Artifact
ELI5 — The Vibe Check
An artifact is the finished product your build process creates — the actual file or bundle that gets deployed. It's like the difference between a recipe and a baked cake: source code is the recipe, the artifact is the cake. You build once, store the artifact, and deploy that exact artifact everywhere.
Real Talk
A build artifact is any file produced by the build process that is intended for use or deployment, such as a compiled binary, a Docker image, a JAR file, or a bundled JavaScript package. Artifacts are stored in registries or artifact repositories like Nexus, JFrog, or GitHub Packages.
Show Me The Code
# Upload artifact in GitHub Actions
- uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
with:
name: my-app
path: dist/
When You'll Hear This
"Store the build artifact so you don't have to rebuild on every deploy." / "The artifact from the nightly build is ready."
Related Terms
Build
A build is the process of turning your development code into something a real computer or browser can run efficiently.
Container Registry
A Container Registry is just the specific term for a registry that stores Docker/container images.
Pipeline
A pipeline is like an assembly line at a factory.
Registry
A registry is a storage place for container images — like an app store but for Docker images. When you build an image, you push it to a registry.