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Build Docs workflow (Unidata/siphon)

The Build Docs workflow from Unidata/siphon, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

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Source: Unidata/siphon.github/workflows/docs.ymlLicense BSD-3-ClauseView source

What it does

This is the Build Docs workflow from the Unidata/siphon repository, a real project running GitHub Actions. It is shown here with attribution under its BSD-3-Clause license.

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

The workflow

workflow (.yml)
name: Build Docs

# We don't want pushes (or PRs) to gh-pages to kick anything off
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
      - '[0-9]+.[0-9]+.x'
    tags:
      - v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+
  pull_request:

concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow}}-${{ github.head_ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true

jobs:
  #
  # Build our docs on Linux against multiple Pythons
  #
  Docs:
    name: "Linux ${{ matrix.python-version }}"
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        python-version: [3.11, 3.12, 3.13]
        check-links: [false]
        include:
          - python-version: 3.14
            check-links: true
    outputs:
      doc-version: ${{ steps.build-docs.outputs.doc-version }}

    steps:
    - name: Checkout source
      uses: actions/checkout@v7
      with:
        fetch-depth: 150

    - name: Get tags
      run: git fetch --depth=1 origin +refs/tags/*:refs/tags/*

    - name: Install using PyPI
      uses: Unidata/MetPy/.github/actions/install-pypi@main
      with:
        type: 'doc'
        python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
        need-extras: true
        need-cartopy: true

    - name: Build docs
      id: build-docs
      uses: Unidata/MetPy/.github/actions/build-docs@main
      with:
        run-linkchecker: ${{ github.event_name == 'pull_request' && matrix.check-links == true }}
        key: ${{ runner.os }}-${{ matrix.python-version }}
        make-targets: ''

  Deploy:
    if: ${{ github.event_name != 'pull_request' }}
    needs: Docs
    environment:
      name: github-pages
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    env:
      DOC_VERSION: dev
    permissions:
      contents: write

    steps:
    - name: Download doc build
      uses: actions/download-artifact@v8
      with:
        name: Linux-3.14-docs
        path: ./docs/build/html

    # This overrides the version "dev" with the proper version if we're building off a
    # branch that's not main (which is confined to n.nn.x above) or on a tag.
    - name: Set doc version
      if: ${{ github.event_name != 'push' || !contains(github.ref, 'main') }}
      run: echo "DOC_VERSION=v${{ needs.Docs.outputs.doc-version }}" >> $GITHUB_ENV

    - name: Upload to GitHub Pages
      uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v4
      with:
        github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        publish_dir: ./docs/build/html
        exclude_assets: '.buildinfo,_static/jquery-*.js,_static/underscore-*.js'
        destination_dir: ./${{ env.DOC_VERSION }}
        keep_files: false
        full_commit_message: Deploy ${{ env.DOC_VERSION }} to GitHub Pages

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Build Docs
 
# We don't want pushes (or PRs) to gh-pages to kick anything off
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
      - '[0-9]+.[0-9]+.x'
    tags:
      - v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+
  pull_request:
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow}}-${{ github.head_ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  #
  # Build our docs on Linux against multiple Pythons
  #
  Docs:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    name: "Linux ${{ matrix.python-version }}"
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        python-version: [3.11, 3.12, 3.13]
        check-links: [false]
        include:
          - python-version: 3.14
            check-links: true
    outputs:
      doc-version: ${{ steps.build-docs.outputs.doc-version }}
 
    steps:
    - name: Checkout source
      uses: actions/checkout@v7
      with:
        fetch-depth: 150
 
    - name: Get tags
      run: git fetch --depth=1 origin +refs/tags/*:refs/tags/*
 
    - name: Install using PyPI
      uses: Unidata/MetPy/.github/actions/install-pypi@main
      with:
        type: 'doc'
        python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
        need-extras: true
        need-cartopy: true
 
    - name: Build docs
      id: build-docs
      uses: Unidata/MetPy/.github/actions/build-docs@main
      with:
        run-linkchecker: ${{ github.event_name == 'pull_request' && matrix.check-links == true }}
        key: ${{ runner.os }}-${{ matrix.python-version }}
        make-targets: ''
 
  Deploy:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    if: ${{ github.event_name != 'pull_request' }}
    needs: Docs
    environment:
      name: github-pages
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    env:
      DOC_VERSION: dev
    permissions:
      contents: write
 
    steps:
    - name: Download doc build
      uses: actions/download-artifact@v8
      with:
        name: Linux-3.14-docs
        path: ./docs/build/html
 
    # This overrides the version "dev" with the proper version if we're building off a
    # branch that's not main (which is confined to n.nn.x above) or on a tag.
    - name: Set doc version
      if: ${{ github.event_name != 'push' || !contains(github.ref, 'main') }}
      run: echo "DOC_VERSION=v${{ needs.Docs.outputs.doc-version }}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 
    - name: Upload to GitHub Pages
      uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v4
      with:
        github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        publish_dir: ./docs/build/html
        exclude_assets: '.buildinfo,_static/jquery-*.js,_static/underscore-*.js'
        destination_dir: ./${{ env.DOC_VERSION }}
        keep_files: false
        full_commit_message: Deploy ${{ env.DOC_VERSION }} to GitHub Pages
 

What changed

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.

This workflow runs 2 jobs (4 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