Integrating Artifacts with CI/CD

Why Integrate Azure Artifacts with CI/CD?

When building modern applications, dependency management plays a critical role. By integrating Azure Artifacts with your pipeline, you can:

• Automate Dependency Handling: Restore packages as part of the build — no manual setup needed.
• Ensure Reproducibility: Use the exact same versions across environments for predictable builds.
• Improve Security: Prevent use of unverified packages by relying on internal feeds.
• Accelerate Delivery: Reduce pipeline errors and delays related to package versions.

How to Integrate Azure Artifacts with Your Pipeline

Here’s a quick guide to wiring Azure Artifacts into your build and release pipelines:

1. Create an Artifacts Feed: In Azure DevOps, navigate to Artifacts → New Feed and give it a name.
2. Link the Feed to Your Pipeline: Add the relevant authentication and restore tasks.
3. Reference the Feed in YAML: Specify the feed name and versioning in your pipeline definition.
4. Publish & Deploy: Package and publish your outputs back to Azure Artifacts for reuse.

Sample YAML Configurations

Below are examples for integrating common package types directly into Azure Pipelines.

NuGet (.NET) Integration

trigger:
- main

pool:
  vmImage: 'windows-latest'

steps:
- task: NuGetCommand@2
  inputs:
    command: 'restore'
    feedsToUse: 'select'
    vstsFeed: 'MyAzureArtifactsFeed'

- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  inputs:
    command: 'build'
    projects: '**/*.csproj'

npm (Node.js) Integration

steps:
- task: npmAuthenticate@0
  inputs:
    workingFile: '.npmrc'

- script: npm install
- script: npm run build

Maven (Java) Integration

steps:
- task: Maven@3
  inputs:
    mavenPomFile: 'pom.xml'
    goals: 'clean install'
    options: '-s settings.xml'
    publishJUnitResults: true
    testResultsFiles: '**/surefire-reports/TEST-*.xml'

Best Practices for Artifact Integration

• Use Version Locking: Pin package versions to prevent accidental upgrades.
• Publish Automatically: Push your builds to feeds for easy reuse across projects.
• Enable Vulnerability Scanning: Integrate tools like WhiteSource Bolt or Snyk to scan dependencies.
• Gate Access to Feeds: Add approval processes for critical or production package promotion.

Summary

When integrated correctly, Azure Artifacts becomes a powerful part of your DevOps toolkit — enabling smoother builds, safer deployments, and more reliable releases. Whether you're managing NuGet, npm, or Maven packages, this approach ensures your dependencies are always secure, approved, and consistent.

Up next, we’ll look at how to publish and consume custom packages using Azure Artifacts across multiple projects.