content/actions/tutorials/store-and-share-data.md

metadata

title: Store and share data with workflow artifacts
shortTitle: Store and share data
intro: >-
  Use artifacts to share data between jobs in a workflow and store data once
  that workflow has completed.
redirect_from:
  - /articles/persisting-workflow-data-using-artifacts
  - >-
    /github/automating-your-workflow-with-github-actions/persisting-workflow-data-using-artifacts
  - >-
    /actions/automating-your-workflow-with-github-actions/persisting-workflow-data-using-artifacts
  - >-
    /actions/configuring-and-managing-workflows/persisting-workflow-data-using-artifacts
  - /actions/guides/storing-workflow-data-as-artifacts
  - /actions/advanced-guides/storing-workflow-data-as-artifacts
  - /actions/using-workflows/storing-workflow-data-as-artifacts
  - >-
    /actions/writing-workflows/choosing-what-your-workflow-does/storing-workflow-data-as-artifacts
  - >-
    /actions/writing-workflows/choosing-what-your-workflow-does/storing-and-sharing-data-from-a-workflow
  - >-
    /actions/how-tos/writing-workflows/choosing-what-your-workflow-does/storing-and-sharing-data-from-a-workflow
versions:
  fpt: '*'
  ghes: '*'
  ghec: '*'
type: tutorial
topics:
  - Workflows
allowTitleToDifferFromFilename: true

Prerequisites

Before you can complete this tutorial, you need to understand workflow artifacts. See AUTOTITLE.

Uploading build and test artifacts

The output of building and testing your code often produces files you can use to debug test failures and production code that you can deploy. You can configure a workflow to build and test the code pushed to your repository and report a success or failure status. You can upload the build and test output to use for deployments, debugging failed tests or crashes, and viewing test suite coverage.

You can use the upload-artifact action to upload artifacts. When uploading an artifact, you can specify a single file or directory, or multiple files or directories. You can also exclude certain files or directories, and use wildcard patterns. We recommend that you provide a name for an artifact, but if no name is provided then artifact will be used as the default name. For more information on syntax, see the {% ifversion fpt or ghec %}actions/upload-artifact action{% else %} actions/upload-artifact action on {% data variables.product.prodname_ghe_server %}{% endif %}.

Example

For example, your repository or a web application might contain SASS and TypeScript files that you must convert to CSS and JavaScript. Assuming your build configuration outputs the compiled files in the dist directory, you would deploy the files in the dist directory to your web application server if all tests completed successfully.

|-- hello-world (repository)
|   └── dist
|   └── tests
|   └── src
|       └── sass/app.scss
|       └── app.ts
|   └── output
|       └── test
|

This example shows you how to create a workflow for a Node.js project that builds the code in the src directory and runs the tests in the tests directory. You can assume that running npm test produces a code coverage report named code-coverage.html stored in the output/test/ directory.

The workflow uploads the production artifacts in the dist directory, but excludes any markdown files. It also uploads the code-coverage.html report as another artifact.

name: Node CI

on: [push]

jobs:
  build_and_test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: {% data reusables.actions.action-checkout %}
      - name: npm install, build, and test
        run: |
          npm install
          npm run build --if-present
          npm test
      - name: Archive production artifacts
        uses: {% data reusables.actions.action-upload-artifact %}
        with:
          name: dist-without-markdown
          path: |
            dist
            !dist/**/*.md
      - name: Archive code coverage results
        uses: {% data reusables.actions.action-upload-artifact %}
        with:
          name: code-coverage-report
          path: output/test/code-coverage.html

Configuring a custom artifact retention period

You can define a custom retention period for individual artifacts created by a workflow. When using a workflow to create a new artifact, you can use retention-days with the upload-artifact action. This example demonstrates how to set a custom retention period of 5 days for the artifact named my-artifact:

  - name: 'Upload Artifact'
    uses: {% data reusables.actions.action-upload-artifact %}
    with:
      name: my-artifact
      path: my_file.txt
      retention-days: 5

The retention-days value cannot exceed the retention limit set by the repository, organization, or enterprise.

Downloading artifacts during a workflow run

You can use the actions/download-artifact action to download previously uploaded artifacts during a workflow run.

{% ifversion fpt or ghec %}If you want to download artifacts from a different workflow or workflow run, you need to supply a token and run identifier. See Download Artifacts from other Workflow Runs or Repositories in the documentation for the download-artifact action. {% elsif ghes %}You can only download artifacts in a workflow that were uploaded during the same workflow run.{% endif %}

Specify an artifact's name to download an individual artifact. If you uploaded an artifact without specifying a name, the default name is artifact.

