release workflow (uber-go/mock)

The release workflow from uber-go/mock, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

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Source: uber-go/mock.github/workflows/release.yamlLicense Apache-2.0View source

What it does

This is the release workflow from the uber-go/mock repository, a real project running GitHub Actions. It is shown here with attribution under its Apache-2.0 license.

Below, Latchkey shows a faster, safer version produced by its optimization engine.

The workflow

workflow (.yml)

name: release

on:
  push:
    tags: ['v*']

permissions:
  contents: write

jobs:
  release:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v3
      with:
        fetch-depth: 0

    - name: Setup Go
      uses: actions/setup-go@v4
      with:
        go-version: 1.23.x

    - name: Prepare release
      run: |
        set -eou pipefail
        make bin/extract-changelog

        # Extract target version number from the git tag and post it to
        # GITHUB_ENV to make it accessible via env.VERSION in other steps.
        VERSION=${{ github.ref }}
        VERSION="${VERSION#refs/tags/}"  # refs/tags/v1.2.3 => v1.2.3
        echo "VERSION=$VERSION" >> $GITHUB_ENV

        echo "Releasing $VERSION"

        # Place the release notes in changes.v1.2.3.txt to grab them in the
        # release step.
        echo "Release notes:"
        echo "----"
        bin/extract-changelog $VERSION | tee changes.$VERSION.txt
        echo "----"

    - name: Release
      uses: goreleaser/goreleaser-action@v6
      with:
        distribution: goreleaser
        version: latest
        args: release --clean --release-notes changes.${{ env.VERSION }}.txt
      env:
        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        GORELEASER_CURRENT_TAG: ${{ env.VERSION }}

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: release
 
on:
  push:
    tags: ['v*']
 
permissions:
  contents: write
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  release:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
 
    steps:
    - name: Checkout
      uses: actions/checkout@v3
      with:
        fetch-depth: 0
 
    - name: Setup Go
      uses: actions/setup-go@v4
      with:
        go-version: 1.23.x
 
    - name: Prepare release
      run: |
        set -eou pipefail
        make bin/extract-changelog
 
        # Extract target version number from the git tag and post it to
        # GITHUB_ENV to make it accessible via env.VERSION in other steps.
        VERSION=${{ github.ref }}
        VERSION="${VERSION#refs/tags/}"  # refs/tags/v1.2.3 => v1.2.3
        echo "VERSION=$VERSION" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 
        echo "Releasing $VERSION"
 
        # Place the release notes in changes.v1.2.3.txt to grab them in the
        # release step.
        echo "Release notes:"
        echo "----"
        bin/extract-changelog $VERSION | tee changes.$VERSION.txt
        echo "----"
 
    - name: Release
      uses: goreleaser/goreleaser-action@v6
      with:
        distribution: goreleaser
        version: latest
        args: release --clean --release-notes changes.${{ env.VERSION }}.txt
      env:
        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        GORELEASER_CURRENT_TAG: ${{ env.VERSION }}

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.

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.

Actions used in this workflow

actions/checkout actions/setup-go goreleaser/goreleaser-action