Auto Author Assign workflow (software-mansion/protostar)

The Auto Author Assign workflow from software-mansion/protostar, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Auto Author Assign workflow from the software-mansion/protostar 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

# .github/workflows/auto-author-assign.yml
name: Auto Author Assign

on:
  pull_request:

permissions:
  pull-requests: write

jobs:
  assign-author:
    runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
    if: ${{ github.repository == 'software-mansion/protostar' }} # do not run on forks
    steps:
      - uses: toshimaru/auto-author-assign@v1.6.0

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

# .github/workflows/auto-author-assign.yml
name: Auto Author Assign
 
on:
  pull_request:
 
permissions:
  pull-requests: write
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  assign-author:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    if: ${{ github.repository == 'software-mansion/protostar' }} # do not run on forks
    steps:
      - uses: toshimaru/auto-author-assign@v1.6.0

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• Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.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

This workflow runs 1 job per trigger. On Latchkey the same minutes cost up to 58% less than GitHub-hosted, with zero queue time.