Docker build and publish workflow

C

CI health grade

56/100

Health score

1

Job per trigger

3

Fixes in the optimized version

What it does

This is the Docker publish workflow GitHub offers by default. It builds a container image with Buildx, signs it with cosign, and pushes it to the GitHub Container Registry, using the GitHub Actions cache for layers.

It uses several third-party actions pinned only to tags, which Latchkey flags for SHA pinning below, and it adds concurrency and a job timeout.

The workflow

name: Docker

on:
  push:
    branches: [ "main" ]
    tags: [ 'v*.*.*' ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ "main" ]

env:
  REGISTRY: ghcr.io
  IMAGE_NAME: ${{ github.repository }}

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: read
      packages: write
      id-token: write
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Install cosign
        if: github.event_name != 'pull_request'
        uses: sigstore/cosign-installer@v3.5.0
        with:
          cosign-release: 'v2.2.4'
      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3.0.0
      - name: Log into registry ${{ env.REGISTRY }}
        if: github.event_name != 'pull_request'
        uses: docker/login-action@v3.0.0
        with:
          registry: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}
          username: ${{ github.actor }}
          password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      - name: Extract Docker metadata
        id: meta
        uses: docker/metadata-action@v5.0.0
        with:
          images: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}
      - name: Build and push Docker image
        id: build-and-push
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v5.0.0
        with:
          context: .
          push: ${{ github.event_name != 'pull_request' }}
          tags: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }}
          labels: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.labels }}
          cache-from: type=gha
          cache-to: type=gha,mode=max

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Docker

on:
  push:
    branches: [ "main" ]
    tags: [ 'v*.*.*' ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ "main" ]

env:
  REGISTRY: ghcr.io
  IMAGE_NAME: ${{ github.repository }}

concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    permissions:
      contents: read
      packages: write
      id-token: write
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Install cosign
        if: github.event_name != 'pull_request'
        uses: sigstore/cosign-installer@v3.5.0
        with:
          cosign-release: 'v2.2.4'
      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3.0.0
      - name: Log into registry ${{ env.REGISTRY }}
        if: github.event_name != 'pull_request'
        uses: docker/login-action@v3.0.0
        with:
          registry: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}
          username: ${{ github.actor }}
          password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      - name: Extract Docker metadata
        id: meta
        uses: docker/metadata-action@v5.0.0
        with:
          images: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}
      - name: Build and push Docker image
        id: build-and-push
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v5.0.0
        with:
          context: .
          push: ${{ github.event_name != 'pull_request' }}
          tags: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }}
          labels: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.labels }}
          cache-from: type=gha
          cache-to: type=gha,mode=max

What changed

1. Run on Latchkey managed runners with one line (runs-on), which apply the fixes below automatically and self-heal transient failures. Each Linux x64 job moves to the Latchkey size matching its vCPU count, latchkey-small for a standard 2 vCPU runner; macOS, Windows and arm64 jobs stay as written.
2. Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.
3. Add a job timeout so a hung step cannot burn hours of runner time.

5 third-party actions are referenced by a movable tag. Pin them 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:

• Container pulls and builds

This workflow runs 1 job per trigger. It runs on a standard GitHub-hosted Linux x64 runner, which in a private repository bills $0.006 a minute against $0.0025 on latchkey-small, 58% lower; in a public repository like this one it is free. Estimate the monthly difference with your own run counts.

Actions used in this workflow

• actions/checkout
• sigstore/cosign-installer
• docker/setup-buildx-action
• docker/login-action
• docker/metadata-action
• docker/build-push-action

Frequently asked questions

References

• Docker documentation
• Docker build cache
• GitHub Actions documentation