Cleanup GH Actions Cache workflow (nicholas-fedor/watchtower)

The Cleanup GH Actions Cache workflow from nicholas-fedor/watchtower, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

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Source: nicholas-fedor/watchtower.github/workflows/clean-cache.yamlLicense Apache-2.0View source

What it does

This is the Cleanup GH Actions Cache workflow from the nicholas-fedor/watchtower 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

workflow (.yml)

---
name: Cleanup GH Actions Cache
on:
  workflow_dispatch: {}
  pull_request:
    types:
      - closed

permissions:
  contents: read # Set default read-only permissions

jobs:
  cleanup:
    name: Cleanup Cache
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      actions: write
    if: github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' || github.event.pull_request.merged
    steps:
      - name: Harden the Runner (Step Security)
        uses: step-security/harden-runner@bf7454d06d71f1098171f2acdf0cd4708d7b5920 # v2.20.0
        with:
          egress-policy: audit

      - name: Checkout Repo
        uses: actions/checkout@9c091bb21b7c1c1d1991bb908d89e4e9dddfe3e0 # v7.0.0
        with:
          persist-credentials: false

      - name: Clean Cache
        uses: ./.github/actions/clean-cache
        with:
          gh-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          gh-repo: ${{ github.repository }}
          branch: refs/pull/${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}/merge

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

---
name: Cleanup GH Actions Cache
on:
  workflow_dispatch: {}
  pull_request:
    types:
      - closed
 
permissions:
  contents: read # Set default read-only permissions
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  cleanup:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Cleanup Cache
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    permissions:
      actions: write
    if: github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' || github.event.pull_request.merged
    steps:
      - name: Harden the Runner (Step Security)
        uses: step-security/harden-runner@bf7454d06d71f1098171f2acdf0cd4708d7b5920 # v2.20.0
        with:
          egress-policy: audit
 
      - name: Checkout Repo
        uses: actions/checkout@9c091bb21b7c1c1d1991bb908d89e4e9dddfe3e0 # v7.0.0
        with:
          persist-credentials: false
 
      - name: Clean Cache
        uses: ./.github/actions/clean-cache
        with:
          gh-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          gh-repo: ${{ github.repository }}
          branch: refs/pull/${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}/merge

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.

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

step-security/harden-runner actions/checkout