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How artifacts work

An artifact is a page, report, presentation or file you keep, revise and share. Its versions keep the work; its links decide who can open the published version. This page explains why those are separate, how a version goes from private to shared, how links choose an audience, and what to check before you send one. For the steps in a project, see Create and review artifacts.

One artifact, many versions, several ways in

Three things that are often bundled together have separate controls here, so that changing one never changes the others by accident.

  • The artifact holds the work. Its title, description and history stay together as you revise it. An artifact can stand on its own or be filed under an Alis Ideate project, where the project's access decides who can work with it.
  • A version holds the contents. A new upload is a new version; nothing is overwritten. Two versions matter at any time: the current version is the one used inside the project, and the published version is the one shared links serve. They can differ, which is what lets you keep working on the next draft while readers see the last good one.
  • A link holds an audience. You can make several links for different readers, each with its own rules and expiry. Every live link follows the artifact's published version, so the address you sent stays the same when the work changes.

From private work to a shared result

Uploading, publishing and making a link are three steps, and an artifact starts private: nothing is reachable until it is published.

  1. Upload and check. Upload a file, or a folder or ZIP holding an HTML page and its assets. The upload is checked before the version is marked ready, and a failed or unfinished upload cannot be published.
  2. Look at a private preview. Someone with access can open a temporary preview of a ready version without publishing it. A preview link expires after 15 minutes: it is for checking the result, not for sending around.
  3. Publish the version you choose. Publishing picks the ready version that links serve. Live links move to it with their rules unchanged. Publishing on its own makes no link; alis artifacts create --publish does both in one step.
  4. Keep improving it. Uploading a new version normally makes it current without touching what is published, and restoring an older version makes a new current version the same way. Publish when you want readers to see the change.

What a link lets someone read is separate from who may manage the artifact.

  • Anyone, or verified people. A link without restrictions opens for anyone who has it. Limit it to named email addresses or exact email domains and the reader has to verify an allowed email; when both lists are set, matching either is enough. You can also ask for email verification with no list at all.
  • A password or an expiry adds a condition on top of the audience. Send the password separately from the link. Once a link expires it stops working, even though the artifact is still published.
  • Stopping access. Revoking a link stops that one link for good. Unpublishing stops every link while keeping the artifact's private versions, and the links serve again at the next publish. Deleting stops access too; restoring a deleted artifact brings it back private.

What an artifact can hold

  • Pages and files. An HTML bundle opens as a page, and Markdown gets a readable page while its source stays available. PDFs and images open in the browser; other files are offered as downloads.
  • An optional PDF. For HTML or Markdown you can ask for a PDF when readers need a copy to keep. It is made separately, so the page can be published while its PDF is still being made or has failed; the download appears when the PDF is ready.
  • A place in a project. Filed under a project, an artifact stays with the work behind it, and a live project artifact can update as that work changes. Those updates never create a link and never make an unpublished artifact public again.
  • Your account's look. An account associated with the artifact brands the sharing pages, and an activated custom domain can carry its links. Branding grants no access: project permissions and each link's rules still decide who opens the work.

Before you share

Bring the page's assets with it. An uploaded page runs in a browser sandbox. Bundle its images, styles and scripts locally: external APIs and CDNs, cookies, browser storage, forms and embedded frames are blocked. A page that needs a backend belongs in a service.

A link does not grant editing. People with a link can read the published content that link allows. They cannot edit the artifact or browse its private history. A private preview is a reading link too, if a short-lived one, so give it only to people who should see that version.

Access controls cannot recall a copy. Revoking a link or unpublishing stops future access. It cannot take back a file someone downloaded or text they copied. Choose the audience before you send the link.