Build documentation workflow (ericmjl/nxviz)

The Build documentation workflow from ericmjl/nxviz, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

CI health: C - fair

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Source: ericmjl/nxviz.github/workflows/docs.yamlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the Build documentation workflow from the ericmjl/nxviz 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: Build documentation

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize, reopened]

permissions:
  contents: write
  pull-requests: write

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Build documentation
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - uses: prefix-dev/setup-pixi@v0.8.1
        with:
          cache: true
          environments: docs

      - name: Build docs
        run: pixi run -e docs build-docs

      - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
        if: github.ref_name == 'master'
        uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v4
        with:
          personal_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          publish_dir: site
          publish_branch: gh-pages
          allow_empty_commit: false
          keep_files: false
          force_orphan: true
          enable_jekyll: false

      - name: Deploy PR Preview
        if: github.event_name == 'pull_request'
        uses: rossjrw/pr-preview-action@v1.8.1
        with:
          source-dir: site
          preview-branch: gh-pages

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Build documentation
 
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize, reopened]
 
permissions:
  contents: write
  pull-requests: write
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  build:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    name: Build documentation
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
      - uses: prefix-dev/setup-pixi@v0.8.1
        with:
          cache: true
          environments: docs
 
      - name: Build docs
        run: pixi run -e docs build-docs
 
      - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
        if: github.ref_name == 'master'
        uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v4
        with:
          personal_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          publish_dir: site
          publish_branch: gh-pages
          allow_empty_commit: false
          keep_files: false
          force_orphan: true
          enable_jekyll: false
 
      - name: Deploy PR Preview
        if: github.event_name == 'pull_request'
        uses: rossjrw/pr-preview-action@v1.8.1
        with:
          source-dir: site
          preview-branch: gh-pages

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.

3 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.

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