Auto Documentation workflow (bczsalba/pytermgui)

The Auto Documentation workflow from bczsalba/pytermgui, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Auto Documentation workflow from the bczsalba/pytermgui 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: Auto Documentation

on:
 release:
    types: [published]

jobs:
  generate_docs:
    if: ${{ github.repository_owner == 'bczsalba' }} # prevents workflow from running in forked repos
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout master branch
        uses: actions/checkout@v2

      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v2
        with:
          python-version: "3.x"

      - name: Install pdoc & dependencies
        run: |
          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
          pip install pdoc
          pip install .

      - name: Generate documentation
        run: |
          pdoc -o ./docs pytermgui --logo https://github.com/bczsalba/pytermgui/blob/master/assets/title.png?raw=true --docformat google

      - name: Commit changes
        run: |
          git config --local user.email "41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
          git config --local user.name "github-actions[bot]"
          git add ./docs/
          git commit -m "Auto-update documentation"

      - name: Push changes
        uses: ad-m/github-push-action@master

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: Auto Documentation
 
on:
 release:
    types: [published]
 
jobs:
  generate_docs:
    if: ${{ github.repository_owner == 'bczsalba' }} # prevents workflow from running in forked repos
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - name: Checkout master branch
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
 
      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v2
        with:
         cache: 'pip'
          python-version: "3.x"
 
      - name: Install pdoc & dependencies
        run: |
          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
          pip install pdoc
          pip install .
 
      - name: Generate documentation
        run: |
          pdoc -o ./docs pytermgui --logo https://github.com/bczsalba/pytermgui/blob/master/assets/title.png?raw=true --docformat google
 
      - name: Commit changes
        run: |
          git config --local user.email "41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
          git config --local user.name "github-actions[bot]"
          git add ./docs/
          git commit -m "Auto-update documentation"
 
      - name: Push changes
        uses: ad-m/github-push-action@master
 

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.

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