Test Examples workflow (posit-dev/orbital)

The Test Examples workflow from posit-dev/orbital, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Test Examples workflow from the posit-dev/orbital 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: Test Examples

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - '**'
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  examples:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
      
      - name: Install uv
        run: |
          pip install uv
      
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: |
          uv sync --dev

      - name: Check Examples on DuckDB
        env:
          BACKEND: duckdb
        run: |
          uv run examples/test_examples.sh

      - name: Check Examples on SQLite
        env:
          BACKEND: sqlite
        run: |
          uv run examples/test_examples.sh

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: Test Examples
 
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - '**'
  workflow_dispatch:
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  examples:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
 
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
 
      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
        with:
          cache: 'pip'
      
      - name: Install uv
        run: |
          pip install uv
      
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: |
          uv sync --dev
 
      - name: Check Examples on DuckDB
        env:
          BACKEND: duckdb
        run: |
          uv run examples/test_examples.sh
 
      - name: Check Examples on SQLite
        env:
          BACKEND: sqlite
        run: |
          uv run examples/test_examples.sh
 

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• Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.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