Dependabot auto-merge workflow (testem/testem)

The Dependabot auto-merge workflow from testem/testem, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

CI health: C - fair

Point runs-on at Latchkey and get run de-duplication, job timeouts, self-healing for flaky steps, and up to 58% lower cost, applied automatically.

Grade your own workflow free or run it on Latchkey →

Source: testem/testem.github/workflows/dependabot-approve-and-request-merge.ymlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the Dependabot auto-merge workflow from the testem/testem 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

workflow (.yml)

name: Dependabot auto-merge
on: pull_request

permissions:
  contents: write
  pull-requests: write

jobs:
  dependabot:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    if: ${{ github.actor == 'dependabot[bot]' && !github.event.pull_request.auto_merge }}
    steps:
      - name: Approve a PR
        run: gh pr review --approve "$PR_URL"
        env:
          PR_URL: ${{github.event.pull_request.html_url}}
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{secrets.DEPENDABOT_GH_TOKEN}}
      - name: Enable auto-merge for Dependabot PRs
        run: gh pr merge --auto --squash "$PR_URL"
        env:
          PR_URL: ${{github.event.pull_request.html_url}}
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{secrets.DEPENDABOT_GH_TOKEN}}

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Dependabot auto-merge
on: pull_request
 
permissions:
  contents: write
  pull-requests: write
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  dependabot:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    if: ${{ github.actor == 'dependabot[bot]' && !github.event.pull_request.auto_merge }}
    steps:
      - name: Approve a PR
        run: gh pr review --approve "$PR_URL"
        env:
          PR_URL: ${{github.event.pull_request.html_url}}
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{secrets.DEPENDABOT_GH_TOKEN}}
      - name: Enable auto-merge for Dependabot PRs
        run: gh pr merge --auto --squash "$PR_URL"
        env:
          PR_URL: ${{github.event.pull_request.html_url}}
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{secrets.DEPENDABOT_GH_TOKEN}}

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.

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