Publish Python 🐍 distribution 📦 to TestPyPI workflow (Intelligent-Internet/ii-researcher)

The Publish Python 🐍 distribution 📦 to TestPyPI workflow from Intelligent-Internet/ii-researcher, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Publish Python 🐍 distribution 📦 to TestPyPI workflow from the Intelligent-Internet/ii-researcher 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: Publish Python 🐍 distribution 📦 to TestPyPI

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  build:
    name: Build distribution 📦
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      with:
        persist-credentials: false
    - name: Set up Python
      uses: actions/setup-python@v5
      with:
        python-version: "3.x"
    - name: Install pypa/build
      run: >-
        python3 -m
        pip install
        build
        --user
    - name: Build a binary wheel and a source tarball
      run: python3 -m build
    - name: Store the distribution packages
      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
      with:
        name: python-package-distributions
        path: dist/

  publish-to-testpypi:
    name: Publish Python 🐍 distribution 📦 to TestPyPI
    needs:
    - build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    environment:
      name: testpypi
      url: https://test.pypi.org/p/ii-researcher

    permissions:
      id-token: write  # IMPORTANT: mandatory for trusted publishing

    steps:
    - name: Download all the dists
      uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
      with:
        name: python-package-distributions
        path: dist/
    - name: Publish distribution 📦 to TestPyPI
      uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1
      with:
        repository-url: https://test.pypi.org/legacy/

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: Publish Python 🐍 distribution 📦 to TestPyPI
 
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  build:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Build distribution 📦
    runs-on: latchkey-small
 
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      with:
        persist-credentials: false
    - name: Set up Python
      uses: actions/setup-python@v5
      with:
        cache: 'pip'
        python-version: "3.x"
    - name: Install pypa/build
      run: >-
        python3 -m
        pip install
        build
        --user
    - name: Build a binary wheel and a source tarball
      run: python3 -m build
    - name: Store the distribution packages
      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
      with:
        name: python-package-distributions
        path: dist/
 
  publish-to-testpypi:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Publish Python 🐍 distribution 📦 to TestPyPI
    needs:
    - build
    runs-on: latchkey-small
 
    environment:
      name: testpypi
      url: https://test.pypi.org/p/ii-researcher
 
    permissions:
      id-token: write  # IMPORTANT: mandatory for trusted publishing
 
    steps:
    - name: Download all the dists
      uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
      with:
        name: python-package-distributions
        path: dist/
    - name: Publish distribution 📦 to TestPyPI
      uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1
      with:
        repository-url: https://test.pypi.org/legacy/
 

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 2 jobs per trigger. On Latchkey the same minutes cost up to 58% less than GitHub-hosted, with zero queue time.

Actions used in this workflow