Publish and download build artifacts

Azure DevOps Services | Azure DevOps Server 2022 - Azure DevOps Server 2019

Note

We recommend using Download Pipeline Artifacts and Publish Pipeline Artifacts for faster performance.

Azure Artifacts enables teams to use feeds and upstream sources to manage their dependencies. You can use Azure Pipelines to publish and download different types of artifacts as part of your CI/CD workflow.

Publish artifacts

Artifacts can be published at any stage of your pipeline. You can use YAML or the classic Azure DevOps editor to publish your packages.

YAML

- powershell: gci env:* | sort-object name | Format-Table -AutoSize | Out-File $env:BUILD_ARTIFACTSTAGINGDIRECTORY/environment-variables.txt

- task: CopyFiles@2
  inputs:
    sourceFolder: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)'
    contents: '**/$(BuildConfiguration)/**/?(*.exe|*.dll|*.pdb)'
    targetFolder: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
- task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
  inputs:
    pathToPublish: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
    artifactName: drop

• pathToPublish: the path of your artifact. This can be an absolute or a relative path. Wildcards aren't supported.
• artifactName: the name of your artifact.

Note

Make sure you aren't using one of the reserved folder names when publishing your artifact. See Application Folders for more details.

Classic

Add the Publish Build Artifacts task to your pipeline and fill out the required fields. Make sure your file is at the root of your repository.

Example: Use multiple tasks

YAML

- powershell: gci env:* | sort-object name | Format-Table -AutoSize | Out-File $env:BUILD_ARTIFACTSTAGINGDIRECTORY/environment-variables.txt

- task: CopyFiles@2
  inputs:
    sourceFolder: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)'
    contents: '**/$(BuildConfiguration)/**/?(*.exe|*.dll|*.pdb)'
    targetFolder: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
- task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
  inputs:
    pathToPublish: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
    artifactName: drop1
- task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
  inputs:
    pathToPublish: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
    artifactName: drop2

• pathToPublish: the path of your artifact. This can be an absolute or a relative path. Wildcards aren't supported.
• artifactName: the name of your artifact.

Classic

You can add multiple Publish Build Artifacts tasks to your pipelines. Make sure your file is at the root of your repository.

Example: Copy and publish binaries

YAML

- powershell: gci env:* | sort-object name | Format-Table -AutoSize | Out-File $env:BUILD_ARTIFACTSTAGINGDIRECTORY/environment-variables.txt

- task: CopyFiles@2
  inputs:
    sourceFolder: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)'
    contents: '**/$(BuildConfiguration)/**/?(*.exe|*.dll|*.pdb)'
    targetFolder: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
- task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
  inputs:
    pathToPublish: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
    artifactName: drop

• sourceFolder: the folder that contains the files you want to copy. If you leave this empty, copying will be done from $(Build.SourcesDirectory).
• contents: File paths to include as part of the copy.
• targetFolder: destination folder.
• pathToPublish: the folder or file path to publish. It can be an absolute or a relative path. Wildcards aren't supported.
• artifactName: the name of the artifact that you want to create.

Note

Make sure not to use reserved name for artifactName such as Bin or App_Data. See ASP.NET Web Project Folder Structure for more details.

Classic

Utility: Copy Files

• Source folder: $(Build.SourcesDirectory)

• Contents: /$(BuildConfiguration)//?(.exe|.dll|*.pdb)

• Target folder: $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)

Utility: Publish Build Artifacts

• Path to publish: $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)

• Artifact name: drop

Note

Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory path is cleaned up after each build. If you're using this path to publish your artifact, make sure you copy the content you wish to publish into this directory before the publishing step.

Download artifacts

YAML

- powershell: gci env:* | sort-object name | Format-Table -AutoSize | Out-File $env:BUILD_ARTIFACTSTAGINGDIRECTORY/environment-variables.txt

- task: DownloadBuildArtifacts@0
  inputs:
    buildType: 'current'
    downloadType: 'single'
    artifactName: 'drop'
    downloadPath: '$(System.ArtifactsDirectory)'

• buildType: specify which build artifacts will be downloaded: current (the default value) or from a specific build.
• downloadType: choose whether to download a single artifact or all artifacts of a specific build.
• artifactName: the name of the artifact that will be downloaded.
• downloadPath: path on the agent machine where the artifacts will be downloaded.

Classic

Utility: Download Build Artifacts

• Download artifacts produced by: Current build

• Download type: Specific artifact

• Artifact name: drop

• Destination directory: $(System.ArtifactsDirectory)

Note

If you're using a deployment task, you can reference your build artifacts using $(Agent.BuildDirectory). See Agent variables for more details.

When your pipeline run is completed, navigate to Summary to explore or download your artifact.

Download a specific artifact

YAML

steps:
- task: DownloadBuildArtifacts@1
  displayName: 'Download Build Artifacts'
  inputs:
    buildType: specific
    project: 'xxxxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxx'
    pipeline: 20
    buildVersionToDownload: specific
    buildId: 128
    artifactName: drop
    extractTars: false

Classic

Add the Download Build Artifacts task to your pipeline definition and configure it as follows:

• Download artifacts produced by: Specific build.

• Project: select your project from the dropdown menu.

• Build pipeline: select your build pipeline.

• Build version to download: select specific version.

• Build: select your build from the dropdown menu.

• Download type: specific artifact.

• Artifact name: select your artifact from the dropdown menu.

• Destination directory: default $(System.ArtifactsDirectory).

Tips

• Disable IIS Basic Authentication if you're using Azure DevOps Server to allow authentication with your Personal Access Token. See IIS Basic Authentication and PATs for more details.

• Use forward slashes in file path arguments. Backslashes don't work in macOS/Linux agents.

• Build artifacts are stored on a Windows filesystem, which causes all UNIX permissions to be lost, including the execution bit. You might need to restore the correct UNIX permissions after downloading your artifacts from Azure Pipelines.

• Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory and Build.StagingDirectory are interchangeable.

• Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory path is cleaned up after each build.

• Deleting a build associated with packages published to a file share will result in the deletion of all Artifacts in that UNC path.

• If you're publishing your packages to a file share, make sure you provide access to the build agent.

• Make sure you allow Azure Artifacts Domain URLs and IP addresses if your organization is using a firewall.

Related articles

• Publish and download artifacts in Azure Pipelines
• Define your multi-stage classic pipeline
• How to mitigate risk when using private package feeds