Upgrade GitHub Actions for Node 24 compatibility

[salmanmkc]

Summary

Upgrade GitHub Actions to their latest versions to ensure compatibility with Node 24, as Node 20 will reach end-of-life in April 2026.

Changes

Action	Old Version(s)	New Version	Release	Files
actions/cache	v4	v5	Release	tests.yml
actions/checkout	v4	v6	Release	code-quality.yml, docker-build.yml, release-and-publish.yml, tests.yml
actions/github-script	v6	v8	Release	release-and-publish.yml
actions/setup-python	v5	v6	Release	code-quality.yml, release-and-publish.yml, tests.yml
actions/upload-artifact	v4	v6	Release	code-quality.yml

Context

Per GitHub's announcement, Node 20 is being deprecated and runners will begin using Node 24 by default starting June 2nd, 2026.

Why this matters

• Node 20 EOL: April 2026
• Node 24 default: June 2nd, 2026
• Action: Update to latest action versions that support Node 24

⚠️ Breaking Changes

• actions/checkout (v4 → v6): Major version upgrade — review the release notes for breaking changes
• actions/github-script (v6 → v8): Major version upgrade — review the release notes for breaking changes
• actions/setup-python (v5 → v6): Major version upgrade — review the release notes for breaking changes
• actions/cache (v4 → v5): Major version upgrade — review the release notes for breaking changes
• actions/upload-artifact (v4 → v6): Major version upgrade — review the release notes for breaking changes

Security Note

Actions that were previously pinned to commit SHAs remain pinned to SHAs (updated to the latest release SHA) to maintain the security benefits of immutable references.

Testing

These changes only affect CI/CD workflow configurations and should not impact application functionality. The workflows should be tested by running them on a branch before merging.

[D4Vinci]

Hey @salmanmkc
Thanks for the update. Can you make the PR against the dev branch instead? I won't accept a PR against main as explained in the contribution rules