Lesson 20 / 21

Build Artifacts & Registries

The output of a build, versioned and stored so it can be deployed anywhere.

What an artifact is

An artifact is the concrete output of the build stage — a Docker image, a JAR, a compiled binary, a static JS bundle. It's what actually gets tested and deployed, not the source code itself.

Versioning

Every artifact gets an immutable identifier — a semantic version, a git commit SHA, or a build number. This lets you say precisely what's running in production, and redeploy that exact same build if needed.

A labelled warehouse

An artifact registry (Docker Hub, npm registry, a private registry) is a warehouse where every box (artifact) has a clear label (version). Anywhere that needs to deploy just orders the exact labelled box — no guessing which one is which.

Quick check: Why should each build artifact get an immutable version identifier?

  • It makes the build run faster
  • It lets you know exactly what's running and redeploy that exact build later
  • It removes the need for a registry
Answer

It lets you know exactly what's running and redeploy that exact build later — A stable, unique identifier turns 'some build' into a traceable, reproducible artifact you can point at and redeploy.