Storing workflow data as artifacts

In this guide, you’ll learn how to generate an ASCII art file with cowsay, upload it as an artifact in one job, and download it in subsequent jobs within a GitHub Actions workflow. This approach ensures files produced in the build step are available during test and deploy phases.

Table of Contents

1. Initial Workflow Setup
2. Upload Artifact Action
3. Download Artifact Action
4. Integrate in Build, Test, and Deploy Jobs
5. Inspecting Workflow Results
6. Retention and Storage Limits
7. Links and References

Initial Workflow Setup

Here’s a basic workflow that installs cowsay, generates ASCII art, then idles—without using artifacts yet:

name: Generate ASCII Artwork
on:
  push:
jobs:
  build_job_1:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Install Cowsay
        run: sudo apt-get install cowsay -y

      - name: Generate Dragon ASCII
        run: cowsay -f dragon "Run for cover, I am a DRAGON....RAWR" >> dragon.txt

      - name: Sleep (demo)
        run: sleep 30

  test_job_2: ...
  deploy_job_3: ...

Upload Artifact Action

Use the actions/upload-artifact action to persist files or share them with later jobs. Below is the minimal configuration:

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v3
  - run: mkdir -p path/to/artifact
  - run: echo hello > path/to/artifact/world.txt
  - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
    with:
      name: my-artifact
      path: path/to/artifact/world.txt

Download Artifact Action

To pull down an artifact in another job, configure actions/download-artifact:

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v3
  - uses: actions/download-artifact@v3
    with:
      name: my-artifact

Integrate in Build, Test, and Deploy Jobs

1. Build Job

Remove the sleep step and upload dragon.txt:

name: Generate ASCII Artwork
on:
  push:
jobs:
  build_job_1:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Install Cowsay
        run: sudo apt-get install cowsay -y

      - name: Generate Dragon ASCII
        run: cowsay -f dragon "Run for cover, I am a DRAGON....RAWR" >> dragon.txt

      - name: Upload Dragon text file
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
        with:
          name: dragon-text-file
          path: dragon.txt

2. Test Job

Download the artifact and verify its content:

test_job_2:
  needs: build_job_1
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  steps:
    - name: Download Dragon text file
      uses: actions/download-artifact@v3
      with:
        name: dragon-text-file

    - name: Test File Exists
      run: grep -i "dragon" dragon.txt

3. Deploy Job

Retrieve the same artifact before deployment:

deploy_job_3:
  needs: test_job_2
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  steps:
    - name: Download Dragon text file
      uses: actions/download-artifact@v3
      with:
        name: dragon-text-file

    - name: Display File
      run: cat dragon.txt

    - name: Deploy
      run: echo "Deploying..."

Inspecting Workflow Results

After committing and pushing, view the GitHub Actions tab. You might see a failed test job if something goes wrong:

On success, all three jobs complete and list the uploaded artifact:

Review runner logs for confirmation:

Run cowsay -f dragon "Run for cover, I am a DRAGON....RAWR" >> dragon.txt
Successfully uploaded artifact: dragon-text-file (1000 bytes)

Starting download for dragon-text-file
Total number of files that will be downloaded: 1
Artifact download has finished successfully

Run cat dragon.txt
Run for cover, I am a DRAGON... RAWR

Retention and Storage Limits

By default, artifacts and logs are kept for 90 days. Free-tier repositories can store up to 500 MB in total.

Links and References

• GitHub Actions: Uploading artifacts
• actions/upload-artifact on Marketplace
• actions/download-artifact on Marketplace

By following this pattern, you can persist build outputs (JARs, WARs, binaries) across jobs and ensure a clean, maintainable CI/CD pipeline in GitHub Actions.