Check Canary String workflow (harbor-framework/terminal-bench)

The Check Canary String workflow from harbor-framework/terminal-bench, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Check Canary String workflow from the harbor-framework/terminal-bench 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: Check Canary String

on:
  pull_request:
    paths:
      - 'tasks/**/task.yaml'
      - 'tasks/**/solution.yaml'
      - 'tasks/**/Dockerfile'
      - 'tasks/**/solution.sh'
      - 'tasks/**/test_outputs.py'

jobs:
  check-canary:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Check for canary string
        run: |
          # Get list of changed files
          CHANGED_FILES=$(git diff --name-only origin/${{ github.base_ref }}..HEAD | grep -E 'tasks/.*/(task\.yaml|solution\.yaml|Dockerfile|solution\.sh|test_outputs\.py)$' || true)
          
          if [ -z "$CHANGED_FILES" ]; then
            echo "No relevant files changed"
            exit 0
          fi
          
          # Run the canary check script on changed files
          ./scripts_bash/check-canary.sh $CHANGED_FILES 

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Check Canary String
 
on:
  pull_request:
    paths:
      - 'tasks/**/task.yaml'
      - 'tasks/**/solution.yaml'
      - 'tasks/**/Dockerfile'
      - 'tasks/**/solution.sh'
      - 'tasks/**/test_outputs.py'
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  check-canary:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
 
      - name: Check for canary string
        run: |
          # Get list of changed files
          CHANGED_FILES=$(git diff --name-only origin/${{ github.base_ref }}..HEAD | grep -E 'tasks/.*/(task\.yaml|solution\.yaml|Dockerfile|solution\.sh|test_outputs\.py)$' || true)
          
          if [ -z "$CHANGED_FILES" ]; then
            echo "No relevant files changed"
            exit 0
          fi
          
          # Run the canary check script on changed files
          ./scripts_bash/check-canary.sh $CHANGED_FILES 

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.

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