Small fixes: requests no longer wait behind batches, one hung reply, regex alternation, and a few speed-ups - #332

Process completed with exit code 1.

Node.js 20 is deprecated. The following actions target Node.js 20 but are being forced to run on Node.js 24: actions/checkout@v4. For more information see: https://github.blog/changelog/2025-09-19-deprecation-of-node-20-on-github-actions-runners/