ci: retain free GitHub integration runners

Author: waleedlatif1

.github/CI.md

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ SEO depends on workspace UI and server code: landing pages reuse workspace prici
 
 Affected type-checks follow the package graph too; repository audits and lint always run. Workspace-only unit jobs use a free GitHub runner and do not start the app test shards.
 
-Lightweight HTTP suites run on free standard GitHub runners. Database integration uses 2-vCPU Blacksmith: a same-source comparison of 16 jobs per provider (32 total) had a slowest shard of 6m 04s versus 6m 55s on free GitHub, with identical coverage. The existing `CI_PROVIDER` switch retains that tested GitHub fallback; provider changes also select the matching cache setup. This is one paired sample, not a long-run percentile estimate.
+Database integration and lightweight HTTP suites run on free standard GitHub runners with matching GitHub cache setup. A same-source integration comparison of 16 jobs per provider (32 total) had a slowest shard of 6m 04s on 2-vCPU Blacksmith versus 6m 55s on free GitHub, with identical coverage. GitHub trades the observed 51 seconds for zero runner compute cost. This is one paired sample, not a long-run percentile estimate. These explicitly selected GitHub jobs do not follow `CI_PROVIDER`.
 
 Memory-heavy builds and browser jobs retain appropriately sized Blacksmith runners. Electron uses 4-vCPU Blacksmith: both shards passed within 14 seconds of the 8-vCPU control; the free GitHub rest shard was slower and its lease run stalled.
 

.github/workflows/checks.yml

@@ -71,12 +71,11 @@ jobs:
     # The two paths build different schemas (migrations add triggers, checks and NOT VALID
     # constraints that `db:push` does not), so each runs the whole suite. Vitest splits each
     # suite's files across eight shards by measured duration (DurationBalancedSequencer in vitest.shared.ts); a
-    # shard runs its files one at a time against its own database. Blacksmith keeps the critical
-    # integration path fast; standard GitHub runners retain a free, validated fallback.
+    # shard runs its files one at a time against its own database.
     name: integration (${{ matrix.provision }}, ${{ matrix.shard }}/8)
     needs: changes
     if: needs.changes.outputs.integration == 'true'
-    runs-on: ${{ (vars.CI_PROVIDER == '' || vars.CI_PROVIDER == 'blacksmith') && 'blacksmith-2vcpu-ubuntu-2404' || 'ubuntu-24.04' }}
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     timeout-minutes: 20
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
@@ -135,7 +134,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Setup workspace
         uses: ./.github/actions/setup
         with:
-          provider: ${{ vars.CI_PROVIDER }}
+          provider: github
 
       - name: Provision a fresh database through the supported command
         working-directory: packages/db