CodeQL workflow (thoughtbot/administrate)

The CodeQL workflow from thoughtbot/administrate, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the CodeQL workflow from the thoughtbot/administrate 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: CodeQL
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - 'main'
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize, reopened]
  schedule:
    - cron: '44 6 * * 4'

jobs:
  analyze:
    name: Analyze
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      actions: read
      contents: read
      security-events: write

    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        language: ['javascript', 'ruby']

    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v7

      - name: Initialize CodeQL
        uses: github/codeql-action/init@v4
        with:
          languages: ${{ matrix.language }}
          config: |
            paths-ignore:
              - 'app/assets/builds'
              - 'app/assets/javascripts/administrate/vendor'

      - name: Autobuild
        uses: github/codeql-action/autobuild@v4

      - name: Perform CodeQL Analysis
        uses: github/codeql-action/analyze@v4

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

---
name: CodeQL
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - 'main'
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize, reopened]
  schedule:
    - cron: '44 6 * * 4'
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  analyze:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: Analyze
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    permissions:
      actions: read
      contents: read
      security-events: write
 
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        language: ['javascript', 'ruby']
 
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v7
 
      - name: Initialize CodeQL
        uses: github/codeql-action/init@v4
        with:
          languages: ${{ matrix.language }}
          config: |
            paths-ignore:
              - 'app/assets/builds'
              - 'app/assets/javascripts/administrate/vendor'
 
      - name: Autobuild
        uses: github/codeql-action/autobuild@v4
 
      - name: Perform CodeQL Analysis
        uses: github/codeql-action/analyze@v4
 

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 (2 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