Clean untagged docker images workflow (lowlighter/metrics)

The Clean untagged docker images workflow from lowlighter/metrics, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Clean untagged docker images workflow from the lowlighter/metrics 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: Clean untagged docker images

on:
  release:
    types:
      - published
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  clean:
    name: Clean untagged docker images
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    continue-on-error: true
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Run script
        run: ./delete_ghcr_dangling_images.sh lowlighter metrics
        working-directory: .github/actions/ghcr-clean
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GHCR_BOT_TOKEN }}

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Clean untagged docker images
 
on:
  release:
    types:
      - published
  workflow_dispatch:
 
jobs:
  clean:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Clean untagged docker images
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    continue-on-error: true
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Run script
        run: ./delete_ghcr_dangling_images.sh lowlighter metrics
        working-directory: .github/actions/ghcr-clean
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GHCR_BOT_TOKEN }}
 

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.

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