Release workflow (webpack/webpack-dev-server)

The Release workflow from webpack/webpack-dev-server, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Release workflow from the webpack/webpack-dev-server repository, a real project running GitHub Actions. It is shown here with attribution under its MIT license.

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

The workflow

name: Release

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

concurrency: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}

permissions:
  id-token: write # Required for OIDC
  contents: write
  pull-requests: write

jobs:
  release:
    if: github.repository == 'webpack/webpack-dev-server'
    name: Release
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    outputs:
      published: ${{ steps.changesets.outputs.published }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@df4cb1c069e1874edd31b4311f1884172cec0e10 # v6.0.3

      - name: Use Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@48b55a011bda9f5d6aeb4c2d9c7362e8dae4041e # v6.4.0
        with:
          node-version: lts/*
          cache: npm

      - run: npm ci

      - name: Create Release Pull Request or Publish to npm
        id: changesets
        uses: changesets/action@a45c4d594aa4e2c509dc14a9f2b3b67ba3780d0d # v1.9.0
        with:
          publish: node ./node_modules/.bin/changeset publish
          commit: "chore(release): new release"
          title: "chore(release): new release"
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          NPM_TOKEN: "" # https://github.com/changesets/changesets/issues/1152#issuecomment-3190884868

The same workflow, on Latchkey

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

name: Release
 
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
 
concurrency: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
 
permissions:
  id-token: write # Required for OIDC
  contents: write
  pull-requests: write
 
jobs:
  release:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    if: github.repository == 'webpack/webpack-dev-server'
    name: Release
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    outputs:
      published: ${{ steps.changesets.outputs.published }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@df4cb1c069e1874edd31b4311f1884172cec0e10 # v6.0.3
 
      - name: Use Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@48b55a011bda9f5d6aeb4c2d9c7362e8dae4041e # v6.4.0
        with:
          node-version: lts/*
          cache: npm
 
      - run: npm ci
 
      - name: Create Release Pull Request or Publish to npm
        id: changesets
        uses: changesets/action@a45c4d594aa4e2c509dc14a9f2b3b67ba3780d0d # v1.9.0
        with:
          publish: node ./node_modules/.bin/changeset publish
          commit: "chore(release): new release"
          title: "chore(release): new release"
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          NPM_TOKEN: "" # https://github.com/changesets/changesets/issues/1152#issuecomment-3190884868
 

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.

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