Artifact deployment

Artifact deployment packages your codebase and pushes it to a remote Git repository. This is commonly used for hosting platforms like Acquia that require pre-built code artifacts.

How it works

When artifact is included in $VORTEX_DEPLOY_TYPES, the deployment script:

1. Creates a clean code artifact using Git Artifact
2. Applies the .gitignore.artifact rules to control which files are included
3. Pushes the artifact to the configured remote repository
4. The hosting platform then deploys from that repository

Configuration

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Default	Location	Description
VORTEX_DEPLOY_ARTIFACT_GIT_REMOTE	Yes		.env	Remote repository URL for the artifact
VORTEX_DEPLOY_ARTIFACT_ROOT	No	Current directory	.env	Root directory for artifact creation
VORTEX_DEPLOY_ARTIFACT_SRC	No	Current directory	.env	Source directory to package
VORTEX_DEPLOY_ARTIFACT_DST	No	.artifact	.env	Destination directory for artifact
VORTEX_DEPLOY_ARTIFACT_GIT_USER_NAME	Yes		CI	Git user name for commits
VORTEX_DEPLOY_ARTIFACT_GIT_USER_EMAIL	Yes		CI	Git user email for commits
VORTEX_DEPLOY_ARTIFACT_LOG	No		.env	Log file path

Setup

1. Add artifact to the VORTEX_DEPLOY_TYPES variable in your .env file:

   .env

   VORTEX_DEPLOY_TYPES=artifact

2. Configure the artifact remote repository:

   .env

   VORTEX_DEPLOY_ARTIFACT_GIT_REMOTE=git@github.com:your-org/your-project-artifact.git

3. Add Git user credentials to your CI provider's environment variables:

   VORTEX_DEPLOY_ARTIFACT_GIT_USER_NAME="Deployment Bot"
   VORTEX_DEPLOY_ARTIFACT_GIT_USER_EMAIL="deploy@example.com"

Artifact file control

The .gitignore.artifact file controls which files are included in or excluded from the artifact. This file replaces the standard .gitignore in the artifact repository.

Vortex provides a pre-configured .gitignore.artifact that includes all required files for a production Drupal site while excluding development dependencies.

Customizing the artifact

Edit .gitignore.artifact to add or remove files from the artifact:

.gitignore.artifact

# Include compiled assets
!/web/themes/custom/*/dist

# Exclude test files
/tests
/behat.yml
/phpunit.xml

Use cases

• Acquia hosting - Acquia requires code artifacts pushed to their Git repository
• Pantheon hosting - Similar artifact-based deployment model
• Custom hosting - Any platform that deploys from a Git repository

See also

• Git Artifact tool - Detailed documentation on the artifact tool
• Acquia hosting - Acquia-specific deployment configuration