Build and PR dist changes workflow (h5bp/html5-boilerplate)

The Build and PR dist changes workflow from h5bp/html5-boilerplate, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Build and PR dist changes workflow from the h5bp/html5-boilerplate 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 PR dist changes

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  build-and-pr-dist:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@9c091bb21b7c1c1d1991bb908d89e4e9dddfe3e0 # v7.0.0
        with:
          persist-credentials: false

      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@48b55a011bda9f5d6aeb4c2d9c7362e8dae4041e # v6.4.0
        with:
          node-version: "lts/*"

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci

      - name: Build project
        run: npm run build

      - name: Check for dist changes
        id: git-diff
        run: |
          git config --global user.name "github-actions[bot]"
          git config --global user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
          git add dist
          if git diff --cached --quiet; then
            echo "changed=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
          else
            echo "changed=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
          fi

      - name: Create Pull Request for dist changes
        if: steps.git-diff.outputs.changed == 'true'
        uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v8
        with:
          commit-message: "chore(dist): update dist folder after build"
          title: "chore(dist): update dist folder after build"
          body: "This PR updates the dist folder with the latest build output."
          branch: update-dist-after-build
          add-paths: dist

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 PR dist changes
 
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  build-and-pr-dist:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@9c091bb21b7c1c1d1991bb908d89e4e9dddfe3e0 # v7.0.0
        with:
          persist-credentials: false
 
      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@48b55a011bda9f5d6aeb4c2d9c7362e8dae4041e # v6.4.0
        with:
          cache: 'npm'
          node-version: "lts/*"
 
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci
 
      - name: Build project
        run: npm run build
 
      - name: Check for dist changes
        id: git-diff
        run: |
          git config --global user.name "github-actions[bot]"
          git config --global user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
          git add dist
          if git diff --cached --quiet; then
            echo "changed=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
          else
            echo "changed=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
          fi
 
      - name: Create Pull Request for dist changes
        if: steps.git-diff.outputs.changed == 'true'
        uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v8
        with:
          commit-message: "chore(dist): update dist folder after build"
          title: "chore(dist): update dist folder after build"
          body: "This PR updates the dist folder with the latest build output."
          branch: update-dist-after-build
          add-paths: dist
 

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