Node.js CI workflow (sahat/hackathon-starter)

The Node.js CI workflow from sahat/hackathon-starter, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

CI health: A - excellent

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Source: sahat/hackathon-starter.github/workflows/build.ymlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the Node.js CI workflow from the sahat/hackathon-starter 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: Node.js CI

on:
  push:
    branches: ['master']
  pull_request:
    branches: ['master']
  workflow_dispatch:

permissions:
  contents: read
  pull-requests: read

concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    env:
      RUN_E2E: ${{ vars.RUN_E2E }} # from repository settings -> Actions -> Variables
    strategy:
      matrix:
        node-version: [24.x, 26.x]
        os: [ubuntu-latest, windows-latest]
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
      - name: Use Node.js ${{ matrix.node-version }}
        uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}
          cache: 'npm'
      - run: npm install
      - run: npm run lint-check
      - run: npm run test

      # For testing in Windows CI, we need to limit the path to exclude the additional executables
      # that the default github runner has, but are not on a vanilla Windows OS installation.
      - if: ${{ (env.RUN_E2E == 'true' || github.repository == 'sahat/hackathon-starter') && matrix.os == 'windows-latest' }}
        env:
          PATH: 'C:\Windows\System32;C:\Windows'
        run: npm run test:e2e:replay

        # if not Windows, run normally
      - if: ${{ (env.RUN_E2E == 'true' || github.repository == 'sahat/hackathon-starter') && matrix.os != 'windows-latest' }}
        run: npm run test:e2e:replay

      - name: Upload tmp as an artifact (Playwrite artifacts, code coverage report, etc)
        if: always()
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
        with:
          name: tmp-artifacts-${{ matrix.os }}-${{ github.job }}-${{ github.run_id }}
          path: tmp/**

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Node.js CI
 
on:
  push:
    branches: ['master']
  pull_request:
    branches: ['master']
  workflow_dispatch:
 
permissions:
  contents: read
  pull-requests: read
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  build:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    env:
      RUN_E2E: ${{ vars.RUN_E2E }} # from repository settings -> Actions -> Variables
    strategy:
      matrix:
        node-version: [24.x, 26.x]
        os: [ubuntu-latest, windows-latest]
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
      - name: Use Node.js ${{ matrix.node-version }}
        uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}
          cache: 'npm'
      - run: npm install
      - run: npm run lint-check
      - run: npm run test
 
      # For testing in Windows CI, we need to limit the path to exclude the additional executables
      # that the default github runner has, but are not on a vanilla Windows OS installation.
      - if: ${{ (env.RUN_E2E == 'true' || github.repository == 'sahat/hackathon-starter') && matrix.os == 'windows-latest' }}
        env:
          PATH: 'C:\Windows\System32;C:\Windows'
        run: npm run test:e2e:replay
 
        # if not Windows, run normally
      - if: ${{ (env.RUN_E2E == 'true' || github.repository == 'sahat/hackathon-starter') && matrix.os != 'windows-latest' }}
        run: npm run test:e2e:replay
 
      - name: Upload tmp as an artifact (Playwrite artifacts, code coverage report, etc)
        if: always()
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
        with:
          name: tmp-artifacts-${{ matrix.os }}-${{ github.job }}-${{ github.run_id }}
          path: tmp/**

What changed

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
End-to-end and browser tests

This workflow runs 1 job (4 with the matrix expanded) 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