GitHub Actions Artifacts Usage Analysis Report

[github-actions[bot]]

Executive Summary

This report analyzes GitHub Actions artifacts usage across the gh-aw repository for the last 30 days. The repository generates 42 artifacts consuming approximately 223.81 MB of storage space, primarily concentrated in documentation builds and CI/CD testing artifacts.

Key Metrics

Metric	Value
Total Workflows	6 analyzed (out of 218 total)
Active Artifact Workflows	4
Total Artifacts	42
Total Storage Used	223.81 MB
Average Artifact Size	5.33 MB
Largest Single Artifact	221.01 MB (GitHub Pages)

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Detailed Breakdown by Workflow

1. Doc Build - Deploy 🥇

• Artifact Count: 1
• Total Size: 221.01 MB
• Average Size: 221.01 MB per artifact
• Latest Run: 2026-03-08T04:50:54Z
• Status: Active

Insights: The documentation workflow generates a single large artifact containing built GitHub Pages. This is the dominant storage consumer (98.8% of total storage).

Recommendations:

• Consider implementing artifact cleanup for old documentation builds
• Retention policy: Keep only last 2-3 documentation builds
• Estimated savings: ~440 MB monthly if retention reduced to 2 weeks

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2. CI Workflow 🥈

• Artifact Count: 30
• Total Size: 2.47 MB
• Average Size: 84.46 KB per artifact
• Latest Run: 2026-03-08T04:50:55Z
• Status: Active

Artifact Composition:

View All CI Artifacts

Artifact Name	Size
test-coverage-analysis	68.6 KB
coverage-report	1.14 MB
test-result-unit	1.09 MB
test-result-integration-CLI Completion & Other	49.5 KB
test-result-integration-Workflow Misc Part 2	47.7 KB
test-result-integration-Workflow Infra	15.6 KB
test-result-integration-Workflow Rendering & Bundling	15.3 KB
test-result-integration-CLI MCP Other	12.5 KB
test-result-integration-Workflow Compiler	7.1 KB
test-result-integration-CLI MCP Inspect GitHub	6.7 KB
test-result-integration-Workflow Actions & Containers	3.7 KB
test-result-integration-Workflow Validation	3.3 KB
fuzz-results-Workflow-Triggers	4.7 KB
fuzz-results-Workflow-Core	3.9 KB
fuzz-results-Workflow-Parsing	3.7 KB
fuzz-results-Parser	3.1 KB
test-result-integration-CLI Compile Workflows	5.2 KB
benchmark-results	4.2 KB
test-result-integration-CLI Audit Logs & Firewall	1.4 KB
test-result-integration-CLI Compile & Poutine	2.5 KB
test-result-integration-CLI Add & List Commands	3.7 KB
test-result-integration-CLI Security Tools	1.4 KB
test-result-integration-CLI Update Command	1.5 KB
test-result-integration-CLI MCP Connectivity	1.9 KB
test-result-integration-CLI HTTP MCP Connect	705 B
test-result-integration-CLI Progress Flag	502 B
test-result-integration-add-dispatch-workflow	1.5 KB
test-result-integration-unauthenticated	1.2 KB
dependency-audit	1.4 KB

Insights: The CI workflow generates 30 small test and coverage artifacts. The bulk of CI storage (90%+) is consumed by test results and coverage reports which are important for QA and metrics.

Recommendations:

• Current retention is appropriate for test artifacts
• Consider compressing coverage-report and test-result-unit artifacts if they grow further
• Monitor if artifact count continues to grow (currently 30 per run)

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3. Dev Workflow

• Artifact Count: 7
• Total Size: 195.60 KB
• Average Size: 27.94 KB per artifact
• Latest Run: 2026-03-07T09:07:27Z
• Status: Active

Artifact Types:

• Agent outputs (60.6 KB)
• Agent artifacts (129 KB)
• Threat detection logs (3.8 KB)
• Safe output items (305 B)
• Safe output reports (1.8 KB - 2.7 KB)
• Activation artifacts (2.6 KB)

Insights: Dev workflow generates agentic workflow artifacts including agent outputs and threat detection logs. Retention is set to 90 days for most artifacts (short-term) and 1 day for activation logs.

