Build & Push Docker Images to GHCR workflow (pwndoc/pwndoc)

The Build & Push Docker Images to GHCR workflow from pwndoc/pwndoc, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

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Source: pwndoc/pwndoc.github/workflows/docker-ci.ymlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the Build & Push Docker Images to GHCR workflow from the pwndoc/pwndoc 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 & Push Docker Images to GHCR

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - 'v*.*.*'  # Runs on version tags (e.g., v1.0.0)

env:
  REGISTRY: ghcr.io
  IMAGE_NAME_BACKEND: ghcr.io/${{ github.repository }}-backend
  IMAGE_NAME_FRONTEND: ghcr.io/${{ github.repository }}-frontend
  IMAGE_NAME_LANGUAGETOOLS: ghcr.io/${{ github.repository }}-languagetools

jobs:
  run-tests:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          submodules: true
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Check if tag is on main branch
        run: |
          if ! git branch -r --contains HEAD | grep -q 'origin/main'; then
            echo "This tag is not on the main branch. Aborting."
            exit 1
          fi

      - name: Run all tests
        run: ./pwndoc-cli test

  build-and-push-images:
    needs: run-tests
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    permissions:
      contents: read
      packages: write
      attestations: write
      id-token: write

    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Log in to the Container registry
        uses: docker/login-action@v3
        with:
          registry: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}
          username: ${{ github.actor }}
          password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

      - name: Extract metadata (tags, labels) for Backend
        id: meta-backend
        uses: docker/metadata-action@v5
        with:
          images: ${{ env.IMAGE_NAME_BACKEND }}
          tags: |
            type=semver,pattern={{version}},prefix=
            type=raw,value=latest

      - name: Build & Push Backend Image
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
        with:
          context: ./backend
          push: true
          tags: ${{ steps.meta-backend.outputs.tags }}

      - name: Extract metadata (tags, labels) for Frontend
        id: meta-frontend
        uses: docker/metadata-action@v5
        with:
          images: ${{ env.IMAGE_NAME_FRONTEND }}
          tags: |
            type=semver,pattern={{version}},prefix=
            type=raw,value=latest


      - name: Build & Push Frontend Image
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
        with:
          context: ./frontend
          push: true
          tags: ${{ steps.meta-frontend.outputs.tags }}

      - name: Extract metadata (tags, labels) for LanguageTools
        id: meta-languagetools
        uses: docker/metadata-action@v5
        with:
          images: ${{ env.IMAGE_NAME_LANGUAGETOOLS }}
          tags: |
            type=semver,pattern={{version}},prefix=
            type=raw,value=latest

      - name: Build & Push LanguageTools Image
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
        with:
          context: ./languagetool
          push: true
          tags: ${{ steps.meta-languagetools.outputs.tags }}

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Build & Push Docker Images to GHCR
 
on:
  push:
    tags:
      - 'v*.*.*'  # Runs on version tags (e.g., v1.0.0)
 
env:
  REGISTRY: ghcr.io
  IMAGE_NAME_BACKEND: ghcr.io/${{ github.repository }}-backend
  IMAGE_NAME_FRONTEND: ghcr.io/${{ github.repository }}-frontend
  IMAGE_NAME_LANGUAGETOOLS: ghcr.io/${{ github.repository }}-languagetools
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  run-tests:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          submodules: true
          fetch-depth: 0
 
      - name: Check if tag is on main branch
        run: |
          if ! git branch -r --contains HEAD | grep -q 'origin/main'; then
            echo "This tag is not on the main branch. Aborting."
            exit 1
          fi
 
      - name: Run all tests
        run: ./pwndoc-cli test
 
  build-and-push-images:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    needs: run-tests
    runs-on: latchkey-small
 
    permissions:
      contents: read
      packages: write
      attestations: write
      id-token: write
 
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
      - name: Log in to the Container registry
        uses: docker/login-action@v3
        with:
          registry: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}
          username: ${{ github.actor }}
          password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
      - name: Extract metadata (tags, labels) for Backend
        id: meta-backend
        uses: docker/metadata-action@v5
        with:
          images: ${{ env.IMAGE_NAME_BACKEND }}
          tags: |
            type=semver,pattern={{version}},prefix=
            type=raw,value=latest
 
      - name: Build & Push Backend Image
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
        with:
          context: ./backend
          push: true
          tags: ${{ steps.meta-backend.outputs.tags }}
 
      - name: Extract metadata (tags, labels) for Frontend
        id: meta-frontend
        uses: docker/metadata-action@v5
        with:
          images: ${{ env.IMAGE_NAME_FRONTEND }}
          tags: |
            type=semver,pattern={{version}},prefix=
            type=raw,value=latest
 
 
      - name: Build & Push Frontend Image
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
        with:
          context: ./frontend
          push: true
          tags: ${{ steps.meta-frontend.outputs.tags }}
 
      - name: Extract metadata (tags, labels) for LanguageTools
        id: meta-languagetools
        uses: docker/metadata-action@v5
        with:
          images: ${{ env.IMAGE_NAME_LANGUAGETOOLS }}
          tags: |
            type=semver,pattern={{version}},prefix=
            type=raw,value=latest
 
      - name: Build & Push LanguageTools Image
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
        with:
          context: ./languagetool
          push: true
          tags: ${{ steps.meta-languagetools.outputs.tags }}

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.

3 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.

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:

Container pulls and builds

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

actions/checkout docker/login-action docker/metadata-action docker/build-push-action