Tests workflow (mac-cleanup/mac-cleanup-py)

The Tests workflow from mac-cleanup/mac-cleanup-py, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Tests workflow from the mac-cleanup/mac-cleanup-py 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: Tests

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
      - develop

  pull_request:
    branches:
      - main
      - develop

jobs:
  tests:
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        os: [ macos-latest ]
        python-version: [ '3.10', '3.11', '3.12', '3.13', '3.14' ]
        include:
          - os: macos-26
            python-version: 3.x
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v5
      - name: Set up Python v${{ matrix.python-version }}
        uses: actions/setup-python@v6
        with:
          python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
          allow-prereleases: true
      - name: Install tox-gh-actions
        run: |
          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
          pip install tox tox-gh-actions
      - name: Tests with Tox
        run: tox

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: Tests
 
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
      - develop
 
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - main
      - develop
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  tests:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        os: [ macos-latest ]
        python-version: [ '3.10', '3.11', '3.12', '3.13', '3.14' ]
        include:
          - os: macos-26
            python-version: 3.x
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v5
      - name: Set up Python v${{ matrix.python-version }}
        uses: actions/setup-python@v6
        with:
          cache: 'pip'
          python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
          allow-prereleases: true
      - name: Install tox-gh-actions
        run: |
          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
          pip install tox tox-gh-actions
      - name: Tests with Tox
        run: tox
 

What changed

• Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.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 (5 with the matrix expanded) per trigger. On Latchkey the same minutes cost up to 58% less than GitHub-hosted, with zero queue time.

Actions used in this workflow