CI workflow (carbon-app/carbon)

The CI workflow from carbon-app/carbon, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the CI workflow from the carbon-app/carbon 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: CI

on: [push]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Use Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
      - name: npm install, lint, build, and test
        run: |
          yarn
          npm run lint --if-present
          npm run build --if-present
          npm start & npx wait-on http://localhost:3000 && npm run cy:run -- --config baseUrl=http://localhost:3000
          # --record --key 26c0b9eb-40f9-4ca6-b91d-a39f03652011
        env:
          CI: true
          CYPRESS_CI: true

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: CI
 
on: [push]
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  build:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Use Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          cache: 'npm'
      - name: npm install, lint, build, and test
        run: |
          yarn
          npm run lint --if-present
          npm run build --if-present
          npm start & npx wait-on http://localhost:3000 && npm run cy:run -- --config baseUrl=http://localhost:3000
          # --record --key 26c0b9eb-40f9-4ca6-b91d-a39f03652011
        env:
          CI: true
          CYPRESS_CI: true
 

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.
• Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.
• 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:

• 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