- name: Download a single artifact
  uses: {% data reusables.actions.action-download-artifact %}
  with:
    name: my-artifact

You can also download all artifacts in a workflow run by not specifying a name. This can be useful if you are working with lots of artifacts.

- name: Download all workflow run artifacts
  uses: {% data reusables.actions.action-download-artifact %}

If you download all workflow run's artifacts, a directory for each artifact is created using its name.

For more information on syntax, see the {% ifversion fpt or ghec %}actions/download-artifact action{% else %} actions/download-artifact action on {% data variables.product.prodname_ghe_server %}{% endif %}.

Passing data between jobs in a workflow

You can use the upload-artifact and download-artifact actions to share data between jobs in a workflow. This example workflow illustrates how to pass data between jobs in the same workflow. For more information, see the {% ifversion fpt or ghec %}actions/upload-artifact and download-artifact actions{% else %} actions/upload-artifact and download-artifact actions on {% data variables.product.prodname_ghe_server %}{% endif %}.

Jobs that are dependent on a previous job's artifacts must wait for the dependent job to complete successfully. This workflow uses the needs keyword to ensure that job_1, job_2, and job_3 run sequentially. For example, job_2 requires job_1 using the needs: job_1 syntax.

Job 1 performs these steps:

• Performs a math calculation and saves the result to a text file called math-homework.txt.
• Uses the upload-artifact action to upload the math-homework.txt file with the artifact name {% ifversion artifacts-v3-deprecation %}homework_pre{% else %}homework{% endif %}.

Job 2 uses the result in the previous job:

• Downloads the {% ifversion artifacts-v3-deprecation %}homework_pre{% else %}homework{% endif %} artifact uploaded in the previous job. By default, the download-artifact action downloads artifacts to the workspace directory that the step is executing in. You can use the path input parameter to specify a different download directory.
• Reads the value in the math-homework.txt file, performs a math calculation, and saves the result to math-homework.txt again, overwriting its contents.
• Uploads the math-homework.txt file. {% ifversion artifacts-v3-deprecation %}As artifacts are considered immutable in v4, the artifact is passed a different input, homework_final, as a name.{% else %}This upload overwrites the previously uploaded artifact because they share the same name.{% endif %}

Job 3 displays the result uploaded in the previous job:

• Downloads the {% ifversion artifacts-v3-deprecation %}homework_final artifact from Job 2.{% else %}homework artifact.{% endif %}
• Prints the result of the math equation to the log.

The full math operation performed in this workflow example is (3 + 7) x 9 = 90.

name: Share data between jobs

on: [push]

jobs:
  job_1:
    name: Add 3 and 7
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - shell: bash
        run: |
          expr 3 + 7 > math-homework.txt
      - name: Upload math result for job 1
        uses: {% data reusables.actions.action-upload-artifact %}
        with:
          name: {% ifversion artifacts-v3-deprecation %}homework_pre{% else %}homework{% endif %}
          path: math-homework.txt

  job_2:
    name: Multiply by 9
    needs: job_1
    runs-on: windows-latest
    steps:
      - name: Download math result for job 1
        uses: {% data reusables.actions.action-download-artifact %}
        with:
          name: {% ifversion artifacts-v3-deprecation %}homework_pre{% else %}homework{% endif %}
      - shell: bash
        run: |
          value=`cat math-homework.txt`
          expr $value \* 9 > math-homework.txt
      - name: Upload math result for job 2
        uses: {% data reusables.actions.action-upload-artifact %}
        with:
          name: {% ifversion artifacts-v3-deprecation %}homework_final{% else %}homework{% endif %}
          path: math-homework.txt

  job_3:
    name: Display results
    needs: job_2
    runs-on: macOS-latest
    steps:
      - name: Download math result for job 2
        uses: {% data reusables.actions.action-download-artifact %}
        with:
          name: {% ifversion artifacts-v3-deprecation %}homework_final{% else %}homework{% endif %}
      - name: Print the final result
        shell: bash
        run: |
          value=`cat math-homework.txt`
          echo The result is $value

The workflow run will archive any artifacts that it generated. For more information on downloading archived artifacts, see AUTOTITLE.

{% ifversion fpt or ghec %}

Validating artifacts

Every time the upload-artifact action is used it returns an output called digest. This is a SHA256 digest of the Artifact you uploaded during a workflow run.

When the download-artifact action is then used to download that artifact, it automatically calculates the digest for that downloaded artifact and validates that it matches the output from the upload-artifact step.

If the digest does not match, the run will display a warning in the UI and in the job logs.

To view the SHA256 digest, open the logs for the upload-artifact job or check in the Artifact output that appears in the workflow run UI.

{% endif %}