LFX Automation Tests workflow (cncf/mentoring)

The LFX Automation Tests workflow from cncf/mentoring, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

CI health: D - needs work

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Source: cncf/mentoring.github/workflows/lfx-automation-tests.ymlLicense Apache-2.0View source

What it does

This is the LFX Automation Tests workflow from the cncf/mentoring 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

workflow (.yml)

name: LFX Automation Tests

# Unit tests for the LFX proposal automation logic (form parsing, mentor/LFID
# validation, CSV handling, board status rules, the /confirm tally, README
# assembly, and the landscape sync) in
# programs/lfx-mentorship/automation/lib. Runs on any change to that logic or
# to the workflows that depend on it.

on:
  pull_request:
    paths:
      - 'programs/lfx-mentorship/automation/lib/**'
      - 'programs/lfx-mentorship/automation/test/**'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-automation-tests.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-proposal-validate.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-proposal-approvals.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-proposal-board-sync.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-export.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-export-merge-notify.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/landscape-projects-sync.yml'
  push:
    branches: [main]
    paths:
      - 'programs/lfx-mentorship/automation/lib/**'
      - 'programs/lfx-mentorship/automation/test/**'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-automation-tests.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-proposal-validate.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-proposal-approvals.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-proposal-board-sync.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-export.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-export-merge-notify.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/landscape-projects-sync.yml'

permissions:
  contents: read

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Set up Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'

      - name: Install test dependencies
        # lib/maintainers.js parses maintainers.yaml with js-yaml.
        # --ignore-scripts blocks dependency lifecycle scripts (js-yaml needs none).
        working-directory: programs/lfx-mentorship/automation
        run: npm install --no-save --ignore-scripts js-yaml@4.3.0

      - name: Run automation unit tests
        working-directory: programs/lfx-mentorship/automation
        run: node --test

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: LFX Automation Tests
 
# Unit tests for the LFX proposal automation logic (form parsing, mentor/LFID
# validation, CSV handling, board status rules, the /confirm tally, README
# assembly, and the landscape sync) in
# programs/lfx-mentorship/automation/lib. Runs on any change to that logic or
# to the workflows that depend on it.
 
on:
  pull_request:
    paths:
      - 'programs/lfx-mentorship/automation/lib/**'
      - 'programs/lfx-mentorship/automation/test/**'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-automation-tests.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-proposal-validate.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-proposal-approvals.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-proposal-board-sync.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-export.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-export-merge-notify.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/landscape-projects-sync.yml'
  push:
    branches: [main]
    paths:
      - 'programs/lfx-mentorship/automation/lib/**'
      - 'programs/lfx-mentorship/automation/test/**'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-automation-tests.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-proposal-validate.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-proposal-approvals.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-proposal-board-sync.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-export.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/lfx-export-merge-notify.yml'
      - '.github/workflows/landscape-projects-sync.yml'
 
permissions:
  contents: read
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  test:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
      - name: Set up Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          cache: 'npm'
          node-version: '20'
 
      - name: Install test dependencies
        # lib/maintainers.js parses maintainers.yaml with js-yaml.
        # --ignore-scripts blocks dependency lifecycle scripts (js-yaml needs none).
        working-directory: programs/lfx-mentorship/automation
        run: npm install --no-save --ignore-scripts js-yaml@4.3.0
 
      - name: Run automation unit tests
        working-directory: programs/lfx-mentorship/automation
        run: node --test

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

actions/checkout actions/setup-node