actions/download-artifact v5.0.0 on GitHub

What's Changed

Update README.md by @nebuk89 in #407
BREAKING fix: inconsistent path behavior for single artifact downloads by ID by @GrantBirki in #416

v5.0.0

🚨 Breaking Change

This release fixes an inconsistency in path behavior for single artifact downloads by ID. If you're downloading single artifacts by ID, the output path may change.

What Changed

Previously, single artifact downloads behaved differently depending on how you specified the artifact:

By name: name: my-artifact → extracted to path/ (direct)
By ID: artifact-ids: 12345 → extracted to path/my-artifact/ (nested)

Now both methods are consistent:

By name: name: my-artifact → extracted to path/ (unchanged)
By ID: artifact-ids: 12345 → extracted to path/ (fixed - now direct)

Migration Guide

✅ No Action Needed If:

You download artifacts by name
You download multiple artifacts by ID
You already use merge-multiple: true as a workaround

⚠️ Action Required If:

You download single artifacts by ID and your workflows expect the nested directory structure.

Before v5 (nested structure):

- uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
  with:
    artifact-ids: 12345
    path: dist
# Files were in: dist/my-artifact/

Where my-artifact is the name of the artifact you previously uploaded

To maintain old behavior (if needed):

- uses: actions/download-artifact@v5
  with:
    artifact-ids: 12345
    path: dist/my-artifact  # Explicitly specify the nested path

New Contributors

@nebuk89 made their first contribution in #407

Full Changelog: v4...v5.0.0