nightly workflow (doitintl/kube-no-trouble)

The nightly workflow from doitintl/kube-no-trouble, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

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Source: doitintl/kube-no-trouble.github/workflows/nightly.yamlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the nightly workflow from the doitintl/kube-no-trouble 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

workflow (.yml)

name: nightly
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '2 2 * * *'
jobs:
  create-tag:
    name: Create tag
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v4.2.2
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
      - name: Set tag name
        id: git_tag
        run: echo "tag=$(git describe --tags --match '[0-9].[0-9].[0-9]')" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
      - name: check if tag exists
        id: tag_exists
        run: |
          set -x
          exists=false
          [ "$(git tag -l "${TAG}")" = "${TAG}" ] && exists=true
          [ "$(git tag -l "nightly-${TAG}")" = "nightly-${TAG}" ] && exists=true
          echo "result=${exists}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
        env:
          TAG: ${{ steps.git_tag.outputs.tag }}
      - name: Setup SSH Keys and known_hosts
        env:
          SSH_AUTH_SOCK: /tmp/ssh_agent.sock
        run: |
          mkdir -p ~/.ssh
          ssh-keyscan github.com >> ~/.ssh/known_hosts
          ssh-agent -a $SSH_AUTH_SOCK > /dev/null
          ssh-add - <<< "${{ secrets.GH_SSH_KEY }}"
        if: ${{ steps.tag_exists.outputs.result != 'true' }}
      - name: Create tag
        env:
          SSH_AUTH_SOCK: /tmp/ssh_agent.sock
          TAG: "nightly-${{ steps.git_tag.outputs.tag }}"
        run: |
          git tag "${TAG}"
          git remote set-url origin git@github.com:doitintl/kube-no-trouble.git
          git push origin "refs/tags/${TAG}"
        if: ${{ steps.tag_exists.outputs.result != 'true' }}

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: nightly
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '2 2 * * *'
jobs:
  create-tag:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Create tag
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v4.2.2
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
      - name: Set tag name
        id: git_tag
        run: echo "tag=$(git describe --tags --match '[0-9].[0-9].[0-9]')" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
      - name: check if tag exists
        id: tag_exists
        run: |
          set -x
          exists=false
          [ "$(git tag -l "${TAG}")" = "${TAG}" ] && exists=true
          [ "$(git tag -l "nightly-${TAG}")" = "nightly-${TAG}" ] && exists=true
          echo "result=${exists}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
        env:
          TAG: ${{ steps.git_tag.outputs.tag }}
      - name: Setup SSH Keys and known_hosts
        env:
          SSH_AUTH_SOCK: /tmp/ssh_agent.sock
        run: |
          mkdir -p ~/.ssh
          ssh-keyscan github.com >> ~/.ssh/known_hosts
          ssh-agent -a $SSH_AUTH_SOCK > /dev/null
          ssh-add - <<< "${{ secrets.GH_SSH_KEY }}"
        if: ${{ steps.tag_exists.outputs.result != 'true' }}
      - name: Create tag
        env:
          SSH_AUTH_SOCK: /tmp/ssh_agent.sock
          TAG: "nightly-${{ steps.git_tag.outputs.tag }}"
        run: |
          git tag "${TAG}"
          git remote set-url origin git@github.com:doitintl/kube-no-trouble.git
          git push origin "refs/tags/${TAG}"
        if: ${{ steps.tag_exists.outputs.result != 'true' }}

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.
Add a job timeout so a hung step cannot burn hours of runner time.

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