Build Releases workflow (nkanaev/yarr)

The Build Releases workflow from nkanaev/yarr, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

CI health: C - fair

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Source: nkanaev/yarr.github/workflows/build-releases.ymlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the Build Releases workflow from the nkanaev/yarr 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

workflow (.yml)

name: Build Releases
on: workflow_call

jobs:
  build_macos:
    name: Build for MacOS
    runs-on: macos-latest
    steps:
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v6
    - name: Setup Go
      uses: actions/setup-go@v6
      with:
        go-version-file: 'go.mod'
    - name: Setup Node
      uses: actions/setup-node@v6
    - name: Install dependencies
      run: npm ci
    - name: Build arm64 gui
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: darwin_arm64_gui
        cmd: make darwin_arm64_gui
        out: out/darwin_arm64_gui/yarr.app
    - name: Build amd64 gui
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: darwin_amd64_gui
        cmd: make darwin_amd64_gui
        out: out/darwin_amd64_gui/yarr.app
    - name: Build arm64 cli
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: darwin_arm64
        cmd: make darwin_arm64
        out: out/darwin_arm64/yarr
    - name: Build amd64 cli
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: darwin_amd64
        cmd: make darwin_amd64
        out: out/darwin_amd64/yarr

  build_windows:
    name: Build for Windows
    runs-on: windows-latest
    steps:
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v6
    - name: Setup Go
      uses: actions/setup-go@v6
      with:
        go-version-file: 'go.mod'
    - name: Setup Node
      uses: actions/setup-node@v6
    - name: Install dependencies
      run: npm ci
    - name: Build amd64 gui
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: windows_amd64_gui
        cmd: make windows_amd64_gui
        out: out/windows_amd64_gui/yarr.exe
    - name: Build arm64 gui
      if: false
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: windows_arm64_gui
        cmd: make windows_arm64_gui
        out: out/windows_arm64_gui/yarr.exe

  build_multi_cli:
    name: Build for Windows/Linux (CLI)
    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
    steps:
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v6
    - name: Setup Go
      uses: actions/setup-go@v6
      with:
        go-version-file: 'go.mod'
    - name: Setup Node
      uses: actions/setup-node@v6
    - name: Install dependencies
      run: npm ci
    - name: Setup Zig
      uses: mlugg/setup-zig@v1
      with:
        version: 0.14.0
    - name: Build linux/amd64
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: linux_amd64
        cmd: make linux_amd64
        out: out/linux_amd64/yarr
    - name: Build linux/arm64
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: linux_arm64
        cmd: make linux_arm64
        out: out/linux_arm64/yarr
    - name: Build linux/armv7
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: linux_armv7
        cmd: make linux_armv7
        out: out/linux_armv7/yarr
    - name: Build windows/amd64
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: windows_amd64
        cmd: make windows_amd64
        out: out/windows_amd64/yarr
    - name: Build windows/arm64
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: windows_arm64
        cmd: make windows_arm64
        out: out/windows_arm64/yarr

  create_release:
    name: Create Release
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: [build_macos, build_windows, build_multi_cli]
    steps:
    - name: Download Artifacts
      uses: actions/download-artifact@v4.1.7
      with:
        path: .
    - name: Preparation
      run: |
        set -ex
        ls -R
        for tarfile in `ls **/*.tar`; do
          tar -xvf $tarfile
        done
        for dir in out/*; do
          echo "Compressing: $dir"
          (test -d "$dir" && cd $dir && zip -r ../yarr_`basename $dir`.zip *)
        done
        ls out
    - name: Upload Release
      uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
      env:
        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      with:
          draft: true
          prerelease: true
          files: |
            out/*.zip

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: Build Releases
on: workflow_call
 
jobs:
  build_macos:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Build for MacOS
    runs-on: macos-latest
    steps:
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v6
    - name: Setup Go
      uses: actions/setup-go@v6
      with:
        go-version-file: 'go.mod'
    - name: Setup Node
      uses: actions/setup-node@v6
      with:
        cache: 'npm'
    - name: Install dependencies
      run: npm ci
    - name: Build arm64 gui
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: darwin_arm64_gui
        cmd: make darwin_arm64_gui
        out: out/darwin_arm64_gui/yarr.app
    - name: Build amd64 gui
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: darwin_amd64_gui
        cmd: make darwin_amd64_gui
        out: out/darwin_amd64_gui/yarr.app
    - name: Build arm64 cli
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: darwin_arm64
        cmd: make darwin_arm64
        out: out/darwin_arm64/yarr
    - name: Build amd64 cli
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: darwin_amd64
        cmd: make darwin_amd64
        out: out/darwin_amd64/yarr
 
  build_windows:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Build for Windows
    runs-on: windows-latest
    steps:
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v6
    - name: Setup Go
      uses: actions/setup-go@v6
      with:
        go-version-file: 'go.mod'
    - name: Setup Node
      uses: actions/setup-node@v6
      with:
        cache: 'npm'
    - name: Install dependencies
      run: npm ci
    - name: Build amd64 gui
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: windows_amd64_gui
        cmd: make windows_amd64_gui
        out: out/windows_amd64_gui/yarr.exe
    - name: Build arm64 gui
      if: false
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: windows_arm64_gui
        cmd: make windows_arm64_gui
        out: out/windows_arm64_gui/yarr.exe
 
  build_multi_cli:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Build for Windows/Linux (CLI)
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v6
    - name: Setup Go
      uses: actions/setup-go@v6
      with:
        go-version-file: 'go.mod'
    - name: Setup Node
      uses: actions/setup-node@v6
      with:
        cache: 'npm'
    - name: Install dependencies
      run: npm ci
    - name: Setup Zig
      uses: mlugg/setup-zig@v1
      with:
        version: 0.14.0
    - name: Build linux/amd64
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: linux_amd64
        cmd: make linux_amd64
        out: out/linux_amd64/yarr
    - name: Build linux/arm64
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: linux_arm64
        cmd: make linux_arm64
        out: out/linux_arm64/yarr
    - name: Build linux/armv7
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: linux_armv7
        cmd: make linux_armv7
        out: out/linux_armv7/yarr
    - name: Build windows/amd64
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: windows_amd64
        cmd: make windows_amd64
        out: out/windows_amd64/yarr
    - name: Build windows/arm64
      uses: ./.github/actions/prepare
      with:
        id: windows_arm64
        cmd: make windows_arm64
        out: out/windows_arm64/yarr
 
  create_release:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Create Release
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    needs: [build_macos, build_windows, build_multi_cli]
    steps:
    - name: Download Artifacts
      uses: actions/download-artifact@v4.1.7
      with:
        path: .
    - name: Preparation
      run: |
        set -ex
        ls -R
        for tarfile in `ls **/*.tar`; do
          tar -xvf $tarfile
        done
        for dir in out/*; do
          echo "Compressing: $dir"
          (test -d "$dir" && cd $dir && zip -r ../yarr_`basename $dir`.zip *)
        done
        ls out
    - name: Upload Release
      uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
      env:
        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      with:
          draft: true
          prerelease: true
          files: |
            out/*.zip

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.
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.

2 third-party actions are referenced by a movable tag. Pin them to the commit SHA (Latchkey resolves and applies this automatically) so a repointed tag cannot change what runs.

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 4 jobs per trigger. On Latchkey the same minutes cost up to 58% less than GitHub-hosted, with zero queue time.

Actions used in this workflow

actions/checkout actions/setup-go actions/setup-node actions/download-artifact softprops/action-gh-release