release workflow (nakabonne/ali)

The release workflow from nakabonne/ali, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the release workflow from the nakabonne/ali 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: release
on:
  push:
    tags:
    - "v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+"
  workflow_dispatch:
jobs:
  goreleaser:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Unshallow
        run: git fetch --prune --unshallow
      - name: Setup Go
        uses: actions/setup-go@v4
        with:
          go-version: '1.24'
      - name: Login docker.io
        run: docker login -u nakabonne -p ${{ secrets.DOCKER_PASSWORD }}
      - name: Run GoReleaser
        uses: goreleaser/goreleaser-action@v2
        with:
          version: latest
          args: release --clean
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ACCESS_TOKEN_WITH_REPO_PERM }}

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: release
on:
  push:
    tags:
    - "v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+"
  workflow_dispatch:
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  goreleaser:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Unshallow
        run: git fetch --prune --unshallow
      - name: Setup Go
        uses: actions/setup-go@v4
        with:
          go-version: '1.24'
      - name: Login docker.io
        run: docker login -u nakabonne -p ${{ secrets.DOCKER_PASSWORD }}
      - name: Run GoReleaser
        uses: goreleaser/goreleaser-action@v2
        with:
          version: latest
          args: release --clean
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ACCESS_TOKEN_WITH_REPO_PERM }}
 

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• Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.
• 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