build-scratch-blocks workflow (scratchfoundation/scratch-blocks)

The build-scratch-blocks workflow from scratchfoundation/scratch-blocks, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

CI health: C - fair

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Source: scratchfoundation/scratch-blocks.github/workflows/deploy.ymlLicense Apache-2.0View source

What it does

This is the build-scratch-blocks workflow from the scratchfoundation/scratch-blocks repository, a real project running GitHub Actions. It is shown here with attribution under its Apache-2.0 license.

Below, Latchkey shows a faster, safer version produced by its optimization engine.

The workflow

workflow (.yml)

name: build-scratch-blocks
on:
  push: # Runs whenever a commit is pushed to the repository
  pull_request: # Runs on pull requests (including from forks)
  workflow_dispatch: # Allows you to run this workflow manually from the Actions tab

concurrency:
  group: '${{ github.workflow }} @ ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.label || github.head_ref || github.ref }}'
  cancel-in-progress: ${{ github.event_name == 'pull_request' }}

jobs:
  lint:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@8e8c483db84b4bee98b60c0593521ed34d9990e8 # v6
      - name: Setup Node
        uses: actions/setup-node@395ad3262231945c25e8478fd5baf05154b1d79f # v6
        with:
          node-version-file: '.nvmrc'
      - name: Install Node Dependencies
        run: npm ci
      - name: Run lint
        run: npm run test:lint
  build-and-test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@8e8c483db84b4bee98b60c0593521ed34d9990e8 # v6
      - name: Setup Node
        uses: actions/setup-node@395ad3262231945c25e8478fd5baf05154b1d79f # v6
        with:
          node-version-file: '.nvmrc'
      - name: Install Node Dependencies
        run: npm ci
      - name: Build
        run: npm run build
      - name: Install Playwright browsers
        run: npx playwright install chromium --with-deps
      - name: Run tests
        run: npm test
      - name: Run semantic-release
        env:
          NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        run: npx --no -- semantic-release

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-scratch-blocks
on:
  push: # Runs whenever a commit is pushed to the repository
  pull_request: # Runs on pull requests (including from forks)
  workflow_dispatch: # Allows you to run this workflow manually from the Actions tab
 
concurrency:
  group: '${{ github.workflow }} @ ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.label || github.head_ref || github.ref }}'
  cancel-in-progress: ${{ github.event_name == 'pull_request' }}
 
jobs:
  lint:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@8e8c483db84b4bee98b60c0593521ed34d9990e8 # v6
      - name: Setup Node
        uses: actions/setup-node@395ad3262231945c25e8478fd5baf05154b1d79f # v6
        with:
          cache: 'npm'
          node-version-file: '.nvmrc'
      - name: Install Node Dependencies
        run: npm ci
      - name: Run lint
        run: npm run test:lint
  build-and-test:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@8e8c483db84b4bee98b60c0593521ed34d9990e8 # v6
      - name: Setup Node
        uses: actions/setup-node@395ad3262231945c25e8478fd5baf05154b1d79f # v6
        with:
          cache: 'npm'
          node-version-file: '.nvmrc'
      - name: Install Node Dependencies
        run: npm ci
      - name: Build
        run: npm run build
      - name: Install Playwright browsers
        run: npx playwright install chromium --with-deps
      - name: Run tests
        run: npm test
      - name: Run semantic-release
        env:
          NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        run: npx --no -- semantic-release

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
End-to-end and browser tests

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 actions/setup-node