Docker Build and Push workflow (cdhigh/KindleEar)

The Docker Build and Push workflow from cdhigh/KindleEar, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Docker Build and Push workflow from the cdhigh/KindleEar 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: Docker Build and Push
permissions: read-all

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      branch:
        description: "The branch, tag or SHA to release from"
        required: true
        default: "master"

jobs:
  build-and-push:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v2
        with:
          python-version: '3.x'

      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v2

      - name: Get version from main.py
        id: get_version
        run: |
          version=$(grep -oP "__Version__ = '\K[^']+" main.py)
          if [ -z "$version" ]; then
            echo "Error: Unable to retrieve version from main.py"
            exit 1
          else
            echo "::set-output name=version::$version"
          fi

      - name: Login to Docker Hub
        uses: docker/login-action@v3
        with:
          username: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_PASSWORD }}

      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v1

      - name: Build and push Docker image
        env:
          IMAGE_NAME: kindleear/kindleear
          TAG_LATEST: latest
          TAG_VERSION: ${{ steps.get_version.outputs.version }}
        run: |
          docker buildx build --push --platform=linux/amd64,linux/arm64 -t $IMAGE_NAME:$TAG_VERSION -t $IMAGE_NAME:$TAG_LATEST -f docker/Dockerfile .

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: Docker Build and Push
permissions: read-all
 
on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      branch:
        description: "The branch, tag or SHA to release from"
        required: true
        default: "master"
 
jobs:
  build-and-push:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v2
        with:
          cache: 'pip'
          python-version: '3.x'
 
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
 
      - name: Get version from main.py
        id: get_version
        run: |
          version=$(grep -oP "__Version__ = '\K[^']+" main.py)
          if [ -z "$version" ]; then
            echo "Error: Unable to retrieve version from main.py"
            exit 1
          else
            echo "::set-output name=version::$version"
          fi
 
      - name: Login to Docker Hub
        uses: docker/login-action@v3
        with:
          username: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_PASSWORD }}
 
      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v1
 
      - name: Build and push Docker image
        env:
          IMAGE_NAME: kindleear/kindleear
          TAG_LATEST: latest
          TAG_VERSION: ${{ steps.get_version.outputs.version }}
        run: |
          docker buildx build --push --platform=linux/amd64,linux/arm64 -t $IMAGE_NAME:$TAG_VERSION -t $IMAGE_NAME:$TAG_LATEST -f docker/Dockerfile .
 

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.

2 third-party actions are referenced by a movable tag. Pin them 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:

• Container pulls and builds

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