GitHub Actions Tutorial — Download Artifacts

Download Artifacts

Use actions/download-artifact to retrieve artifacts uploaded by earlier jobs in the same workflow, or from other workflow runs.

---

Download in a Later Job

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: npm ci && npm run build
      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: build-output
          path: ./dist

  deploy:
    needs: build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: build-output          # must match upload name
          path: ./dist                # where to put it

      - run: ls -la ./dist
      - run: echo "Deploying build output..."

---

Download All Artifacts

Omit name: to download everything:

steps:
  - uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
    # No 'name' — downloads all artifacts

  - run: ls -la
    # Each artifact is in a directory named after the artifact

Directory structure:

./build-output/
  ├── index.js
  └── styles.css
./test-report/
  └── results.xml
./coverage-report/
  └── lcov.info

---

Download from Another Workflow Run

Use run-id to download artifacts from a different workflow run (common with workflow_run):

on:
  workflow_run:
    workflows: ["Build"]
    types: [completed]

jobs:
  deploy:
    if: github.event.workflow_run.conclusion == 'success'
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: build-output
          run-id: ${{ github.event.workflow_run.id }}
          github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

      - run: ls -la

---

Merge Multiple Artifacts

Upload artifacts from matrix jobs and merge them:

jobs:
  test:
    strategy:
      matrix:
        os: [ubuntu-latest, windows-latest, macos-latest]
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    steps:
      - run: echo "result-${{ matrix.os }}" > result.txt
      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: results-${{ matrix.os }}
          path: result.txt

  collect:
    needs: test
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
        with:
          pattern: results-*
          merge-multiple: true
          path: ./all-results

      - run: ls -la ./all-results

Option	Purpose
pattern:	Glob pattern to match artifact names
merge-multiple: true	Merge matched artifacts into one directory

---

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Artifact not found	The name: must match exactly what was uploaded
Download from different run fails	Need run-id: and github-token:
Files overwrite each other	Use merge-multiple: true with unique filenames or separate paths
Artifact expired	Default retention is 90 days; check retention settings

---

Quick Reference

Concept	Syntax
Download one	name: artifact-name
Download all	Omit name:
Custom path	path: ./my-dir
From other run	run-id: + github-token:
Merge matrix	pattern: prefix-* + merge-multiple: true

---

← Previous: Upload Artifacts

Next: Dependency Caching →