Build and Test workflow (json-editor/json-editor)

The Build and Test workflow from json-editor/json-editor, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

CI health: C - fair

Point runs-on at Latchkey and get run de-duplication, job timeouts, self-healing for flaky steps, and up to 58% lower cost, applied automatically.

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Source: json-editor/json-editor.github/workflows/build.ymlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the Build and Test workflow from the json-editor/json-editor 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: Build and Test

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:

  unit-test:

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v1
      - name: Node version
        run: node -v
      - name: Install
        run: npm install
      - name: Test
        run: npm run test-headless

  end-to-end-test:

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      matrix:
        include:
          - selenium-browser: "chrome"
            build-env: "build.prod"
          - selenium-browser: "chrome"
            build-env: "build.nonmin.travis"
          - selenium-browser: "firefox"
            build-env: "build.prod"
          - selenium-browser: "firefox"
            build-env: "build.nonmin.travis"
      fail-fast: false
    defaults:
      run:
        shell: bash
        working-directory: tests

    env:
      SELENIUM_BROWSER: ${{ matrix.selenium-browser }}
      BUILD_ENV: ${{ matrix.build-env }}

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v1
      #- name: Install
      #  run: |
      #    npm install
      - name: Install
        run: docker compose run -T --rm node npm install
      - name: Start
        run: docker compose up -d ${SELENIUM_BROWSER}
      - name: Build
        run: docker compose run -T --rm node npm run ${BUILD_ENV}
      - name: Test
        run: |
          docker compose exec -T node codeceptjs run-multiple -c /repo/tests/codeceptjs/codecept.json basic:${SELENIUM_BROWSER} --invert --grep  '@optional'
          pwd
          ls -la codeceptjs/output
      - name: Test Artifacts
        if: always()
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: codeceptjs-output-${{ matrix.selenium-browser }}-${{ matrix.build-env }}
          path: tests/codeceptjs/output
          retention-days: 30
          merge-multiple: true
      - name: Test (optional)
        continue-on-error: true
        run: docker compose exec -T node codeceptjs run-multiple -c /repo/tests/codeceptjs/codecept.json basic:${SELENIUM_BROWSER} --grep '@optional'

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Build and Test
 
on: [push, pull_request]
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
 
  unit-test:
    timeout-minutes: 30
 
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v1
      - name: Node version
        run: node -v
      - name: Install
        run: npm install
      - name: Test
        run: npm run test-headless
 
  end-to-end-test:
    timeout-minutes: 30
 
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    strategy:
      matrix:
        include:
          - selenium-browser: "chrome"
            build-env: "build.prod"
          - selenium-browser: "chrome"
            build-env: "build.nonmin.travis"
          - selenium-browser: "firefox"
            build-env: "build.prod"
          - selenium-browser: "firefox"
            build-env: "build.nonmin.travis"
      fail-fast: false
    defaults:
      run:
        shell: bash
        working-directory: tests
 
    env:
      SELENIUM_BROWSER: ${{ matrix.selenium-browser }}
      BUILD_ENV: ${{ matrix.build-env }}
 
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v1
      #- name: Install
      #  run: |
      #    npm install
      - name: Install
        run: docker compose run -T --rm node npm install
      - name: Start
        run: docker compose up -d ${SELENIUM_BROWSER}
      - name: Build
        run: docker compose run -T --rm node npm run ${BUILD_ENV}
      - name: Test
        run: |
          docker compose exec -T node codeceptjs run-multiple -c /repo/tests/codeceptjs/codecept.json basic:${SELENIUM_BROWSER} --invert --grep  '@optional'
          pwd
          ls -la codeceptjs/output
      - name: Test Artifacts
        if: always()
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: codeceptjs-output-${{ matrix.selenium-browser }}-${{ matrix.build-env }}
          path: tests/codeceptjs/output
          retention-days: 30
          merge-multiple: true
      - name: Test (optional)
        continue-on-error: true
        run: docker compose exec -T node codeceptjs run-multiple -c /repo/tests/codeceptjs/codecept.json basic:${SELENIUM_BROWSER} --grep '@optional'

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
End-to-end and browser tests

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

actions/checkout actions/upload-artifact