Push to Docker Hub workflow (learning-at-home/hivemind)

The Push to Docker Hub workflow from learning-at-home/hivemind, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

CI health: B - good

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Source: learning-at-home/hivemind.github/workflows/push-docker-image.ymlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the Push to Docker Hub workflow from the learning-at-home/hivemind 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: Push to Docker Hub

on:
  push:
    branches: [ master ]
    tags:
      - "*.*.*"
  pull_request:
    branches: [ master ]

concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.number || github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Docker meta
        id: meta
        uses: crazy-max/ghaction-docker-meta@v2
        with:
          # list of Docker images to use as base name for tags
          images: |
            learningathome/hivemind
          # generate Docker tags based on the following events/attributes
          tags: |
            type=ref,event=branch
            type=ref,event=pr
            type=semver,pattern={{version}}
            type=semver,pattern={{major}}.{{minor}}
            type=semver,pattern={{major}}

      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
        id: buildx
        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v1

      - name: Login to Docker Hub
        if: github.event_name != 'pull_request'
        uses: docker/login-action@v1
        with:
          username: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_ACCESS_TOKEN }}

      - name: Build and push
        id: docker_build
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v2
        with:
          context: .
          push: ${{ github.event_name != 'pull_request' }}
          tags: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }}

      - name: Image digest
        run: echo ${{ steps.docker_build.outputs.digest }}

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Push to Docker Hub
 
on:
  push:
    branches: [ master ]
    tags:
      - "*.*.*"
  pull_request:
    branches: [ master ]
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.number || github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  build:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
 
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
      - name: Docker meta
        id: meta
        uses: crazy-max/ghaction-docker-meta@v2
        with:
          # list of Docker images to use as base name for tags
          images: |
            learningathome/hivemind
          # generate Docker tags based on the following events/attributes
          tags: |
            type=ref,event=branch
            type=ref,event=pr
            type=semver,pattern={{version}}
            type=semver,pattern={{major}}.{{minor}}
            type=semver,pattern={{major}}
 
      - name: Set up Docker Buildx
        id: buildx
        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v1
 
      - name: Login to Docker Hub
        if: github.event_name != 'pull_request'
        uses: docker/login-action@v1
        with:
          username: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
 
      - name: Build and push
        id: docker_build
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v2
        with:
          context: .
          push: ${{ github.event_name != 'pull_request' }}
          tags: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }}
 
      - name: Image digest
        run: echo ${{ steps.docker_build.outputs.digest }}

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.
Add a job timeout so a hung step cannot burn hours of runner time.

4 third-party actions are referenced by a movable tag. Pin them to the commit SHA (Latchkey resolves and applies this automatically) so a repointed tag cannot change what runs.

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:

Container pulls and builds

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 docker/setup-buildx-action docker/login-action docker/build-push-action