ci workflow (istanbuljs/nyc)

The ci workflow from istanbuljs/nyc, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the ci workflow from the istanbuljs/nyc repository, a real project running GitHub Actions. It is shown here with attribution under its ISC license.

Below, Latchkey shows a faster, safer version produced by its optimization engine.

The workflow

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
  pull_request:
    types: [assigned, opened, synchronize, reopened, labeled]
  workflow_dispatch:
name: ci
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        node: [20, 24]
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ matrix.node }}
          cache: npm
      - run: npm config set update-notifier false
      - run: npm ci --engine-strict
      - run: npm test
  windows:
    runs-on: windows-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: lts/*
          cache: npm
      - run: npm config set update-notifier false
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm test

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
  pull_request:
    types: [assigned, opened, synchronize, reopened, labeled]
  workflow_dispatch:
name: ci
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  test:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        node: [20, 24]
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ matrix.node }}
          cache: npm
      - run: npm config set update-notifier false
      - run: npm ci --engine-strict
      - run: npm test
  windows:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: windows-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: lts/*
          cache: npm
      - run: npm config set update-notifier false
      - run: npm ci
      - 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• Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.
• 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 2 jobs (3 with the matrix expanded) per trigger. On Latchkey the same minutes cost up to 58% less than GitHub-hosted, with zero queue time.

Actions used in this workflow