update-templates workflow (thoughtbot/administrate)

The update-templates workflow from thoughtbot/administrate, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the update-templates 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: update-templates

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
    paths:
      - README.md
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  update-templates:
    permissions:
      contents: write
      pull-requests: write
      pages: write
    uses: thoughtbot/templates/.github/workflows/dynamic-readme.yaml@main
    secrets:
      token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: update-templates
 
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
    paths:
      - README.md
  workflow_dispatch:
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  update-templates:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    permissions:
      contents: write
      pull-requests: write
      pages: write
    uses: thoughtbot/templates/.github/workflows/dynamic-readme.yaml@main
    secrets:
      token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 

What changed

• Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.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

1 third-party action is referenced by a movable tag. Pin it to the commit SHA (Latchkey resolves and applies this automatically) so a repointed tag cannot change what runs.

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