Build workflow (dagger/container-use)

The Build workflow from dagger/container-use, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Build workflow from the dagger/container-use 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: Build

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  build:
    name: Build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v5

      - name: Build with Dagger
        uses: dagger/dagger-for-github@v8.1.0
        with:
          version: "latest"
          verb: call
          args: build -o container-use

      - name: Verify binary
        run: |
          if [ ! -f container-use ]; then
            echo "Binary 'container-use' was not created"
            exit 1
          fi
          echo "Binary created successfully"
          ls -la container-use

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Build
 
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]
  workflow_dispatch:
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  build:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Build
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v5
 
      - name: Build with Dagger
        uses: dagger/dagger-for-github@v8.1.0
        with:
          version: "latest"
          verb: call
          args: build -o container-use
 
      - name: Verify binary
        run: |
          if [ ! -f container-use ]; then
            echo "Binary 'container-use' was not created"
            exit 1
          fi
          echo "Binary created successfully"
          ls -la container-use
 

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• Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.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