Create a standalone EXE with PyInstaller workflow (Z1ni/XGP-save-extractor)

The Create a standalone EXE with PyInstaller workflow from Z1ni/XGP-save-extractor, explained and optimized by Latchkey.

What it does

This is the Create a standalone EXE with PyInstaller workflow from the Z1ni/XGP-save-extractor 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: 'Create a standalone EXE with PyInstaller'
on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
    paths:
      - 'main.py'
      - 'games.json'
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - main
    paths:
      - 'main.py'
      - 'games.json'
jobs:
  create-standalone-exe:
    runs-on: windows-latest
    steps:
      - name: Check out repo
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Setup Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v5.1.0
        with:
          python-version: '3.12'
      - name: Install PyInstaller
        run: 'pip install PyInstaller'
      - name: Run PyInstaller
        run: 'pyinstaller -F -n xgp-save-extractor --add-data games.json:. main.py'
      - name: Upload standalone EXE
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: xgp-save-extractor
          path: dist/xgp-save-extractor.exe

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: 'Create a standalone EXE with PyInstaller'
on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
    paths:
      - 'main.py'
      - 'games.json'
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - main
    paths:
      - 'main.py'
      - 'games.json'
concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true
 
jobs:
  create-standalone-exe:
    timeout-minutes: 30
    runs-on: windows-latest
    steps:
      - name: Check out repo
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Setup Python
        uses: actions/setup-python@v5.1.0
        with:
          cache: 'pip'
          python-version: '3.12'
      - name: Install PyInstaller
        run: 'pip install PyInstaller'
      - name: Run PyInstaller
        run: 'pyinstaller -F -n xgp-save-extractor --add-data games.json:. main.py'
      - name: Upload standalone EXE
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: xgp-save-extractor
          path: dist/xgp-save-extractor.exe
 

What changed

• 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