CI workflow (shelljs/shelljs)

The CI workflow from shelljs/shelljs, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the CI workflow from the shelljs/shelljs repository, a real project running GitHub Actions. It is shown here with attribution under its BSD-3-Clause license.

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

The workflow

name: CI
on:
  - push
  - pull_request
jobs:
  test:
    name: Node.js ${{ matrix.node-version }} on ${{ matrix.os }}
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        node-version:
          - 18
          - 20
          - 22
          - 24
          - 26
        os:
          - ubuntu-latest
          - macos-latest
          - windows-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}
      - run: npm install
      - name: test with coverage
        run: npm run test-with-coverage
      - run: npm run lint
      - run: npm run check-node-support
      - name: Upload coverage reports to Codecov
        uses: codecov/codecov-action@v7
        with:
          token: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}
          fail_ci_if_error: true

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: CI
on:
  - push
  - pull_request
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  test:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Node.js ${{ matrix.node-version }} on ${{ matrix.os }}
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        node-version:
          - 18
          - 20
          - 22
          - 24
          - 26
        os:
          - ubuntu-latest
          - macos-latest
          - windows-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          cache: 'npm'
          node-version: ${{ matrix.node-version }}
      - run: npm install
      - name: test with coverage
        run: npm run test-with-coverage
      - run: npm run lint
      - run: npm run check-node-support
      - name: Upload coverage reports to Codecov
        uses: codecov/codecov-action@v7
        with:
          token: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}
          fail_ci_if_error: true
 

What changed

• Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.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.

1 third-party action is referenced by a movable tag. Pin it 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 1 job (15 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