Boilerplate workflow (google/go-containerregistry)

The Boilerplate workflow from google/go-containerregistry, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Boilerplate workflow from the google/go-containerregistry repository, a real project running GitHub Actions. It is shown here with attribution under its Apache-2.0 license.

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

The workflow

name: Boilerplate

on:
  pull_request:
    branches: ['main']

jobs:

  check:
    name: Boilerplate Check
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false # Keep running if one leg fails.
      matrix:
        extension:
        - go
        - sh

        # Map between extension and human-readable name.
        include:
        - extension: go
          language: Go
        - extension: sh
          language: Bash

    steps:
      - name: Check out code
        uses: actions/checkout@v6

      - uses: chainguard-dev/actions/boilerplate@main
        with:
          extension: ${{ matrix.extension }}
          language: ${{ matrix.language }}

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Boilerplate
 
on:
  pull_request:
    branches: ['main']
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
 
  check:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Boilerplate Check
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false # Keep running if one leg fails.
      matrix:
        extension:
        - go
        - sh
 
        # Map between extension and human-readable name.
        include:
        - extension: go
          language: Go
        - extension: sh
          language: Bash
 
    steps:
      - name: Check out code
        uses: actions/checkout@v6
 
      - uses: chainguard-dev/actions/boilerplate@main
        with:
          extension: ${{ matrix.extension }}
          language: ${{ matrix.language }}
 

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• Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.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.

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.

This workflow runs 1 job (2 with the matrix expanded) per trigger. On Latchkey the same minutes cost up to 58% less than GitHub-hosted, with zero queue time.

Actions used in this workflow