Packages overview - CodeArtifact

Packages overview

A package is a bundle of software and the metadata that is required to resolve dependencies and install the software. In CodeArtifact, a package consists of a package name, an optional namespace such as @types in @types/node, a set of package versions, and package-level metadata such as npm tags.

Supported package formats

AWS CodeArtifact supports Cargo, generic, Maven, npm, NuGet, PyPI, Ruby, Swift package formats.

Package publishing

You can publish new versions of any supported package format to a CodeArtifact repository using tools such as npm, twine, Maven, Gradle, nuget, and dotnet.

Publishing permissions

Your AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) user or role must have permissions to publish to the destination repository. The following permissions are required to publish packages:

  • Cargo: codeartifact:PublishPackageVersion

  • generic: codeartifact:PublishPackageVersion

  • Maven: codeartifact:PublishPackageVersion and codeartifact:PutPackageMetadata

  • npm: codeartifact:PublishPackageVersion

  • NuGet: codeartifact:PublishPackageVersion and codeartifact:ReadFromRepository

  • Python: codeartifact:PublishPackageVersion

  • Ruby: codeartifact:PublishPackageVersion

  • Swift: codeartifact:PublishPackageVersion

In the preceding list of permissions, your IAM policy must specify the package resource for the codeartifact:PublishPackageVersion and codeartifact:PutPackageMetadata permissions. It must also specify the repository resource for the codeartifact:ReadFromRepository permission.

For more information about permissions in CodeArtifact, see AWS CodeArtifact permissions reference.

Overwriting package assets

You can't republish a package asset that already exists with different content. For example, suppose that you already published a Maven package with a JAR asset mypackage-1.0.jar. You can only publish that asset again if the checksum of the old and new assets are identical. To republish the same asset with new content, delete the package version using the delete-package-versions command first. Trying to republish the same asset name with different content will result in an HTTP 409 conflict error.

For package formats that support multiple assets (generic, PyPI and Maven), you can add new assets with different names to an existing package version, assuming that you have the required permissions. For generic packages, you can add new assets as long as the package version is in the Unfinished state. Because npm only supports a single asset per package version, to modify a published package version in any way, you must first delete it using delete-package-versions.

If you try to republish an asset that already exists (for example, mypackage-1.0.jar), and the content of the published asset and the new asset are identical, the operation will succeed because the operation is idempotent.

Private packages and public repositories

CodeArtifact does not publish packages stored in CodeArtifact repositories to public repositories such as npmjs.com or Maven Central. CodeArtifact imports packages from public repositories to a CodeArtifact repository, but it never moves packages in the other direction. Packages that you publish to CodeArtifact repositories remain private and are only available to the AWS accounts, roles, and users to which you have granted access.

Publishing patched package versions

Sometimes you might want to publish a modified package version, potentially one that is available in a public repository. For example, you might have found a bug in a critical application dependency called mydep 1.1, and you need to fix it sooner than the package vendor can review and accept the change. As described previously, CodeArtifact prevents you from publishing mydep 1.1 in your CodeArtifact repository if the public repository is reachable from your CodeArtifact repository via upstream repositories and an external connection.

To work around this, publish the package version to a different CodeArtifact repository where the public repository isn't reachable. Then use the copy-package-versions API to copy the patched version of mydep 1.1 to the CodeArtifact repository where you will consume it from.

Asset size limits for publishing

The maximum size of a package asset that can be published is limited by the Asset file size maximum quota shown in Quotas in AWS CodeArtifact. For example, you cannot publish a Maven JAR or Python wheel larger than your current asset file size maximum quota. If you need to store larger assets in CodeArtifact, request a quota increase.

In addition to the asset file size maximum quota, the maximum size of a publishing request for npm packages is 2 GB. This limit is independent of the asset file size maximum quota and cannot be raised with a quota increase. In an npm publishing request (HTTP PUT), package metadata and the content of the npm package tar archive are bundled together. Because of this, the actual maximum size of an npm package that can be published varies and depends on the size of the included metadata.

Note

Published npm packages are limited to a maximum size less than 2 GB.

Publishing latency

Package versions published to a CodeArtifact repository are often available for download in less than one second. For example, if you publish an npm package version to CodeArtifact with npm publish, that version should be available to an npm install command in less than one second. However, publishing can be inconsistent and can sometimes take longer. If you must use a package version immediately after publishing, use retries to make sure that the download is reliable. For example, after publishing the package version, repeat the download up to three times if the just-published package version is not initially available on the first download attempt.

Note

Importing a package version from a public repository typically takes longer than publishing. For more information, see External connection latency.

Package version status

Every package version in CodeArtifact has a status that describes the current state and availability of the package version. You can change the package version status in the AWS CLI and SDK. For more information, see Update package version status.

The following are possible values for package version status:

  • Published – The package version is successfully published and can be requested using a package manager. The package version will be included in package versions lists returned to package managers, for example, in the output of npm view <package-name> versions. All assets of the package version are available from the repository.

  • Unfinished – The client has uploaded one or more assets for a package version, but has not finalized it by moving it into the Published state. Currently only generic and Maven package versions can have a status of Unfinished. For Maven packages, this can occur when the client uploads one or more assets for a package version but does not publish a maven-metadata.xml file for the package that includes that version. When a Maven package version is Unfinished, it will not be included in version lists returned to clients such mvn or gradle, so it cannot be used as part of a build. Generic packages can be deliberately kept in the Unfinished state by providing the unfinished flag when calling the PublishPackageVersion API. A generic package can be changed to the Published state by omitting the unfinished flag, or by calling the UpdatePackageVersionsStatus API.

  • Unlisted – The package version's assets are available for download from the repository, but the package version is not included in the list of versions returned to package managers. For example, for an npm package, the output of npm view <package-name> versions will not include the package version. This means that npm's dependency resolution logic will not select the package version because the version does not appear in the list of available versions. However, if the Unlisted package version is already referenced in an npm package-lock.json file, it can still be downloaded and installed, for example, when running npm ci.

  • Archived – The package version's assets can no longer be downloaded. The package version will not be included in the list of versions returned to package managers. Because the assets are not available, consumption of the package version by clients is blocked. If your application build depends on a version that is updated to Archived, the build will break, assuming the package version has not been locally cached. You cannot use a package manager or build tool to re-publish an Archived package version because it is still present in the repository, but you can change the package version's status back to Unlisted or Published with the UpdatePackageVersionsStatus API.

  • Disposed – The package version doesn't appear in listings and the assets cannot be downloaded from the repository. They key difference between Disposed and Archived is that with a status of Disposed, the assets of the package version will be permanently deleted by CodeArtifact. For this reason, you cannot move a package version from Disposed to Archived, Unlisted, or Published. The package version can no longer be used because the assets have been deleted. After a package version has been marked as Disposed, you will no longer be billed for storage of the package assets.

Package versions of all statuses will be returned by default when calling list-package-versions with no --status parameter.

Apart from the states listed previously, a package version can also be deleted with the DeletePackageVersions API. After being deleted, a package version is no longer in the repository and you can freely re-publish that package version using a package manager or build tool. After a package version has been deleted, you will no longer be billed for storage of that package version's assets.

Package name, package version, and asset name normalization

CodeArtifact normalizes package names, package versions, and asset names before storing them, which means the names or versions in CodeArtifact may be different than the name or version provided when the package was published. For more information about how names and versions are normalized in CodeArtifact for each package type, see the following documentation:

CodeArtifact does not perform normalization on other package formats.