Gitea Actions artifacts upload fails (artifacts server) in CI

By Kaveh Alemi·Latchkey

Gitea stores workflow artifacts through its own artifacts endpoint, gated by [actions] ARTIFACT_STORAGE and the artifacts setting in app.ini. If it is not enabled or storage is misconfigured, upload-artifact fails.

What this error means

An upload-artifact step fails with an artifacts API error or a storage failure, while other steps succeed. Downloads later report the artifact was never stored.

Failed to upload artifact: unexpected status 500 from artifacts endpoint
# Gitea artifacts storage not enabled/configured

Common causes

Artifact storage is not enabled on the instance

Without the artifacts setting configured in app.ini, the artifacts endpoint has no backend and uploads fail.

A misconfigured storage path or backend

A local path that is not writable, or an object-storage backend with bad credentials, makes the upload error.

How to fix it

Enable artifacts storage in app.ini

1. Configure the artifacts storage under [actions] (and storage section).
2. Point it at a writable local path or valid object storage.
3. Restart Gitea and re-run the upload step.

[actions]
ENABLED = true

[storage.actions_artifacts]
STORAGE_TYPE = local
PATH = /var/lib/gitea/artifacts

Fix storage permissions or credentials

Ensure the Gitea process can write the artifacts path, or that object-storage credentials are valid.

chown -R git:git /var/lib/gitea/artifacts

How to prevent it

• Configure artifacts storage when enabling Actions.
• Verify the storage path is writable by the Gitea user.
• Test an upload/download after configuring storage.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

References

• GitHub Actions documentation
• Workflow syntax for GitHub Actions