diff-check workflow (thoughtbot/administrate)

The diff-check workflow from thoughtbot/administrate, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the diff-check 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: diff-check
on: [push]

jobs:
  appraisal:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    env:
      DIFF_CHECK_APPRAISAL: "true"
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
      - uses: ruby/setup-ruby@v1
      - run: bundle install
      - uses: nickcharlton/diff-check@main
        with:
          command: bundle exec appraisal

  builds:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
      - name: Set up JS
        uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          cache: yarn
      - run: yarn install --frozen-lockfile
      - uses: nickcharlton/diff-check@main
        with:
          command: |
            yarn build
            yarn build:css

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

---
name: diff-check
on: [push]
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  appraisal:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    env:
      DIFF_CHECK_APPRAISAL: "true"
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
      - uses: ruby/setup-ruby@v1
      - run: bundle install
      - uses: nickcharlton/diff-check@main
        with:
          command: bundle exec appraisal
 
  builds:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
      - name: Set up JS
        uses: actions/setup-node@v6
        with:
          cache: yarn
      - run: yarn install --frozen-lockfile
      - uses: nickcharlton/diff-check@main
        with:
          command: |
            yarn build
            yarn build:css
 

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• Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.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

2 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.

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

Actions used in this workflow