Security audit workflow (nushell/nushell)

The Security audit workflow from nushell/nushell, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Security audit workflow from the nushell/nushell 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: Security audit
on:
  pull_request:
    paths:
      - '**/Cargo.toml'
      - '**/Cargo.lock'
  push:
    branches:
    - main

env:
  RUST_BACKTRACE: 1
  CARGO_TERM_COLOR: always
  CLICOLOR: 1

jobs:
  security_audit:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    # Prevent sudden announcement of a new advisory from failing ci:
    continue-on-error: true
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
      - uses: taiki-e/install-action@v2
        with:
          tool: cargo-audit
      - uses: rustsec/audit-check@v2.0.0
        with:
          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Security audit
on:
  pull_request:
    paths:
      - '**/Cargo.toml'
      - '**/Cargo.lock'
  push:
    branches:
    - main
 
env:
  RUST_BACKTRACE: 1
  CARGO_TERM_COLOR: always
  CLICOLOR: 1
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  security_audit:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    # Prevent sudden announcement of a new advisory from failing ci:
    continue-on-error: true
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
      - uses: taiki-e/install-action@v2
        with:
          tool: cargo-audit
      - uses: rustsec/audit-check@v2.0.0
        with:
          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 

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• Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.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

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.

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