release-please workflow (istanbuljs/nyc)

The release-please workflow from istanbuljs/nyc, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the release-please 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
name: release-please
jobs:
  release-please:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    if: github.repository == 'istanbuljs/nyc'
    steps:
      - uses: google-github-actions/release-please-action@v4
        id: release
        with:
          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          config-file: release-please-config.json
          manifest-file: .release-please-manifest.json

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
name: release-please
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  release-please:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    if: github.repository == 'istanbuljs/nyc'
    steps:
      - uses: google-github-actions/release-please-action@v4
        id: release
        with:
          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          config-file: release-please-config.json
          manifest-file: .release-please-manifest.json
 

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• Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.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.

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.

This workflow runs 1 job per trigger. On Latchkey the same minutes cost up to 58% less than GitHub-hosted, with zero queue time.