Artifact

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Discussion

An Artifact is an identifiable work product created, used, modified, exchanged, or preserved during an engineering, development, deployment, operational, or governance activity.

An Artifact may contain information, executable content, configuration content, model content, or evidence. Examples include:

Source codeConfiguration filesInfrastructure ConfigurationsInfrastructure BlueprintsModelsSchemasScriptsPolicy filesBuild specificationsMachine ImagesReportsLogsTest resultsEvidenceAn Artifact remains distinct from the physical or logical subject that it describes. For example:

An Infrastructure Configuration is an Artifact that represents the desired state of an Infrastructure EnvironmentA Machine Image is an Artifact used to instantiate a computing environmentA report is an Artifact that communicates selected informationA test result is an Artifact that records the outcome of a verification activityAn Artifact may be:

Human-readableMachine-readableExecutableVersion-controlledGeneratedDerivedSignedApprovedReleasedArchivedThese characteristics do not apply to every Artifact and require separate specification where relevant.

Definition

identifiable work product created, used, modified, exchanged, or preserved during an activity

Source

Dido Solutions, Inc. and Jackrabbit Consulting, Inc.

Note

An Artifact may exist in physical, digital, or conceptual form.

Identification of an Artifact does not by itself establish its revision, approval status, release status, provenance, authenticity, integrity, or retention status.

A Version-Controlled Artifact is an Artifact managed through a Version Control system.

The term does not require a particular file format, repository, storage medium, tool, or implementation technology.

Example

A machine-readable Infrastructure Configuration stored as a file and processed by a deployment workflow is an Artifact.

© 2026 Dido Solutions, Inc. and Jackrabbit Consulting, Inc.