Test workflow (jashkenas/backbone)

The Test workflow from jashkenas/backbone, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Test workflow from the jashkenas/backbone 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

name: Test

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - master
    paths:
      - '.github/workflows/**'
      - 'test/**'
      - '*.js'
      - 'package.json'

jobs:
  tests:
    env:
      NPM_CONFIG_PROGRESS: "false"

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 16
          cache: 'npm'
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: |
          npm ci
          npm install --no-audit karma-cli karma-sauce-launcher
      - name: Test in Sauce Labs
        run: BUILD_NUMBER="$GITHUB_RUN_NUMBER" BUILD_ID="$GITHUB_RUN_ID" JOB_NUMBER="$GITHUB_JOB" ./node_modules/.bin/karma start karma.conf-sauce.js
        env:
          SAUCE_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.SauceUsername }}
          SAUCE_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.SauceAccessKey }}

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Test
 
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - master
    paths:
      - '.github/workflows/**'
      - 'test/**'
      - '*.js'
      - 'package.json'
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  tests:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    env:
      NPM_CONFIG_PROGRESS: "false"
 
    runs-on: latchkey-small
 
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 16
          cache: 'npm'
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: |
          npm ci
          npm install --no-audit karma-cli karma-sauce-launcher
      - name: Test in Sauce Labs
        run: BUILD_NUMBER="$GITHUB_RUN_NUMBER" BUILD_ID="$GITHUB_RUN_ID" JOB_NUMBER="$GITHUB_JOB" ./node_modules/.bin/karma start karma.conf-sauce.js
        env:
          SAUCE_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.SauceUsername }}
          SAUCE_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.SauceAccessKey }}
 

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 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