Upload and Download Build Artifacts

Build Artifacts in GitHub Actions

Artifacts let you persist files from a workflow run — build outputs, test reports, logs, coverage data — and share them between jobs or download them after the workflow completes.

Workflow YAML

name: Build & Test

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm run build

      - name: Upload build output
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: dist
          path: ./dist
          retention-days: 7

  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm test -- --coverage

      - name: Upload coverage report
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        if: always()
        with:
          name: coverage
          path: coverage/

  deploy:
    needs: [build, test]
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Download build artifact
        uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: dist
          path: ./dist

      - name: Deploy
        run: |
          ls -la ./dist
          echo "Deploying build output..."

Key Features

Feature	Description
retention-days	How long to keep the artifact (1-90 days, default 90)
if: always()	Upload even if previous steps failed (great for test reports)
compression-level	0-9, where 0 is no compression (default 6)
overwrite	Replace existing artifact with same name (default false)

Artifact vs Cache

	Artifact	Cache
Purpose	Share outputs, download results	Speed up dependency installation
Lifetime	Configurable retention (1-90 days)	Evicted after 7 days of no access
Visibility	Visible in workflow run UI	Hidden, automatic
Size limit	500 MB (free), 2 GB (paid)	10 GB per repository
Cross-job	Yes, via download-artifact	No (same job only)

Downloading Multiple Artifacts

- uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
  # No name specified — downloads ALL artifacts
  with:
    path: ./artifacts

Each artifact is placed in a subdirectory named after the artifact. Use this pattern for aggregation jobs that need outputs from multiple build jobs.