Table of Contents
What Does Artifact Mean?
An artifact is a file produced as the output of a build, test, or deployment process. Artifacts may include:
- Executable binaries or container images.
- Test reports, logs, and screenshots.
- Configuration files or deployment manifests.
Artifacts serve as evidence of what happened during a process and can be stored, analyzed, and shared across teams.
Why Artifacts Matter in Testing
Artifacts play a crucial role in modern software delivery because they:
- Provide traceability of what was built, tested, and deployed.
- Enable debugging by preserving logs, error outputs, and screenshots.
- Support compliance and auditing by keeping a record of test results.
- Facilitate collaboration across Dev, QA, and Ops teams by providing a single source of truth.
Without artifacts, test results are ephemeral and can be lost, making it difficult to track issues or verify quality.
Common Challenges with Artifacts
Teams often encounter difficulties managing artifacts at scale:
- Storage sprawl: Large test suites can generate massive amounts of data.
- Inconsistent retention: Artifacts may be deleted too quickly or stored indefinitely without policy.
- Scattered locations: Artifacts spread across different CI/CD tools and cloud storage make retrieval difficult.
- Limited visibility: Developers may lack access to artifacts produced in other teams’ workflows.
How Testkube Handles Artifacts
Testkube simplifies artifact management in Kubernetes-native testing by:
- Automatically storing test artifacts (logs, reports, screenshots, etc.) after each execution.
- Centralizing results in the Testkube dashboard for easy analysis.
- Providing long-term retention policies aligned with organizational needs.
- Allowing integrations with external storage backends for compliance and scalability.
By capturing artifacts alongside test executions, Testkube ensures teams always have context for debugging, auditing, and optimization.
Real-World Examples
- A QA team stores Cypress test screenshots and video recordings as artifacts to debug failed UI tests.
- A DevOps team reviews k6 load test reports stored as artifacts to monitor application performance under stress.
- A regulated enterprise keeps PDF-formatted test reports as artifacts for compliance audits.