Checkers workflow (DavidAnson/markdownlint)

The Checkers workflow from DavidAnson/markdownlint, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Checkers workflow from the DavidAnson/markdownlint 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: Checkers

on:
  pull_request:
  push:
    branches-ignore:
      - 'dependabot/**'
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:

  linkcheck:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v6
    - run: 'npx linkinator "*.md" "doc/*.md" "helpers/*.md" --directory-listing --skip "^https://github.com/.*/search\?q=" --skip "^https://www.jwz.org/" --skip "^https://wikipedia.org/"'

  spellcheck:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v6
    - uses: tbroadley/spellchecker-cli-action@v1
      with:
        dictionaries: '.github/dictionary.txt'
        files: '*.md doc/*.md helpers/*.md'

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Checkers
 
on:
  pull_request:
  push:
    branches-ignore:
      - 'dependabot/**'
  workflow_dispatch:
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
 
  linkcheck:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v6
    - run: 'npx linkinator "*.md" "doc/*.md" "helpers/*.md" --directory-listing --skip "^https://github.com/.*/search\?q=" --skip "^https://www.jwz.org/" --skip "^https://wikipedia.org/"'
 
  spellcheck:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v6
    - uses: tbroadley/spellchecker-cli-action@v1
      with:
        dictionaries: '.github/dictionary.txt'
        files: '*.md doc/*.md helpers/*.md'
 

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• Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.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 2 jobs per trigger. On Latchkey the same minutes cost up to 58% less than GitHub-hosted, with zero queue time.

Actions used in this workflow