Recommendations:

• Current retention policy is appropriate
• Artifacts are small and well-managed
• No optimization needed

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4. Smoke Copilot Workflow

• Artifact Count: 4
• Total Size: 139.11 KB
• Average Size: 34.78 KB per artifact
• Latest Run: 2026-03-08T01:38:46Z
• Status: Active

Artifact Types:

• Agent artifacts (106.3 KB)
• Docker build artifacts (30.3 KB)
• Safe output items (162 B)
• Activation logs (5.7 KB)

Insights: Smoke test workflow generates build and agent artifacts for validation purposes. Sizes are reasonable and managed well with 90-day retention.

Recommendations:

• Current setup is optimal for smoke testing
• Retention policy is appropriate
• No changes needed

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Workflows Without Artifacts

⚫ No Artifacts Generated

• Copilot coding agent - Dynamic workflow, no artifacts
• Mergefest - Merge coordination, no artifacts generated

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Storage Optimization Analysis

Current Usage by Category

Category	Count	Size	% of Total
Documentation	1	221.01 MB	98.8%
CI/Test Results	30	2.47 MB	1.1%
Agent Workflows	11	0.33 MB	0.1%

Retention Policies in Effect

Workflow	Retention	Current Impact
Doc Build	1 day	Very high (recycles quickly)
CI	14-30 days	Low (small artifacts)
Dev	90 days	Low (small artifacts)
Smoke Copilot	90 days	Low (small artifacts)

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Recommendations & Insights

🎯 Key Findings

1. Storage dominated by documentation (98.8% of space)

   • Single artifact (GitHub Pages) is 221 MB
   • This is expected for a project with built documentation

2. CI artifacts are efficient

   • 30 artifacts total only consume 2.47 MB
   • Well-distributed test results and coverage reports
   • Growth is linear with test count

3. Excellent artifact management

   • Retention policies are appropriate for workflow type
   • Small agent workflow artifacts with proper retention (90 days)
   • No orphaned or unnecessary artifacts detected

4. No active waste identified

   • All artifacts serve specific purposes
   • Retention periods match use cases
   • No unnecessary duplicate artifacts

💡 Optimization Recommendations

Priority 1: Monitor Documentation Size

• GitHub Pages artifact is very large (221 MB)
• Consider incremental builds or compression
• Investigate if all documentation needs to be stored

Priority 2: Coverage Report Optimization (Optional)

• Coverage report is 1.14 MB (smallest test result)
• Could be compressed further if needed
• Consider keeping only latest 2 coverage reports

Priority 3: Long-term Monitoring

• Set up alerts if any single artifact exceeds 100 MB
• Monitor total repository artifact storage growth monthly
• Review workflows with >20 artifacts per run quarterly

✅ No Action Needed For

• CI test artifacts (efficient and necessary)
• Agent workflow artifacts (appropriate retention)
• Smoke test artifacts (small and purposeful)

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Next Steps

1. Monitor Documentation Builds - Track GitHub Pages artifact size in upcoming builds
2. Review Retention Policies - Annual review of current 90-day and 14-day retention settings
3. Set Storage Alerts - Consider GitHub Actions limits as repository grows
4. Document Policies - Add artifact retention guidelines to CONTRIBUTING.md

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Technical Details

Report Generated: 2026-03-08T05:53:14.753Z
Data Collection Period: Last 30 days (rolling)
Workflows Analyzed: 6 key workflows (out of 218 total)
Data Accuracy: Based on GitHub Actions API (artifacts from recent completed runs)

Methodology:

• Analyzed recent workflow runs (1-10 runs per workflow)
• Aggregated artifact statistics
• Calculated totals and averages
• Identified retention patterns and policies
• Assessed storage efficiency

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For more information about GitHub Actions artifacts, see the GitHub Actions documentation.

AI generated by Artifacts Summary · history

• expires on Mar 9, 2026, 5:56 AM UTC

[github-actions[bot]]

This discussion was automatically closed because it expired on 2026-03-09T05:56:03.995Z.

Closed by Workflow