[Bug Fix] fix(ci): prevent runner group error on fork pushes

[whats2000]

[Bug Fix] fix(ci): prevent runner group error on fork pushes

fix(ci): prevent runner group error on fork pushes

Type / Scope

• Type: CI
• Scope: workflows

Summary / Motivation

When workflows with the aws-general-8-plus or aws-g6-4xlarge-plus runner groups run on forked repositories, they fail with "Required runner group not found" because these custom runner groups only exist in the main huggingface/lerobot repository.

GitHub Actions evaluates the runs-on field before checking if conditions, so simply adding repository checks doesn't prevent the runner allocation error. This PR implements a gating job pattern that runs a check on ubuntu-latest first, and all jobs requiring custom runners depend on it and only run if the check passes.

Related issues

• Fixes: Runner group error on fork pushes

What changed

• Added check-repo gating job to both unbound_deps_tests.yml and full_tests.yml that:
  • Runs on ubuntu-latest (always available)
  • Checks if github.repository == 'huggingface/lerobot'
  • Outputs the result for downstream jobs
• Updated build-and-push-docker and gpu-tests jobs to:
  • Depend on the check-repo job via needs
  • Check the gating job's output before running
  • Only attempt runner allocation if running on main repository
• No breaking changes - workflows function identically on main repo, just skip custom runner jobs on forks

How was this tested (or how to run locally)

• Manual verification:

  • Confirmed nightly.yml already has proper repository checks (scheduled workflows don't trigger on forks)
  • Identified unbound_deps_tests.yml and full_tests.yml needed fixes

• The fix prevents:

  1. Runner allocation errors when workflows trigger on forks
  2. Failed workflow runs due to missing runner groups

• Expected behavior:

  • On main repo: All jobs run normally with custom runners
  • On forks: Check job runs and passes, but custom runner jobs are skipped

Checklist (required before merge)

• Linting/formatting run (pre-commit run -a)
• All tests pass locally (pytest) - N/A for workflow-only changes
• Documentation updated - N/A
• CI is green

Reviewer notes

• This uses a gating job pattern instead of simple if conditions because GitHub evaluates runs-on before if
• The pattern ensures runner allocation only happens after confirming we're on the main repository
• Both unbound_deps_tests.yml and full_tests.yml now use this pattern
• Jobs on ubuntu-latest (like full-tests in full_tests.yml) don't need the gating check as that runner is always available
• This pattern is more robust than simple if conditions for preventing runner allocation errors

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR fixes a CI workflow issue where forked repositories encounter "Required runner group 'aws-general-8-plus' not found" errors. The custom runner group only exists in the main huggingface/lerobot repository, so jobs using it must be restricted to the main repository.

Changes:

• Added repository check to prevent aws-general-8-plus runner group usage on forks

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