Run Tests workflow (cerebroapp/cerebro)

The Run Tests workflow from cerebroapp/cerebro, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

CI health: D - needs work

Point runs-on at Latchkey and get caching, run de-duplication, job timeouts, self-healing for flaky steps, and up to 58% lower cost, applied automatically.

Grade your own workflow free or run it on Latchkey →

Source: cerebroapp/cerebro.github/workflows/pr.ymlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the Run Tests workflow from the cerebroapp/cerebro 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: Run Tests

on:
  push:
    branches: [ master ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ master ]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
        - uses: actions/checkout@v3
        - name: Use Node.js 16
          uses: actions/setup-node@v3
          with:
            node-version: 16
        - run: yarn
        - run: yarn test --detectOpenHandles --forceExit

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: Run Tests
 
on:
  push:
    branches: [ master ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ master ]
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  test:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
        - uses: actions/checkout@v3
        - name: Use Node.js 16
          uses: actions/setup-node@v3
          with:
            cache: 'npm'
            node-version: 16
        - run: yarn
        - run: yarn test --detectOpenHandles --forceExit

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Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.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

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

actions/checkout actions/setup-node