Docs Deploy workflow (yashlamba/handwrite)

The Docs Deploy workflow from yashlamba/handwrite, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Docs Deploy workflow from the yashlamba/handwrite 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: Docs Deploy
on: push
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout main
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
        with:
          ref: main
      - name: Checkout dev
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
        with:
          ref: dev
          path: devbranch
      - name: Setup Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v2
        with:
          python-version: '3.8'
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: |
          python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
          python3 -m pip install -e .[dev]
          python3 -m pip install Jinja2==3.0.0
      - name: Git setup and update
        run: |
          git config user.name "GitHub Action" && git config user.email "github-action@github.com"
          git fetch origin
      - name: Build Docs for main
        run: mkdocs build
      - name: Build Docs for dev
        run: |
          cd devbranch
          mkdocs build
          mv site dev
          cd ..
          mv devbranch/dev site/
      - name: Add latest web build and deploy
        run: |
          mkdocs gh-deploy --dirty

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: Docs Deploy
on: push
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  build:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: latchkey-small
    steps:
      - name: Checkout main
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
        with:
          ref: main
      - name: Checkout dev
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
        with:
          ref: dev
          path: devbranch
      - name: Setup Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v2
        with:
          cache: 'pip'
          python-version: '3.8'
      - name: Install dependencies
        run: |
          python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
          python3 -m pip install -e .[dev]
          python3 -m pip install Jinja2==3.0.0
      - name: Git setup and update
        run: |
          git config user.name "GitHub Action" && git config user.email "github-action@github.com"
          git fetch origin
      - name: Build Docs for main
        run: mkdocs build
      - name: Build Docs for dev
        run: |
          cd devbranch
          mkdocs build
          mv site dev
          cd ..
          mv devbranch/dev site/
      - name: Add latest web build and deploy
        run: |
          mkdocs gh-deploy --dirty
 

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