Auto approve workflow (vmware/versatile-data-kit)

The Auto approve workflow from vmware/versatile-data-kit, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Auto approve workflow from the vmware/versatile-data-kit 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

# Copyright 2023-2025 Broadcom
# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0

name: Auto approve
on: pull_request_target

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      pull-requests: write
    if: github.actor == 'dependabot[bot]'
    steps:
      - uses: hmarr/auto-approve-action@v3

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

# Copyright 2023-2025 Broadcom
# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
name: Auto approve
on: pull_request_target
 
jobs:
  build:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    permissions:
      pull-requests: write
    if: github.actor == 'dependabot[bot]'
    steps:
      - uses: hmarr/auto-approve-action@v3
 

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.
• 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.