
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
      - name: Use Node.js latest
        uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          node-version: latest
          cache: "yarn"
      - name: Publish
        run: ./scripts/integration-tests/publish-local.sh
      - name: Pack published packages
        working-directory: /tmp
        run: tar -cvf verdaccio-workspace.tar verdaccio-workspace
      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
        with:
          name: verdaccio-workspace
          path: /tmp/verdaccio-workspace.tar
          retention-days: 1

  e2e-tests:
    name: Test
    needs: e2e-publish
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        project:
          - babel
          - create-react-app
          # - vue-cli
          # - react-native
          - angular-cli
          # - nextjs-10
          - prettier
          # - jest
          # - ember # TODO: https://github.com/ember-cli/babel-remove-types/pull/9
    steps:
      - name: Get yarn1 cache directory path
        id: yarn1-cache-dir-path
        run: echo "dir=$(yarn cache dir)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v6
      # Pin node to 22 for create-react-app project.
      # The create-react-app e2e breaking test throws
      # http fetch GET https://localhost:4873/zwitch/-/zwitch-1.0.5.tgz attempt 3 failed with ERR_SSL_WRONG_VERSION_NUMBER
      # when installing on Node.js 24. It might be an npm issue.
      - name: Use Node.js ${{ matrix.project == 'create-react-app' && '22' || 'latest' }}
        uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          node-version: ${{ matrix.project == 'create-react-app' && '22' || 'latest' }}
      - name: Get yarn cache directory path
        id: yarn-cache-dir-path
        run: echo "dir=$(yarn config get cacheFolder)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
      - name: Use yarn1 cache
        uses: actions/cache@v5
        id: yarn1-cache # use this to check for `cache-hit` (`steps.yarn-cache.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'`)
        with:
          path: ${{ steps.yarn1-cache-dir-path.outputs.dir }}
          key: ${{ runner.os }}-yarn1-e2e-${{ matrix.project }}-${{ hashFiles('**/yarn.lock') }}
          restore-keys: ${{ runner.os }}-yarn1-e2e-${{ matrix.project }}-
      - name: Use yarn cache
        uses: actions/cache@v5
        id: yarn-cache # use this to check for `cache-hit` (`steps.yarn-cache.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'`)
        with:
          path: ${{ steps.yarn-cache-dir-path.outputs.dir }}
          key: ${{ runner.os }}-yarn-e2e-${{ matrix.project }}-${{ hashFiles('**/yarn.lock') }}
          restore-keys: ${{ runner.os }}-yarn-e2e-${{ matrix.project }}-
      - name: Clean babel cache
        run: |
          rm -rf ${{ steps.yarn1-cache-dir-path.outputs.dir }}/*babel*
          rm -rf ${{ steps.yarn-cache-dir-path.outputs.dir }}/*babel*
      - uses: actions/download-artifact@v8
        with:
          name: verdaccio-workspace
          path: /tmp
      - name: Unpack published packages
        run: tar -C /tmp -xf /tmp/verdaccio-workspace.tar
      - name: Test
        run: ./scripts/integration-tests/e2e-${{ matrix.project }}.sh

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: E2E tests
 
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
  pull_request:
 
permissions:
  contents: read
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  e2e-publish:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Publish to local Verdaccio registry
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v6
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
      - name: Use Node.js latest
        uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          node-version: latest
          cache: "yarn"
      - name: Publish
        run: ./scripts/integration-tests/publish-local.sh
      - name: Pack published packages
        working-directory: /tmp
        run: tar -cvf verdaccio-workspace.tar verdaccio-workspace
      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
        with:
          name: verdaccio-workspace
          path: /tmp/verdaccio-workspace.tar
          retention-days: 1
 
  e2e-tests:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Test
    needs: e2e-publish
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        project:
          - babel
          - create-react-app
          # - vue-cli
          # - react-native
          - angular-cli
          # - nextjs-10
          - prettier
          # - jest
          # - ember # TODO: https://github.com/ember-cli/babel-remove-types/pull/9
    steps:
      - name: Get yarn1 cache directory path
        id: yarn1-cache-dir-path
        run: echo "dir=$(yarn cache dir)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v6
      # Pin node to 22 for create-react-app project.
      # The create-react-app e2e breaking test throws
      # http fetch GET https://localhost:4873/zwitch/-/zwitch-1.0.5.tgz attempt 3 failed with ERR_SSL_WRONG_VERSION_NUMBER
      # when installing on Node.js 24. It might be an npm issue.
      - name: Use Node.js ${{ matrix.project == 'create-react-app' && '22' || 'latest' }}
        uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          cache: 'npm'
          node-version: ${{ matrix.project == 'create-react-app' && '22' || 'latest' }}
      - name: Get yarn cache directory path
        id: yarn-cache-dir-path
        run: echo "dir=$(yarn config get cacheFolder)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
      - name: Use yarn1 cache
        uses: actions/cache@v5
        id: yarn1-cache # use this to check for `cache-hit` (`steps.yarn-cache.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'`)
        with:
          path: ${{ steps.yarn1-cache-dir-path.outputs.dir }}
          key: ${{ runner.os }}-yarn1-e2e-${{ matrix.project }}-${{ hashFiles('**/yarn.lock') }}
          restore-keys: ${{ runner.os }}-yarn1-e2e-${{ matrix.project }}-
      - name: Use yarn cache
        uses: actions/cache@v5
        id: yarn-cache # use this to check for `cache-hit` (`steps.yarn-cache.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'`)
        with:
          path: ${{ steps.yarn-cache-dir-path.outputs.dir }}
          key: ${{ runner.os }}-yarn-e2e-${{ matrix.project }}-${{ hashFiles('**/yarn.lock') }}
          restore-keys: ${{ runner.os }}-yarn-e2e-${{ matrix.project }}-
      - name: Clean babel cache
        run: |
          rm -rf ${{ steps.yarn1-cache-dir-path.outputs.dir }}/*babel*
          rm -rf ${{ steps.yarn-cache-dir-path.outputs.dir }}/*babel*
      - uses: actions/download-artifact@v8
        with:
          name: verdaccio-workspace
          path: /tmp
      - name: Unpack published packages
        run: tar -C /tmp -xf /tmp/verdaccio-workspace.tar
      - name: Test
        run: ./scripts/integration-tests/e2e-${{ matrix.project }}.sh

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:

End-to-end and browser tests

This workflow runs 2 jobs (5 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 actions/upload-artifact actions/cache actions/download-artifact