Test Docs workflow (vanvalenlab/deepcell-tf)

The Test Docs workflow from vanvalenlab/deepcell-tf, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Test Docs workflow from the vanvalenlab/deepcell-tf 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

# This workflow will install Python dependencies, run tests and lint with a single version of Python
# For more information see: https://help.github.com/actions/language-and-framework-guides/using-python-with-github-actions

name: Test Docs

on:
  - pull_request

jobs:

  docs:

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4

    - name: Set up Python
      uses: actions/setup-python@v5
      with:
        python-version: "3.10"

    - name: Install Dependencies
      run: |
        python -m pip install --upgrade pip
        pip install -r docs/requirements-docs.txt
        sudo apt-get install pandoc -y

    - name: Install package
      run: python -m pip install .

    - name: Test sphinx-build
      run: sphinx-build -W -nT -b dummy ./docs/source build/html

The same workflow, on Latchkey

Estimated ~20% faster on cache hits, plus fewer wasted runs and a safer supply chain. Added and changed lines are highlighted.

# This workflow will install Python dependencies, run tests and lint with a single version of Python
# For more information see: https://help.github.com/actions/language-and-framework-guides/using-python-with-github-actions
 
name: Test Docs
 
on:
  - pull_request
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
 
  docs:
    timeout-minutes: 30
 
    runs-on: latchkey-small
 
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
    - name: Set up Python
      uses: actions/setup-python@v5
      with:
        cache: 'pip'
        python-version: "3.10"
 
    - name: Install Dependencies
      run: |
        python -m pip install --upgrade pip
        pip install -r docs/requirements-docs.txt
        sudo apt-get install pandoc -y
 
    - name: Install package
      run: python -m pip install .
 
    - name: Test sphinx-build
      run: sphinx-build -W -nT -b dummy ./docs/source build/html
 

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.
• Cache dependency installs on the setup step so they are served from cache.
• Add a job timeout so a hung step cannot burn hours of runner time.

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 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