validate workflow (testing-library/jest-dom)

The validate workflow from testing-library/jest-dom, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

CI health: F - at risk

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Source: testing-library/jest-dom.github/workflows/validate.ymlLicense MITView source

What it does

This is the validate workflow from the testing-library/jest-dom 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: validate
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - '+([0-9])?(.{+([0-9]),x}).x'
      - 'main'
      - 'next'
      - 'next-major'
      - 'beta'
      - 'alpha'
      - '!all-contributors/**'
  pull_request: {}

permissions: {}

jobs:
  main:
    permissions:
      contents: read
    # ignore all-contributors PRs
    if: ${{ !contains(github.head_ref, 'all-contributors') }}
    strategy:
      matrix:
        node: [14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24]
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: ⬇️ Checkout repo
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: ⎔ Setup node
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ matrix.node }}

      - name: 📥 Download deps
        uses: bahmutov/npm-install@v1
        with:
          useLockFile: false

      - name: ▶️ Run validate script
        run: npm run validate
        env:
          FORCE_COLOR: true

      - name: ⬆️ Upload coverage report
        uses: codecov/codecov-action@v4
        with:
          fail_ci_if_error: true
          token: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}

  release:
    permissions:
      id-token: write # required for npm trusted publishing
      contents: write # to create release tags
      issues: write # to post semantic-release failure/success issues
      pull-requests: write # to comment on released pull requests
    needs: main
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    if:
      ${{ github.repository == 'testing-library/jest-dom' &&
      contains('refs/heads/main,refs/heads/beta,refs/heads/next,refs/heads/alpha',
      github.ref) && github.event_name == 'push' }}
    steps:
      - name: ⬇️ Checkout repo
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: ⎔ Setup node
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 24

      - name: 📥 Download deps
        uses: bahmutov/npm-install@v1
        with:
          useLockFile: false

      - name: 🏗 Run build script
        run: npm run build

      - name: 🚀 Release
        uses: cycjimmy/semantic-release-action@v5
        with:
          semantic_version: 25
          branches: |
            [
              '+([0-9])?(.{+([0-9]),x}).x',
              'main',
              'next',
              'next-major',
              {name: 'beta', prerelease: true},
              {name: 'alpha', prerelease: true}
            ]
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

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: validate
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - '+([0-9])?(.{+([0-9]),x}).x'
      - 'main'
      - 'next'
      - 'next-major'
      - 'beta'
      - 'alpha'
      - '!all-contributors/**'
  pull_request: {}
 
permissions: {}
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  main:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    permissions:
      contents: read
    # ignore all-contributors PRs
    if: ${{ !contains(github.head_ref, 'all-contributors') }}
    strategy:
      matrix:
        node: [14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24]
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - name: ⬇️ Checkout repo
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
      - name: ⎔ Setup node
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          cache: 'npm'
          node-version: ${{ matrix.node }}
 
      - name: 📥 Download deps
        uses: bahmutov/npm-install@v1
        with:
          useLockFile: false
 
      - name: ▶️ Run validate script
        run: npm run validate
        env:
          FORCE_COLOR: true
 
      - name: ⬆️ Upload coverage report
        uses: codecov/codecov-action@v4
        with:
          fail_ci_if_error: true
          token: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}
 
  release:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    permissions:
      id-token: write # required for npm trusted publishing
      contents: write # to create release tags
      issues: write # to post semantic-release failure/success issues
      pull-requests: write # to comment on released pull requests
    needs: main
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    if:
      ${{ github.repository == 'testing-library/jest-dom' &&
      contains('refs/heads/main,refs/heads/beta,refs/heads/next,refs/heads/alpha',
      github.ref) && github.event_name == 'push' }}
    steps:
      - name: ⬇️ Checkout repo
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
      - name: ⎔ Setup node
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          cache: 'npm'
          node-version: 24
 
      - name: 📥 Download deps
        uses: bahmutov/npm-install@v1
        with:
          useLockFile: false
 
      - name: 🏗 Run build script
        run: npm run build
 
      - name: 🚀 Release
        uses: cycjimmy/semantic-release-action@v5
        with:
          semantic_version: 25
          branches: |
            [
              '+([0-9])?(.{+([0-9]),x}).x',
              'main',
              'next',
              'next-major',
              {name: 'beta', prerelease: true},
              {name: 'alpha', prerelease: true}
            ]
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_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.
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.

3 third-party actions are referenced by a movable tag. Pin them to the commit SHA (Latchkey resolves and applies this automatically) so a repointed tag cannot change what runs.

This workflow runs 2 jobs (7 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

actions/checkout actions/setup-node codecov/codecov-action