Test Frontend workflow (stanford-crfm/helm)

The Test Frontend workflow from stanford-crfm/helm, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Test Frontend workflow from the stanford-crfm/helm 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

name: Test Frontend

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - '*'
    paths:
      - 'helm-frontend/**'
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - '*'
    paths:
      - 'helm-frontend/**'

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - name: Checkout code
      uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - name: Use Node.js
      uses: actions/setup-node@v4
      with:
        node-version: '18'
    - name: Install Yarn
      run: npm install --global yarn
    - name: Install dependencies
      working-directory: ./helm-frontend
      run: yarn install
    - name: Run pre-commit
      run: ./pre-commit-frontend.sh
    - name: Build
      working-directory: ./helm-frontend
      run: yarn build
    - name: Run tests
      working-directory: ./helm-frontend
      run: yarn test

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 Frontend
 
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - '*'
    paths:
      - 'helm-frontend/**'
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - '*'
    paths:
      - 'helm-frontend/**'
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  test:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
    - name: Checkout code
      uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - name: Use Node.js
      uses: actions/setup-node@v4
      with:
        cache: 'npm'
        node-version: '18'
    - name: Install Yarn
      run: npm install --global yarn
    - name: Install dependencies
      working-directory: ./helm-frontend
      run: yarn install
    - name: Run pre-commit
      run: ./pre-commit-frontend.sh
    - name: Build
      working-directory: ./helm-frontend
      run: yarn build
    - name: Run tests
      working-directory: ./helm-frontend
      run: yarn test
 

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