Fix formatting workflow (nock/nock)

The Fix formatting workflow from nock/nock, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Fix formatting workflow from the nock/nock 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: Fix formatting
'on':
  push:
    branches:
      - dependabot/npm_and_yarn/prettier-*
      - dependabot/npm_and_yarn/eslint-*
  workflow_dispatch: {}
permissions:
  contents: read

env:
  HEAD_REF: ${{ github.head_ref }}

jobs:
  fixFormatting:
    permissions:
      contents: write # for Git to git push
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
          persist-credentials: true
          ref: ${{ github.head_ref }}
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          node-version: 16
          cache: npm
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci --ignore-scripts --no-audit --no-progress --prefer-offline
      - name: Format
        run: npm run format:fix
      - name: Commit
        run: >
          git config user.email "github-actions@github.com"
          git config user.name "github-actions"
          git add .
          git commit -m "style: format files with Prettier" | true # ignore error if there are no changes to commit
          git push origin HEAD:$HEAD_REF

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Fix formatting
'on':
  push:
    branches:
      - dependabot/npm_and_yarn/prettier-*
      - dependabot/npm_and_yarn/eslint-*
  workflow_dispatch: {}
permissions:
  contents: read
 
env:
  HEAD_REF: ${{ github.head_ref }}
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  fixFormatting:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    permissions:
      contents: write # for Git to git push
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
          persist-credentials: true
          ref: ${{ github.head_ref }}
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          node-version: 16
          cache: npm
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci --ignore-scripts --no-audit --no-progress --prefer-offline
      - name: Format
        run: npm run format:fix
      - name: Commit
        run: >
          git config user.email "github-actions@github.com"
          git config user.name "github-actions"
          git add .
          git commit -m "style: format files with Prettier" | true # ignore error if there are no changes to commit
          git push origin HEAD:$HEAD_REF
 

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.

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

Actions used in this workflow