docspublish workflow (ddev/ddev)

The docspublish workflow from ddev/ddev, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

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Source: ddev/ddev.github/workflows/docs-publish.ymlLicense Apache-2.0View source

What it does

This is the docspublish workflow from the ddev/ddev 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: docspublish
on:
  push:
    branches: [ main, stable ]

  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      debug_enabled:
        description: 'Run the build with tmate set "debug_enabled"'
        type: boolean
        required: false
        default: false

permissions:
  contents: read
  pages: write
  id-token: write

jobs:
  docs-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Setup Pages
        id: pages
        uses: actions/configure-pages@v6

      - name: Checkout main branch
        uses: actions/checkout@v7
        with:
          ref: main
          path: checkout-main
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Checkout stable branch
        id: checkout-stable
        continue-on-error: true
        uses: actions/checkout@v7
        with:
          ref: stable
          path: checkout-stable
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v6
        with:
          python-version: 3.x

      - name: Setup tmate session
        if: ${{ github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' && inputs.debug_enabled }}
        uses: mxschmitt/action-tmate@v3
        with:
          limit-access-to-actor: true

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: |
          pip install -r checkout-main/docs/requirements.txt
          if [ -f checkout-stable/docs/requirements.txt ]; then
            pip install -r checkout-stable/docs/requirements.txt
          fi

      - name: Build latest docs
        working-directory: checkout-main
        run: |
          if [ "${{ steps.checkout-stable.outcome }}" = "success" ]; then
            site_url="${{ steps.pages.outputs.base_url }}/en/latest/"
          else
            site_url="${{ steps.pages.outputs.base_url }}/"
          fi
          sed -i "s|site_url:.*|site_url: ${site_url}|" mkdocs.yml
          grep site_url mkdocs.yml
          if [ "${{ steps.checkout-stable.outcome }}" = "success" ]; then
            READTHEDOCS_VERSION_NAME=latest zensical build --clean --strict
          else
            zensical build --clean --strict
          fi

      - name: Build stable docs
        if: steps.checkout-stable.outcome == 'success'
        working-directory: checkout-stable
        run: |
          sed -i "s|site_url:.*|site_url: ${{ steps.pages.outputs.base_url }}/en/stable/|" mkdocs.yml
          grep site_url mkdocs.yml
          zensical build --clean --strict

      - name: Assemble combined site
        run: |
          if [ -d checkout-stable/site ]; then
            mkdir -p combined-site/en
            mv -v checkout-main/site combined-site/en/latest
            mv -v checkout-stable/site combined-site/en/stable
            cp -v combined-site/en/stable/404.html combined-site/404.html
            cat > combined-site/index.html <<'EOF'
          <!DOCTYPE html>
          <html>
          <head>
            <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=en/stable/">
            <link rel="canonical" href="en/stable/">
          </head>
          <body>
            <a href="en/stable/">Redirecting to stable docs...</a>
          </body>
          </html>
          EOF
          else
            mv -v checkout-main/site combined-site
          fi

      - name: Upload pages artifact
        uses: actions/upload-pages-artifact@v5
        with:
          path: combined-site

      - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
        uses: actions/deploy-pages@v5
        id: deployment

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: docspublish
on:
  push:
    branches: [ main, stable ]
 
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      debug_enabled:
        description: 'Run the build with tmate set "debug_enabled"'
        type: boolean
        required: false
        default: false
 
permissions:
  contents: read
  pages: write
  id-token: write
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  docs-deploy:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - name: Setup Pages
        id: pages
        uses: actions/configure-pages@v6
 
      - name: Checkout main branch
        uses: actions/checkout@v7
        with:
          ref: main
          path: checkout-main
          fetch-depth: 0
 
      - name: Checkout stable branch
        id: checkout-stable
        continue-on-error: true
        uses: actions/checkout@v7
        with:
          ref: stable
          path: checkout-stable
          fetch-depth: 0
 
      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v6
        with:
          cache: 'pip'
          python-version: 3.x
 
      - name: Setup tmate session
        if: ${{ github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' && inputs.debug_enabled }}
        uses: mxschmitt/action-tmate@v3
        with:
          limit-access-to-actor: true
 
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: |
          pip install -r checkout-main/docs/requirements.txt
          if [ -f checkout-stable/docs/requirements.txt ]; then
            pip install -r checkout-stable/docs/requirements.txt
          fi
 
      - name: Build latest docs
        working-directory: checkout-main
        run: |
          if [ "${{ steps.checkout-stable.outcome }}" = "success" ]; then
            site_url="${{ steps.pages.outputs.base_url }}/en/latest/"
          else
            site_url="${{ steps.pages.outputs.base_url }}/"
          fi
          sed -i "s|site_url:.*|site_url: ${site_url}|" mkdocs.yml
          grep site_url mkdocs.yml
          if [ "${{ steps.checkout-stable.outcome }}" = "success" ]; then
            READTHEDOCS_VERSION_NAME=latest zensical build --clean --strict
          else
            zensical build --clean --strict
          fi
 
      - name: Build stable docs
        if: steps.checkout-stable.outcome == 'success'
        working-directory: checkout-stable
        run: |
          sed -i "s|site_url:.*|site_url: ${{ steps.pages.outputs.base_url }}/en/stable/|" mkdocs.yml
          grep site_url mkdocs.yml
          zensical build --clean --strict
 
      - name: Assemble combined site
        run: |
          if [ -d checkout-stable/site ]; then
            mkdir -p combined-site/en
            mv -v checkout-main/site combined-site/en/latest
            mv -v checkout-stable/site combined-site/en/stable
            cp -v combined-site/en/stable/404.html combined-site/404.html
            cat > combined-site/index.html <<'EOF'
          <!DOCTYPE html>
          <html>
          <head>
            <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=en/stable/">
            <link rel="canonical" href="en/stable/">
          </head>
          <body>
            <a href="en/stable/">Redirecting to stable docs...</a>
          </body>
          </html>
          EOF
          else
            mv -v checkout-main/site combined-site
          fi
 
      - name: Upload pages artifact
        uses: actions/upload-pages-artifact@v5
        with:
          path: combined-site
 
      - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
        uses: actions/deploy-pages@v5
        id: deployment

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.

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.

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-python actions/upload-pages-artifact actions/deploy-pages