Dependabot auto-merge workflow (vega/vega)

The Dependabot auto-merge workflow from vega/vega, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Dependabot auto-merge workflow from the vega/vega 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

name: Dependabot auto-merge
on: pull_request

permissions:
  contents: write
  pull-requests: write

jobs:
  dependabot:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    if: github.event.pull_request.user.login == 'dependabot[bot]' && github.repository == 'vega/vega'
    steps:
      - name: Dependabot metadata
        id: metadata
        uses: dependabot/fetch-metadata@v3
        with:
          github-token: '${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}'
      - name: Enable auto-merge for Dependabot PRs
        run: gh pr merge --auto --squash "$PR_URL"
        env:
          PR_URL: ${{github.event.pull_request.html_url}}
          GH_TOKEN: ${{secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN}}

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Dependabot auto-merge
on: pull_request
 
permissions:
  contents: write
  pull-requests: write
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  dependabot:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    if: github.event.pull_request.user.login == 'dependabot[bot]' && github.repository == 'vega/vega'
    steps:
      - name: Dependabot metadata
        id: metadata
        uses: dependabot/fetch-metadata@v3
        with:
          github-token: '${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}'
      - name: Enable auto-merge for Dependabot PRs
        run: gh pr merge --auto --squash "$PR_URL"
        env:
          PR_URL: ${{github.event.pull_request.html_url}}
          GH_TOKEN: ${{secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN}}
 

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• Cancel superseded runs when a branch or PR gets a newer push.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