Test workflow (patriksimek/vm2)

The Test workflow from patriksimek/vm2, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

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Source: patriksimek/vm2.github/workflows/test.ymlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the Test workflow from the patriksimek/vm2 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: Test


on:
    push:
        branches: '*'

    pull_request:
        branches: [main]

    workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
    test:
        runs-on: ubuntu-latest

        permissions:
            contents: read

        timeout-minutes: 10

        strategy:
            matrix:
                node-version: [26, 25, 24, 22, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8]

        steps:
            - name: Checkout

              uses: actions/checkout@v4


            - name: Setup Node

              uses: actions/setup-node@v4

              with:
                  node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}

                  cache: 'npm'


            - name: Install dependencies

              if: ${{ matrix.node-version >= 8 }}

              run: npm ci


            - name: Install dependencies (node < 8)

              if: ${{ matrix.node-version < 8 }}

              run: npm install --only=prod


            - name: Run unit tests

              if: ${{ matrix.node-version >= 20 }}

              run: npm test


            - name: Run unit tests (node < 20)

              if: ${{ matrix.node-version < 20 }}

              run: node scripts/legacy-test-runner.js


            - name: Run unit tests (compilers)

              if: ${{ matrix.node-version >= 20 }}

              run: npm install typescript coffee-script --no-save && npm run test:compilers

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Test



on:

    push:

        branches: '*'

    pull_request:

        branches: [main]

    workflow_dispatch:



concurrency:

    group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}

    cancel-in-progress: true



jobs:

    test:

        runs-on: latchkey-small

        permissions:

            contents: read

        timeout-minutes: 10

        strategy:

            matrix:

                node-version: [26, 25, 24, 22, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8]

        steps:

            - name: Checkout

              uses: actions/checkout@v4



            - name: Setup Node

              uses: actions/setup-node@v4

              with:

                  node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}

                  cache: 'npm'



            - name: Install dependencies

              if: ${{ matrix.node-version >= 8 }}

              run: npm ci



            - name: Install dependencies (node < 8)

              if: ${{ matrix.node-version < 8 }}

              run: npm install --only=prod



            - name: Run unit tests

              if: ${{ matrix.node-version >= 20 }}

              run: npm test



            - name: Run unit tests (node < 20)

              if: ${{ matrix.node-version < 20 }}

              run: node scripts/legacy-test-runner.js



            - name: Run unit tests (compilers)

              if: ${{ matrix.node-version >= 20 }}

              run: npm install typescript coffee-script --no-save && npm run test:compilers

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.

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 (11 with the matrix expanded) 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-node