Link Checker workflow (ljagiello/ctf-skills)

The Link Checker workflow from ljagiello/ctf-skills, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Link Checker workflow from the ljagiello/ctf-skills 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: Link Checker

'on':
  pull_request:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
    paths:
      - '**/*.md'
      - '.github/workflows/link-checker.yml'
      - '.lychee.toml'
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 8 * * 1' # Weekly on Monday at 08:00 UTC
  workflow_dispatch:

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

jobs:
  check-links:
    name: Check links
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: read
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v7

      - name: Lychee link checker
        uses: lycheeverse/lychee-action@v2
        with:
          args: >-
            --config .lychee.toml
            --no-progress
            --exclude-path .pytest_cache
            '**/*.md'
          fail: true

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

---
name: Link Checker
 
'on':
  pull_request:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
    paths:
      - '**/*.md'
      - '.github/workflows/link-checker.yml'
      - '.lychee.toml'
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 8 * * 1' # Weekly on Monday at 08:00 UTC
  workflow_dispatch:
 
concurrency:
  group: link-checker-${{ github.event_name }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.number || github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  check-links:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Check links
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    permissions:
      contents: read
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v7
 
      - name: Lychee link checker
        uses: lycheeverse/lychee-action@v2
        with:
          args: >-
            --config .lychee.toml
            --no-progress
            --exclude-path .pytest_cache
            '**/*.md'
          fail: true
 

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.

1 third-party action is referenced by a movable tag. Pin it to the commit SHA (Latchkey resolves and applies this automatically) so a repointed tag cannot change what runs.

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