Publish Python 🐍 distribution 📦 to PyPI workflow (readthedocs/sphinx-autoapi)

The Publish Python 🐍 distribution 📦 to PyPI workflow from readthedocs/sphinx-autoapi, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

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Source: readthedocs/sphinx-autoapi.github/workflows/release.ymlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the Publish Python 🐍 distribution 📦 to PyPI workflow from the readthedocs/sphinx-autoapi 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: Publish Python 🐍 distribution 📦 to PyPI

on: push

jobs:
  build:
    name: Build distribution 📦
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v7
    - name: Set up Python
      uses: actions/setup-python@v6
      with:
        python-version: "3.x"
    - name: Install pypa/build
      run: >-
        python3 -m
        pip install
        build
        --user
    - name: Build a binary wheel and a source tarball
      run: python3 -m build
    - name: Store the distribution packages
      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
      with:
        name: python-package-distributions
        path: dist/

  publish-to-pypi:
    name: >-
      Publish Python 🐍 distribution 📦 to PyPI
    if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')  # only publish to PyPI on tag pushes
    needs:
    - build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment:
      name: pypi
      url: https://pypi.org/p/sphinx-autoapi
    permissions:
      id-token: write  # IMPORTANT: mandatory for trusted publishing

    steps:
    - name: Download all the dists
      uses: actions/download-artifact@v8
      with:
        name: python-package-distributions
        path: dist/
    - name: Publish distribution 📦 to PyPI
      uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1

  github-release:
    name: >-
      Sign the Python 🐍 distribution 📦 with Sigstore
      and upload them to GitHub Release
    needs:
    - publish-to-pypi
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    permissions:
      contents: write  # IMPORTANT: mandatory for making GitHub Releases
      id-token: write  # IMPORTANT: mandatory for sigstore

    steps:
    - name: Download all the dists
      uses: actions/download-artifact@v8
      with:
        name: python-package-distributions
        path: dist/
    - name: Sign the dists with Sigstore
      uses: sigstore/gh-action-sigstore-python@v3.4.0
      with:
        inputs: >-
          ./dist/*.tar.gz
          ./dist/*.whl
    - name: Upload artifact signatures to GitHub Release
      env:
        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
      # Upload to GitHub Release using the `gh` CLI.
      # `dist/` contains the built packages, and the
      # sigstore-produced signatures and certificates.
      run: >-
        gh release upload
        '${{ github.ref_name }}' dist/**
        --repo '${{ github.repository }}'

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: Publish Python 🐍 distribution 📦 to PyPI
 
on: push
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  build:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Build distribution 📦
    runs-on: latchkey-small
 
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v7
    - name: Set up Python
      uses: actions/setup-python@v6
      with:
        cache: 'pip'
        python-version: "3.x"
    - name: Install pypa/build
      run: >-
        python3 -m
        pip install
        build
        --user
    - name: Build a binary wheel and a source tarball
      run: python3 -m build
    - name: Store the distribution packages
      uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
      with:
        name: python-package-distributions
        path: dist/
 
  publish-to-pypi:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: >-
      Publish Python 🐍 distribution 📦 to PyPI
    if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')  # only publish to PyPI on tag pushes
    needs:
    - build
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    environment:
      name: pypi
      url: https://pypi.org/p/sphinx-autoapi
    permissions:
      id-token: write  # IMPORTANT: mandatory for trusted publishing
 
    steps:
    - name: Download all the dists
      uses: actions/download-artifact@v8
      with:
        name: python-package-distributions
        path: dist/
    - name: Publish distribution 📦 to PyPI
      uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1
 
  github-release:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: >-
      Sign the Python 🐍 distribution 📦 with Sigstore
      and upload them to GitHub Release
    needs:
    - publish-to-pypi
    runs-on: latchkey-small
 
    permissions:
      contents: write  # IMPORTANT: mandatory for making GitHub Releases
      id-token: write  # IMPORTANT: mandatory for sigstore
 
    steps:
    - name: Download all the dists
      uses: actions/download-artifact@v8
      with:
        name: python-package-distributions
        path: dist/
    - name: Sign the dists with Sigstore
      uses: sigstore/gh-action-sigstore-python@v3.4.0
      with:
        inputs: >-
          ./dist/*.tar.gz
          ./dist/*.whl
    - name: Upload artifact signatures to GitHub Release
      env:
        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
      # Upload to GitHub Release using the `gh` CLI.
      # `dist/` contains the built packages, and the
      # sigstore-produced signatures and certificates.
      run: >-
        gh release upload
        '${{ github.ref_name }}' dist/**
        --repo '${{ github.repository }}'

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.

2 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:

Dependency installs

This workflow runs 3 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 actions/setup-python actions/upload-artifact actions/download-artifact