Archiving artifacts in Jenkins - Step-by-Step Execution

Process Flow - Archiving artifacts

Build completes

↓

Identify artifacts

↓

Archive artifacts step

↓

Artifacts saved in Jenkins

↓

Artifacts available for download or later stages

After a build finishes, Jenkins identifies files to save, archives them, and makes them available for later use.

Execution Sample

Jenkins

pipeline {
  agent any
  stages {
    stage('Build') {
      steps {
        sh 'echo Hello > output.txt'
      }
    }
    stage('Archive') {
      steps {
        archiveArtifacts artifacts: 'output.txt'
      }
    }
  }
}

This Jenkins pipeline creates a file and archives it as a build artifact.

Process Table

Step	Action	File Created	Archive Step	Artifacts Stored
1	Start build	No	No	No
2	Run shell command: echo Hello > output.txt	output.txt created	No	No
3	Archive artifacts: output.txt	output.txt exists	Archive triggered	output.txt saved
4	Build complete	output.txt exists	Archived	Artifacts available

💡 Build finishes with output.txt archived as artifact

Status Tracker

Variable	Start	After Step 2	After Step 3	Final
output.txt file	Not present	Created	Archived	Archived and available

Key Moments - 2 Insights

Why do we need to archive artifacts after the build?

Archiving saves important files like logs or binaries so they can be accessed later, as shown in step 3 of the execution_table.

What happens if the file to archive does not exist?

The archive step will fail because Jenkins cannot find the file, so ensure the file is created before archiving, as seen between steps 2 and 3.

Visual Quiz - 3 Questions

Look at the execution table, at which step is the artifact actually saved?

A Step 1

B Step 2

C Step 3

D Step 4

💡 Hint

Check the 'Archive Step' and 'Artifacts Stored' columns in the execution_table at step 3.

According to variable_tracker, what is the state of output.txt after step 2?

A Not present

B Created

C Archived

D Deleted

💡 Hint

Look at the 'After Step 2' column for output.txt file in variable_tracker.

If the shell command did not create output.txt, what would happen at step 3?

A Archive step would fail

B Archive step would succeed anyway

C Build would skip archive step

D File would be created automatically

💡 Hint

Refer to key_moments about missing files before archiving.

Concept Snapshot

Jenkins archiving artifacts:
- After build, specify files to save
- Use archiveArtifacts step with file pattern
- Files saved with build for download or later use
- Fails if files missing
- Helps keep build outputs safe

Full Transcript

In Jenkins, archiving artifacts means saving files created during a build so they can be accessed later. The process starts after the build finishes. Jenkins looks for files you specify, like output.txt, and saves them with the build record. This is done using the archiveArtifacts step in the pipeline. If the file does not exist, the archive step will fail. Archiving is useful to keep logs, binaries, or reports safe and available for download or use in later pipeline stages.