cleans up the CI runner that builds, tests, lints, and checks formatting on everything. Makes the steps in the Actions UI a bit more tidy/independent, and removes some unnecessary cruft.
Checklist
[x] I ran npm test locally and it passed without errors.
[x] I acknowledge that all my contributions will be made under the project's license.
Description
cleans up the CI runner that builds, tests, lints, and checks formatting on everything. Makes the steps in the Actions UI a bit more tidy/independent, and removes some unnecessary cruft.
Checklist
npm test
locally and it passed without errors.