Docs workflow (BottlecapDave/HomeAssistant-OctopusEnergy)

The Docs workflow from BottlecapDave/HomeAssistant-OctopusEnergy, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

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Source: BottlecapDave/HomeAssistant-OctopusEnergy.github/workflows/docs.ymlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the Docs workflow from the BottlecapDave/HomeAssistant-OctopusEnergy 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: Docs
on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  push:
    paths:
      - 'mkdocs.yml'
      - '_docs/**'

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

env:
  GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
  HUSKY: 0

jobs:
  build_docs:
    if: ${{ (github.repository_owner == 'BottlecapDave' && (github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' || github.ref == 'refs/heads/main')) == false }}
    name: Build docs
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
          sparse-checkout: |
            _docs
      - name: asdf_install
        uses: asdf-vm/actions/install@v4
      - run: echo "cache_id=$(date --utc '+%V')" >> $GITHUB_ENV
      - uses: actions/cache@v5
        with:
          key: mkdocs-material-${{ env.cache_id }}
          path: .cache
          restore-keys: |
            mkdocs-material-
      - run: pip install -r requirements.txt
      - run: mkdocs build --strict

  deploy_docs:
    if: ${{ github.repository_owner == 'BottlecapDave' && (github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' || github.ref == 'refs/heads/main') }}
    name: Deploy docs
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: write
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
          sparse-checkout: |
            _docs
      - name: asdf_install
        uses: asdf-vm/actions/install@v4
      - run: echo "cache_id=$(date --utc '+%V')" >> $GITHUB_ENV
      - uses: actions/cache@v5
        with:
          key: mkdocs-material-${{ env.cache_id }}
          path: .cache
          restore-keys: |
            mkdocs-material-
      - run: pip install -r requirements.txt
      - run: mkdocs gh-deploy --strict --force

The same workflow, on Latchkey

Removes redundant runs and caps runaway jobs. Added and changed lines are highlighted.

name: Docs
on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  push:
    paths:
      - 'mkdocs.yml'
      - '_docs/**'
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
env:
  GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
  HUSKY: 0
 
jobs:
  build_docs:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    if: ${{ (github.repository_owner == 'BottlecapDave' && (github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' || github.ref == 'refs/heads/main')) == false }}
    name: Build docs
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
          sparse-checkout: |
            _docs
      - name: asdf_install
        uses: asdf-vm/actions/install@v4
      - run: echo "cache_id=$(date --utc '+%V')" >> $GITHUB_ENV
      - uses: actions/cache@v5
        with:
          key: mkdocs-material-${{ env.cache_id }}
          path: .cache
          restore-keys: |
            mkdocs-material-
      - run: pip install -r requirements.txt
      - run: mkdocs build --strict
 
  deploy_docs:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    if: ${{ github.repository_owner == 'BottlecapDave' && (github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' || github.ref == 'refs/heads/main') }}
    name: Deploy docs
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    permissions:
      contents: write
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
          sparse-checkout: |
            _docs
      - name: asdf_install
        uses: asdf-vm/actions/install@v4
      - run: echo "cache_id=$(date --utc '+%V')" >> $GITHUB_ENV
      - uses: actions/cache@v5
        with:
          key: mkdocs-material-${{ env.cache_id }}
          path: .cache
          restore-keys: |
            mkdocs-material-
      - run: pip install -r requirements.txt
      - run: mkdocs gh-deploy --strict --force

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.
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 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/cache