Generate API Docs workflow (orbitdb/orbitdb)

The Generate API Docs workflow from orbitdb/orbitdb, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Generate API Docs workflow from the orbitdb/orbitdb 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: Generate API Docs

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - 'v*'

  # Allows you to run this workflow manually from the Actions tab
  workflow_dispatch:

permissions:
  pages: write
  id-token: write

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: 'lts/*'
          registry-url: https://registry.npmjs.org/
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm run build:docs
      - uses: actions/upload-pages-artifact@v3
        with:
          path: ./docs/api/
      
  deploy:
    needs: build

    # Specify runner + deployment step
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
        id: deployment
        uses: actions/deploy-pages@v4 # or the latest "vX.X.X" version tag for this action
    

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: Generate API Docs
 
on:
  push:
    tags:
      - 'v*'
 
  # Allows you to run this workflow manually from the Actions tab
  workflow_dispatch:
 
permissions:
  pages: write
  id-token: write
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  build:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
 
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          cache: 'npm'
          node-version: 'lts/*'
          registry-url: https://registry.npmjs.org/
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm run build:docs
      - uses: actions/upload-pages-artifact@v3
        with:
          path: ./docs/api/
      
  deploy:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    needs: build
 
    # Specify runner + deployment step
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
        id: deployment
        uses: actions/deploy-pages@v4 # or the latest "vX.X.X" version tag for this action
    

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.
• 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.

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 2 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