Build & Test workflow (preactjs/preact)

The Build & Test workflow from preactjs/preact, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

CI health: C - fair

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Source: preactjs/preact.github/workflows/build-test.ymlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the Build & Test workflow from the preactjs/preact 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: Build & Test

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  workflow_call:
    inputs:
      ref:
        description: 'Branch or tag ref to check out'
        type: string
        required: false
        default: ''
      artifact_name:
        description: 'Name of the artifact to upload'
        type: string
        required: false
        default: 'npm-package'

permissions:
  contents: read

jobs:
  build_test:
    name: Build & Test
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@df4cb1c069e1874edd31b4311f1884172cec0e10 # v6.0.3
        with:
          ref: ${{ inputs.ref || '' }}
      - uses: actions/setup-node@48b55a011bda9f5d6aeb4c2d9c7362e8dae4041e # v6.4.0
        with:
          node-version-file: 'package.json'
      - run: npm ci
      - name: test
        env:
          CI: true
          COVERAGE: true
          FLAKEY: false
        # Not using `npm test` since it rebuilds source which npm ci has already done
        run: npm run lint && npm run test:unit
      - name: Coveralls GitHub Action
        uses: coverallsapp/github-action@5cbfd81b66ca5d10c19b062c04de0199c215fb6e # v2.3.7
        timeout-minutes: 2
        with:
          github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          fail-on-error: false
      - name: Package
        # Use --ignore-scripts here to avoid re-building again before pack
        run: |
          npm pack --ignore-scripts
          mv preact-*.tgz preact.tgz
      - name: Upload npm package
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@043fb46d1a93c77aae656e7c1c64a875d1fc6a0a # v7.0.1
        with:
          name: ${{ inputs.artifact_name || 'npm-package' }}
          path: preact.tgz

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: Build & Test
 
on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  workflow_call:
    inputs:
      ref:
        description: 'Branch or tag ref to check out'
        type: string
        required: false
        default: ''
      artifact_name:
        description: 'Name of the artifact to upload'
        type: string
        required: false
        default: 'npm-package'
 
permissions:
  contents: read
 
jobs:
  build_test:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Build & Test
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@df4cb1c069e1874edd31b4311f1884172cec0e10 # v6.0.3
        with:
          ref: ${{ inputs.ref || '' }}
      - uses: actions/setup-node@48b55a011bda9f5d6aeb4c2d9c7362e8dae4041e # v6.4.0
        with:
          cache: 'npm'
          node-version-file: 'package.json'
      - run: npm ci
      - name: test
        env:
          CI: true
          COVERAGE: true
          FLAKEY: false
        # Not using `npm test` since it rebuilds source which npm ci has already done
        run: npm run lint && npm run test:unit
      - name: Coveralls GitHub Action
        uses: coverallsapp/github-action@5cbfd81b66ca5d10c19b062c04de0199c215fb6e # v2.3.7
        timeout-minutes: 2
        with:
          github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          fail-on-error: false
      - name: Package
        # Use --ignore-scripts here to avoid re-building again before pack
        run: |
          npm pack --ignore-scripts
          mv preact-*.tgz preact.tgz
      - name: Upload npm package
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@043fb46d1a93c77aae656e7c1c64a875d1fc6a0a # v7.0.1
        with:
          name: ${{ inputs.artifact_name || 'npm-package' }}
          path: preact.tgz

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.
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

actions/checkout actions/setup-node actions/upload-artifact