Test External workflow (standard/standard)

The Test External workflow from standard/standard, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Test External workflow from the standard/standard 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

name: Test External

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

permissions:
  contents: read

jobs:
  test-external:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout project
        uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Use Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          node-version: lts/*

      - name: Cache Node dependencies
        uses: actions/cache@v3
        with:
          path: ~/.npm
          key: ${{ runner.os }}-node-${{ hashFiles('**/package.json') }}
          restore-keys: |
            ${{ runner.os }}-node-

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm install

      - name: Run external tests
        run: npm run test-external

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: Test External
 
on:
  push:
    branches: [master]
  pull_request:
    branches: [master]
 
permissions:
  contents: read
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  test-external:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
 
    steps:
      - name: Checkout project
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
 
      - name: Use Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v3
        with:
          cache: 'npm'
          node-version: lts/*
 
      - name: Cache Node dependencies
        uses: actions/cache@v3
        with:
          path: ~/.npm
          key: ${{ runner.os }}-node-${{ hashFiles('**/package.json') }}
          restore-keys: |
            ${{ runner.os }}-node-
 
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm install
 
      - name: Run external tests
        run: npm run test-external
 

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• Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.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

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

Actions used in this workflow