Release workflow (krzysztofdudek/ResearcherSkill)

The Release workflow from krzysztofdudek/ResearcherSkill, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

CI health: C - fair

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Source: krzysztofdudek/ResearcherSkill.github/workflows/release.ymlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the Release workflow from the krzysztofdudek/ResearcherSkill 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: Release

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

permissions:
  contents: write

jobs:
  release:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Extract current version from CHANGELOG
        id: version
        run: |
          VERSION=$(awk '/^## \[[0-9]/{gsub(/.*\[|\].*/, ""); print; exit}' CHANGELOG.md)
          echo "version=$VERSION" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"

      - name: Check if tag already exists
        id: check
        run: |
          if git tag -l "v${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}" | grep -q .; then
            echo "exists=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
          else
            echo "exists=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
          fi

      - name: Extract changelog and create release
        if: steps.check.outputs.exists == 'false'
        env:
          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        run: |
          VERSION="${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}"
          awk "/^## \[${VERSION}\]/{flag=1; next} /^## \[/{if(flag) exit} flag" CHANGELOG.md | sed '/^[[:space:]]*$/d' > /tmp/release-notes.md
          git tag "v${VERSION}"
          git push origin "v${VERSION}"
          gh release create "v${VERSION}" \
            --title "v${VERSION}" \
            --notes-file /tmp/release-notes.md \
            --latest

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Release
 
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
 
permissions:
  contents: write
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  release:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
 
      - name: Extract current version from CHANGELOG
        id: version
        run: |
          VERSION=$(awk '/^## \[[0-9]/{gsub(/.*\[|\].*/, ""); print; exit}' CHANGELOG.md)
          echo "version=$VERSION" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
      - name: Check if tag already exists
        id: check
        run: |
          if git tag -l "v${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}" | grep -q .; then
            echo "exists=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
          else
            echo "exists=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
          fi
 
      - name: Extract changelog and create release
        if: steps.check.outputs.exists == 'false'
        env:
          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        run: |
          VERSION="${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}"
          awk "/^## \[${VERSION}\]/{flag=1; next} /^## \[/{if(flag) exit} flag" CHANGELOG.md | sed '/^[[:space:]]*$/d' > /tmp/release-notes.md
          git tag "v${VERSION}"
          git push origin "v${VERSION}"
          gh release create "v${VERSION}" \
            --title "v${VERSION}" \
            --notes-file /tmp/release-notes.md \
            --latest

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.

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

actions/checkout