Build Distro buckets

Buckets are groups of builds that can be automatically shared with a group of bucket members that you define. Buckets are a great way to group together the same kinds of builds (think release candidate builds, development/alpha builds, or even feature team builds) so there’s no ambiguity about the kinds of builds that are available for testing in a given bucket.

All apps will come with default buckets: the Release Candidate bucket, and the Development bucket. Certain users will also have Personal buckets created by default.

In addition to the default buckets, custom buckets can also be created. Try creating a bucket for your WIP feature or for your team.

Bucket settings

Buckets have properties that can be configured to refine the kinds of builds that are available in a bucket and who has access to them. The following properties can be configured on any build bucket:

  • Name: the display name of the bucket.

  • CI/CD workflow: the workflow that Runway should look for when pulling build artifacts to populate the bucket.

  • Rules: the rules that define how builds get pulled into the bucket.

    • PR rule: Build artifacts will be automatically pulled into the bucket from matching workflow runs on any pull requests that are open against the configured base branch.

    • Branch rule: Build artifacts will be automatically pulled into the bucket from matching workflow runs on the configured branch.

  • Filename(s): the names of the files (including file extension) that Runway should automatically pull from your workflow's build artifacts. If left blank, all files with the .ipa extension will be pulled in for iOS and tvOS platforms, and all files with the .apk extension will be pulled in for Android platforms

  • Org-wide access setting: enable org-wide access to make your bucket available to all users in your Runway org. Anyone in your Runway org with access to the bucket link can view and install builds from the bucket. If this setting is disabled, only bucket members can view and install builds from the bucket.

When configuring bucket rules, selected CI/CD workflows must already be configured to generate the required build artifacts (.ipa or .apk files). To read more about how to configure your CI/CD workflow to generate build artifacts and make them available for download, go here.

When org-wide access is enabled, any non-members with access to the bucket will be treated as users with the Tester bucket permission.

Uploading builds to buckets

There are currently two ways to upload builds to a bucket:

  • Configure a bucket rule and Runway will automatically pull build artifacts from matching workflow runs into the bucket

  • Upload builds manually to the bucket using the build upload flow on the bucket details page. You can upload .ipa files to buckets on apps of iOS platforms, and .apk files to buckets on apps of Android platforms

Other ways to upload builds to Runway build distribution buckets are coming soon.

Default buckets

Runway will by default start off with three distinct buckets: Release Candidates, Development, and a personal bucket.

Release Candidates bucket

The Release Candidates bucket can be used to group together release candidate builds – by default, it’s configured with a branch rule that's set up with your app’s Release Candidate CI/CD workflow and release branch (as defined during the setup flow of your CI/CD integration).

Release Candidate buckets will by default include all org admins as well as any app users with at least one role as bucket members. Org admins will be included as bucket admins. Other roles will be included as bucket testers.

Release Candidate buckets will start out with Org-wide access enabled. You can disable this setting from the bucket's settings.

Development bucket

The Development bucket can be used to group together development or alpha builds – by default, it’s configured with a branch rule that's set up with your app’s Development CI/CD workflow and working branch (as defined during the set up flow of your CI/CD integration).

Development buckets will by default include all org admins as well as any app users with at least one role as bucket members. Org admins will be included as bucket admins. Other roles will be included as bucket testers.

Development buckets will start out with Org-wide access enabled. You can disable this setting from the bucket's settings.

Personal bucket

By default, any user with an admin role in the org, or any user in the app with a PM, EM, or Engineer role will get a personal bucket. These buckets are designed as freeform workspaces – a bucket where you can upload any kind of build to share with whomever you like.

Personal buckets aren't configured with a bucket rule by default, and don’t include any members besides the owner of the personal bucket.

Automations

Bucket automations are scoped to the bucket they are a part of. To see a list of available bucket automations, visit the Build Distro bucket automations page.

Notifications

The notifications tab in the bucket details shows a list of available notifications for the given bucket. Notifications can be toggled on and off at the individual bucket level, and customized so that notifications for a given bucket can be sent to different channels of your choosing.

Bucket notifications are enabled by default on the Release Candidate and Development default buckets.

Bucket permissions

See below for details on which bucket actions can be performed by which kind of bucket member.

ActionAdminUploaderTester

Update

Yes

No

No

Update notifications

Yes

No

No

Update members

Yes

No

No

Share builds with individual testers

Yes

No

No

Upload builds

Yes

Yes

No

Update build tester notes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Install builds

Yes

Yes

Yes

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