Build and Test Workflow workflow (facebook/Ax)

The Build and Test Workflow workflow from facebook/Ax, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Build and Test Workflow workflow from the facebook/Ax 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: Build and Test Workflow

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ main ]

jobs:
  tests-and-coverage:
    name: Tests with latest BoTorch
    uses: ./.github/workflows/reusable_test.yml
    with:
      pinned_botorch: false
    secrets: inherit

  docs:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    env:
      # `uv pip ...` requires venv by default. This skips that requirement.
      UV_SYSTEM_PYTHON: 1
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v6
    - name: Install uv
      uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v7
    - name: Set up Python
      uses: actions/setup-python@v6
      with:
        python-version: "3.14"
    - name: Install dependencies
      run: |
        # use latest Botorch
        uv pip install git+https://github.com/cornellius-gp/linear_operator.git
        uv pip install git+https://github.com/cornellius-gp/gpytorch.git
        uv pip install git+https://github.com/pytorch/botorch.git
        uv pip install -e ".[unittest]"
    - name: Run Sphinx
      # run even if previous step (validate Sphinx) failed
      if: ${{ always() }}
      run: |
        # warnings no longer treated as errors.
        sphinx-build -T --keep-going sphinx/source sphinx/build

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: Build and Test Workflow
 
on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ main ]
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  tests-and-coverage:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Tests with latest BoTorch
    uses: ./.github/workflows/reusable_test.yml
    with:
      pinned_botorch: false
    secrets: inherit
 
  docs:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    env:
      # `uv pip ...` requires venv by default. This skips that requirement.
      UV_SYSTEM_PYTHON: 1
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v6
    - name: Install uv
      uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v7
    - name: Set up Python
      uses: actions/setup-python@v6
      with:
        cache: 'pip'
        python-version: "3.14"
    - name: Install dependencies
      run: |
        # use latest Botorch
        uv pip install git+https://github.com/cornellius-gp/linear_operator.git
        uv pip install git+https://github.com/cornellius-gp/gpytorch.git
        uv pip install git+https://github.com/pytorch/botorch.git
        uv pip install -e ".[unittest]"
    - name: Run Sphinx
      # run even if previous step (validate Sphinx) failed
      if: ${{ always() }}
      run: |
        # warnings no longer treated as errors.
        sphinx-build -T --keep-going sphinx/source sphinx/build
 

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 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