# What Is Artifact Retention? Storing CI Outputs Sensibly

> Artifact retention controls how long CI keeps build outputs, logs, and reports before deleting them. Learn what to keep and for how long.

Source: https://latchkey.dev/learn/ci-cd-concepts/what-is-artifact-retention  
Updated: 2026-06-25

Artifact retention is the policy for how long CI holds onto the files a build produces - binaries, test reports, logs - before automatically deleting them to control storage cost.

Every run can emit artifacts: compiled binaries, coverage and test reports, screenshots, logs. Retention is the rule that decides how long those stick around. Set it too short and you lose debugging evidence; too long and storage bills balloon.

## What an artifact is

An artifact is any file a job uploads to be kept after the runner is destroyed. Because runners are ephemeral, anything you want to inspect later - a failing test’s screenshot, a built package, a log bundle - must be explicitly uploaded as an artifact or it vanishes with the runner.

## Why retention exists

Artifacts consume billed storage that accumulates across thousands of runs. Retention automatically deletes them after a set period so storage does not grow without bound. Providers apply a default window (often a few weeks to 90 days) that you can shorten or lengthen per artifact.

## Choosing a policy

- Short retention for large, reproducible build outputs you can rebuild.
- Longer retention for test reports and logs you may need to debug regressions.
- Separate per-artifact windows rather than one blanket setting.
- Release artifacts often belong in a real registry, not CI artifact storage.

## Common mistakes

Uploading huge artifacts on every run with the default long retention is the usual cause of surprise storage bills. The opposite mistake - too-short retention - deletes the evidence you needed to debug an intermittent failure. Match the window to how reproducible and how diagnostically valuable each artifact is.

## FAQ

### What is What is artifact Retention? storing CI outputs sensibly?

Every run can emit artifacts: compiled binaries, coverage and test reports, screenshots, logs. Retention is the rule that decides how long those stick around. Set it too short and you lose debugging evidence; too long and storage bills balloon.

### What an artifact is?

An artifact is any file a job uploads to be kept after the runner is destroyed. Because runners are ephemeral, anything you want to inspect later - a failing test’s screenshot, a built package, a log bundle - must be explicitly uploaded as an artifact or it vanishes with the runner.

### Why retention exists?

Artifacts consume billed storage that accumulates across thousands of runs. Retention automatically deletes them after a set period so storage does not grow without bound. Providers apply a default window (often a few weeks to 90 days) that you can shorten or lengthen per artifact.

### Common mistakes?

Uploading huge artifacts on every run with the default long retention is the usual cause of surprise storage bills. The opposite mistake - too-short retention - deletes the evidence you needed to debug an intermittent failure. Match the window to how reproducible and how diagnostically valuable each artifact is.

---

Latchkey runs CI/CD that repairs its own failures. Agent entry points: https://latchkey.dev/agent.txt, https://latchkey.dev/openapi.json, https://latchkey.dev/llms.txt