Data and model versioning
Use W&B Artifacts for dataset versioning, model versioning, and tracking dependencies and results across machine learning pipelines. Think of an artifact as a versioned folder of data. You can store entire datasets directly in artifacts, or use artifact references to point to data in other systems like S3, GCP, or your own system.
Artifacts Quickstart
The easiest way to log an artifact is passing a path to your data files. Remember to also specify a name and an artifact type.
wandb.log_artifact(file_path, name='new_artifact', type='my_dataset')
This will create a new artifact in your project's workspace:
Log a new version
If you log again, we'll checksum the artifact, identify that something changed, and track the new version. If nothing changes, we don't re-upload any data or create a new version.
artifact = wandb.Artifact('new_artifact', type='my_dataset')
artifact.add_dir('nature_100/')
run.log_artifact(artifact)
Use your artifact
In a separate run, you can retrieve and download a specific version of an artifact to a local path:
artifact = run.use_artifact('user_name/project_name/new_artifact:v1', type='my_dataset')
artifact_dir = artifact.download()
Looking for a longer example with real model training? Try our Guide to W&B Artifacts.
How it works
Using our Artifacts API, you can log artifacts as outputs of W&B runs, or use artifacts as input to runs.
Since a run can use another run’s output artifact as input, artifacts and runs together form a directed graph. You don’t need to define pipelines ahead of time. Just use and log artifacts, and we’ll stitch everything together.
Here's an example artifact where you can see the summary view of the DAG, as well as the zoomed-out view of every execution of each step and every artifact version.
Artifacts resources
Learn more about using artifacts for data and model versioning:
Video tutorial for W&B Artifacts
Follow along with our tutorial video and interactive colab and learn how to track your machine learning pipeline with W&B Artifacts.