check PR Links workflow (ClickHouse/clickhouse-go)

The check PR Links workflow from ClickHouse/clickhouse-go, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the check PR Links workflow from the ClickHouse/clickhouse-go repository, a real project running GitHub Actions. It is shown here with attribution under its Apache-2.0 license.

Below, Latchkey shows a faster, safer version produced by its optimization engine.

The workflow

name: check PR Links

on:
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  linkChecker:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v5

      - name: Check links
        uses: lycheeverse/lychee-action@v2
        with:
          # Remap live URLs to build directory because the links are potentially not live (not yet on master)
          args: |
            --verbose 
            --no-progress
            --exclude-all-private
            --retry-wait-time 5
            ./
          fail: true

      - name: Suggestions
        if: failure()
        run: |
          echo -e "\nPlease review the links reported in the 'Check links' step above."
          echo -e "If a link is valid but fails due to a CAPTCHA challenge, IP blocking, login requirements, etc.,"
          echo -e "consider adding such links to .lycheeignore file to bypass future checks.\n"
          exit 1

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: check PR Links
 
on:
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]
  workflow_dispatch:
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  linkChecker:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v5
 
      - name: Check links
        uses: lycheeverse/lychee-action@v2
        with:
          # Remap live URLs to build directory because the links are potentially not live (not yet on master)
          args: |
            --verbose 
            --no-progress
            --exclude-all-private
            --retry-wait-time 5
            ./
          fail: true
 
      - name: Suggestions
        if: failure()
        run: |
          echo -e "\nPlease review the links reported in the 'Check links' step above."
          echo -e "If a link is valid but fails due to a CAPTCHA challenge, IP blocking, login requirements, etc.,"
          echo -e "consider adding such links to .lycheeignore file to bypass future checks.\n"
          exit 1

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.
• 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.

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