Sphinx: Render docs workflow (XTraceAI/xtrace-sdk)

The Sphinx: Render docs workflow from XTraceAI/xtrace-sdk, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

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Source: XTraceAI/xtrace-sdk.github/workflows/docs.ymlLicense Apache-2.0View source

What it does

This is the Sphinx: Render docs workflow from the XTraceAI/xtrace-sdk 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

workflow (.yml)

name: "Sphinx: Render docs"

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  build-docs:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      id-token: write     # needed for AWS OIDC deploy
      contents: read
    steps:
      - name: Check out repo
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          persist-credentials: false
          fetch-depth: 0
          fetch-tags: true

      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: "3.12"

      - name: Set up uv
        uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v4

      - name: Resolve version from git tag or CHANGELOG
        run: |
          VER=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null || echo "")
          if [ -z "$VER" ]; then
            VER=$(sed -n 's/^## \[\([0-9][0-9.]*\)\].*/\1/p' CHANGELOG.md | head -1)
          else
            VER="${VER#v}"
          fi
          echo "SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION=$VER" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"

      - name: Install package + all dev dependencies
        run: uv sync --all-groups

      - name: Build Sphinx HTML
        run: uv run sphinx-build -W -b html docs ./docs/_build/html/

      - name: Upload HTML artifact
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: html-docs
          path: docs/_build/html/

      # ---------- Deploy to S3 + CloudFront on main ----------
      - name: Configure AWS Credentials (OIDC)
        if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
        uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4
        with:
          role-to-assume: arn:aws:iam::490004635378:role/documentationDeployRole
          role-session-name: updateDocumentation
          aws-region: us-west-2

      - name: Deploy to S3
        if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
        run: aws s3 sync --delete docs/_build/html s3://${{ secrets.DOCUMENTATION_BUCKET }}

      - name: Invalidate CloudFront
        if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
        run: aws cloudfront create-invalidation --distribution-id ${{ secrets.DISTRIBUTION_ID }} --paths "/*"

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.

name: "Sphinx: Render docs"
 
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
  workflow_dispatch:
 
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  build-docs:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    permissions:
      id-token: write     # needed for AWS OIDC deploy
      contents: read
    steps:
      - name: Check out repo
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          persist-credentials: false
          fetch-depth: 0
          fetch-tags: true
 
      - name: Set up Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          cache: 'pip'
          python-version: "3.12"
 
      - name: Set up uv
        uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v4
 
      - name: Resolve version from git tag or CHANGELOG
        run: |
          VER=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null || echo "")
          if [ -z "$VER" ]; then
            VER=$(sed -n 's/^## \[\([0-9][0-9.]*\)\].*/\1/p' CHANGELOG.md | head -1)
          else
            VER="${VER#v}"
          fi
          echo "SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION=$VER" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
 
      - name: Install package + all dev dependencies
        run: uv sync --all-groups
 
      - name: Build Sphinx HTML
        run: uv run sphinx-build -W -b html docs ./docs/_build/html/
 
      - name: Upload HTML artifact
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: html-docs
          path: docs/_build/html/
 
      # ---------- Deploy to S3 + CloudFront on main ----------
      - name: Configure AWS Credentials (OIDC)
        if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
        uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4
        with:
          role-to-assume: arn:aws:iam::490004635378:role/documentationDeployRole
          role-session-name: updateDocumentation
          aws-region: us-west-2
 
      - name: Deploy to S3
        if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
        run: aws s3 sync --delete docs/_build/html s3://${{ secrets.DOCUMENTATION_BUCKET }}
 
      - name: Invalidate CloudFront
        if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
        run: aws cloudfront create-invalidation --distribution-id ${{ secrets.DISTRIBUTION_ID }} --paths "/*"

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.

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 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

actions/checkout actions/setup-python astral-sh/setup-uv actions/upload-artifact aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials