What is the role of an artifact repository in deployment?

• A. Host user data
• B. Store and version build outputs (binaries, containers) for deployment
• C. Run applications
• D. Provide runtime metrics

Answer: (B)

An artifact repository is all about keeping built deliverables in a centralized, versioned store so deployment can pull exactly what was built. It holds artifacts like binaries, libraries, and container images, and it tracks versions so you can reproduce a deployment by selecting a specific artifact revision. This immutability and traceability enable safe promotion across environments (dev, QA, staging, production) and ensure the same artifact is used in every run.

Deployment tools fetch the needed artifact from the repository, guaranteeing consistency and a predictable release process. The other options don’t match this role: hosting user data is typically handled by data stores or databases, running applications happens on compute environments, and runtime metrics come from monitoring systems rather than an artifact store.