scripts workflow (GoogleCloudPlatform/nodejs-docs-samples)

The scripts workflow from GoogleCloudPlatform/nodejs-docs-samples, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the scripts workflow from the GoogleCloudPlatform/nodejs-docs-samples 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

# Copyright 2024 Google LLC
#
# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# limitations under the License.

name: scripts
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
    paths:
      - .github/scripts/**
  pull_request:
    paths:
      - .github/scripts/**

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    defaults:
      run:
        working-directory: .github/scripts
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5
      - uses: actions/setup-node@49933ea5288caeca8642d1e84afbd3f7d6820020 # v4
        with:
          node-version: 20
      - run: npm install
      - run: npm test

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.

# Copyright 2024 Google LLC
#
# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# limitations under the License.
 
name: scripts
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
    paths:
      - .github/scripts/**
  pull_request:
    paths:
      - .github/scripts/**
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  test:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    defaults:
      run:
        working-directory: .github/scripts
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5
      - uses: actions/setup-node@49933ea5288caeca8642d1e84afbd3f7d6820020 # v4
        with:
          cache: 'npm'
          node-version: 20
      - run: npm install
      - run: npm test
 

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.

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