Update Licenses workflow (python-poetry/poetry-core)

The Update Licenses workflow from python-poetry/poetry-core, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

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Source: python-poetry/poetry-core.github/workflows/update-licenses.yamlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the Update Licenses workflow from the python-poetry/poetry-core 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: Update Licenses

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  schedule:
    - cron: "0 0 1 * *" # run once a month

# we create the token we need later on
permissions: {}

jobs:
  update-licenses:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
        with:
          persist-credentials: false

      - name: Set up Python 3.10
        uses: actions/setup-python@a309ff8b426b58ec0e2a45f0f869d46889d02405 # v6.2.0
        with:
          python-version: "3.10"

      - name: Bootstrap poetry
        run: |
          curl -sSL https://install.python-poetry.org | python - -y

      - name: Update PATH
        run: echo "$HOME/.local/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH

      - name: Configure poetry
        run: poetry config virtualenvs.in-project true

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: poetry install

      - name: Update licenses list
        run: |
          poetry run python src/poetry/core/spdx/helpers.py
          poetry run pre-commit run --all-files || :

      - name: Generate token
        uses: actions/create-github-app-token@1b10c78c7865c340bc4f6099eb2f838309f1e8c3 # v3.1.1
        id: app-token
        with:
          app-id: ${{ secrets.POETRY_TOKEN_APP_ID }}
          private-key: ${{ secrets.POETRY_TOKEN_APP_KEY }}

      - name: Create PR if necessary
        uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@5f6978faf089d4d20b00c7766989d076bb2fc7f1 # v8.1.1
        with:
          token: ${{ steps.app-token.outputs.token }}
          commit-message: "Automated licenses list update"
          author: "github-actions[bot] <41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>"
          branch: "license-autoupdate"
          title: "Automated licenses list update"
          body: "Full log: https://github.com/${{ github.repository }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }}"

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: Update Licenses
 
on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  schedule:
    - cron: "0 0 1 * *" # run once a month
 
# we create the token we need later on
permissions: {}
 
jobs:
  update-licenses:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
 
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
        with:
          persist-credentials: false
 
      - name: Set up Python 3.10
        uses: actions/setup-python@a309ff8b426b58ec0e2a45f0f869d46889d02405 # v6.2.0
        with:
          cache: 'pip'
          python-version: "3.10"
 
      - name: Bootstrap poetry
        run: |
          curl -sSL https://install.python-poetry.org | python - -y
 
      - name: Update PATH
        run: echo "$HOME/.local/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
 
      - name: Configure poetry
        run: poetry config virtualenvs.in-project true
 
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: poetry install
 
      - name: Update licenses list
        run: |
          poetry run python src/poetry/core/spdx/helpers.py
          poetry run pre-commit run --all-files || :
 
      - name: Generate token
        uses: actions/create-github-app-token@1b10c78c7865c340bc4f6099eb2f838309f1e8c3 # v3.1.1
        id: app-token
        with:
          app-id: ${{ secrets.POETRY_TOKEN_APP_ID }}
          private-key: ${{ secrets.POETRY_TOKEN_APP_KEY }}
 
      - name: Create PR if necessary
        uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@5f6978faf089d4d20b00c7766989d076bb2fc7f1 # v8.1.1
        with:
          token: ${{ steps.app-token.outputs.token }}
          commit-message: "Automated licenses list update"
          author: "github-actions[bot] <41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>"
          branch: "license-autoupdate"
          title: "Automated licenses list update"
          body: "Full log: https://github.com/${{ github.repository }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }}"

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
Network fetches

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-python actions/create-github-app-token peter-evans/create-pull-request