Build docs workflow (gallantlab/himalaya)

The Build docs workflow from gallantlab/himalaya, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Build docs workflow from the gallantlab/himalaya repository, a real project running GitHub Actions. It is shown here with attribution under its BSD-3-Clause license.

Below, Latchkey shows a faster, safer version produced by its optimization engine.

The workflow

name: Build docs

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
    tags:
      - 'v*'
  pull_request:
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  build-docs:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v7

    - name: Set up Python
      uses: actions/setup-python@v6
      with:
        python-version: 3.9

    - uses: actions/cache@v5
      with:
        path: ~/.cache/pip
        key: ${{ runner.os }}-pip-${{ hashFiles('**/setup.py') }}
        restore-keys: |
          ${{ runner.os }}-pip-

    - name: Install dependencies
      run: |
        pip install torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu
        pip install -e ."[github]"
        pip install numpydoc sphinx sphinx_gallery sphinxcontrib-mermaid

    - name: Build documents
      run: |
        cd doc && make html && cd ..
        touch doc/_build/html/.nojekyll

    - name: Publish to gh-pages if tagged or manually triggered
      if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags') || (github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' && github.ref == 'refs/heads/main')
      uses: JamesIves/github-pages-deploy-action@v4.8.0
      with:
        branch: gh-pages
        folder: doc/_build/html

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 docs
 
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
    tags:
      - 'v*'
  pull_request:
  workflow_dispatch:
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  build-docs:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v7
 
    - name: Set up Python
      uses: actions/setup-python@v6
      with:
        cache: 'pip'
        python-version: 3.9
 
    - uses: actions/cache@v5
      with:
        path: ~/.cache/pip
        key: ${{ runner.os }}-pip-${{ hashFiles('**/setup.py') }}
        restore-keys: |
          ${{ runner.os }}-pip-
 
    - name: Install dependencies
      run: |
        pip install torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu
        pip install -e ."[github]"
        pip install numpydoc sphinx sphinx_gallery sphinxcontrib-mermaid
 
    - name: Build documents
      run: |
        cd doc && make html && cd ..
        touch doc/_build/html/.nojekyll
 
    - name: Publish to gh-pages if tagged or manually triggered
      if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags') || (github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' && github.ref == 'refs/heads/main')
      uses: JamesIves/github-pages-deploy-action@v4.8.0
      with:
        branch: gh-pages
        folder: doc/_build/html
 

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