Deploy Docs to GitHub Pages workflow (linorobot/linorobot2)

The Deploy Docs to GitHub Pages workflow from linorobot/linorobot2, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Deploy Docs to GitHub Pages workflow from the linorobot/linorobot2 repository, a real project running GitHub Actions. It is shown here with attribution under its Apache-2.0 license.

Below, Latchkey shows a faster, safer version produced by its optimization engine.

The workflow

name: Deploy Docs to GitHub Pages

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - jazzy
      - docs

  # Allow manual trigger from the Actions tab
  workflow_dispatch:

permissions:
  contents: write

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0  # Full history needed for mkdocs git-dates plugin if added later

      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: '3.x'

      - name: Install MkDocs and theme
        run: pip install mkdocs-material

      - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
        run: mkdocs gh-deploy --force

The same workflow, on Latchkey

Estimated ~20% faster on cache hits, plus fewer wasted runs and a safer supply chain. Added and changed lines are highlighted.

name: Deploy Docs to GitHub Pages
 
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - jazzy
      - docs
 
  # Allow manual trigger from the Actions tab
  workflow_dispatch:
 
permissions:
  contents: write
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  deploy:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0  # Full history needed for mkdocs git-dates plugin if added later
 
      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          cache: 'pip'
          python-version: '3.x'
 
      - name: Install MkDocs and theme
        run: pip install mkdocs-material
 
      - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
        run: mkdocs gh-deploy --force
 

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• Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.
• Cache dependency installs on the setup step so they are served from cache.
• 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