Prepare Release workflow (hikari-py/hikari)

The Prepare Release workflow from hikari-py/hikari, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

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Source: hikari-py/hikari.github/workflows/prepare-release.ymlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the Prepare Release workflow from the hikari-py/hikari 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

workflow (.yml)

name: Prepare Release

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      version:
        description: "The version to prepare the release for"
        required: true

jobs:
  prepare-release:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/master'

    steps:
      - name: Generate token
        id: generate_token
        uses: actions/create-github-app-token@1b10c78c7865c340bc4f6099eb2f838309f1e8c3 # v3.1.1
        with:
          app-id: ${{ secrets.APP_ID }}
          private-key: ${{ secrets.PRIVATE_KEY }}

      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
        with:
          # We need to use a bot token to be able to trigger workflows that listen to pull_request calls
          token: ${{ steps.generate_token.outputs.token }}

      - name: Setup git config
        run: |
          git config --global user.name "hikari-bot"
          git config --global user.email "90276125+hikari-bot[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"

      - name: Setup uv
        uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@08807647e7069bb48b6ef5acd8ec9567f424441b # v8.1.0
        with:
          python-version: 3.14
          activate-environment: true

      - name: Run prepare script
        env:
          VERSION: ${{ inputs.version }}
        run: bash scripts/ci/prepare-release.sh

      - name: Create pull request
        env:
          VERSION: ${{ inputs.version }}
          AUTHOR: ${{ github.event.sender.login }}
          GH_TOKEN: ${{ steps.generate_token.outputs.token }}
        run: |
          title="Prepare for release of ${VERSION}"
          body="Release preparation triggered by @${AUTHOR}.

          Once the pull request is merged, you can trigger a PyPI release by creating a GitHub release for \`${VERSION}\` in the repository."

          gh pr create \
            --title "${title}" \
            --body "${body}" \
            --assignee "${AUTHOR}"

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Prepare Release
 
on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      version:
        description: "The version to prepare the release for"
        required: true
 
jobs:
  prepare-release:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
 
    if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/master'
 
    steps:
      - name: Generate token
        id: generate_token
        uses: actions/create-github-app-token@1b10c78c7865c340bc4f6099eb2f838309f1e8c3 # v3.1.1
        with:
          app-id: ${{ secrets.APP_ID }}
          private-key: ${{ secrets.PRIVATE_KEY }}
 
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
        with:
          # We need to use a bot token to be able to trigger workflows that listen to pull_request calls
          token: ${{ steps.generate_token.outputs.token }}
 
      - name: Setup git config
        run: |
          git config --global user.name "hikari-bot"
          git config --global user.email "90276125+hikari-bot[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
 
      - name: Setup uv
        uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@08807647e7069bb48b6ef5acd8ec9567f424441b # v8.1.0
        with:
          python-version: 3.14
          activate-environment: true
 
      - name: Run prepare script
        env:
          VERSION: ${{ inputs.version }}
        run: bash scripts/ci/prepare-release.sh
 
      - name: Create pull request
        env:
          VERSION: ${{ inputs.version }}
          AUTHOR: ${{ github.event.sender.login }}
          GH_TOKEN: ${{ steps.generate_token.outputs.token }}
        run: |
          title="Prepare for release of ${VERSION}"
          body="Release preparation triggered by @${AUTHOR}.
 
          Once the pull request is merged, you can trigger a PyPI release by creating a GitHub release for \`${VERSION}\` in the repository."
 
          gh pr create \
            --title "${title}" \
            --body "${body}" \
            --assignee "${AUTHOR}"

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.
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

actions/create-github-app-token actions/checkout astral-sh/setup-uv