To keep Cypress screenshots and videos after a CI job ends, enable the evidence you need in Cypress, then configure your CI provider to upload the generated files as job artifacts. Cypress takes screenshots of failed tests during cypress run by default; video recording is opt-in. By default, the files go in cypress/screenshots and cypress/videos.
How Cypress creates screenshots and videos
Cypress creates the files inside the CI job’s workspace. That is only the generation step: once the job ends and its workspace disappears, the files persist only if the CI provider uploads or otherwise preserves them.
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Screenshots
During cypress run, Cypress automatically takes a screenshot when a test fails, unless screenshot capture has been disabled. You can also take one explicitly in a test with cy.screenshot(). The default output directory is cypress/screenshots.
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Video recording is disabled by default. Set video: true in Cypress configuration to record videos during cypress run. The default output directory is cypress/videos.
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Configure Cypress
For current Cypress versions using the JavaScript configuration file, add or merge the video option in cypress.config.js:
const { defineConfig } = require('cypress')
module.exports = defineConfig({
video: true,
})If the project already has a configuration object, add video: true to it rather than replacing its other settings. With video disabled, Cypress can still produce failure screenshots. Cypress clears the screenshots and videos output folders before a run by default, so their contents ordinarily represent that run’s output, not an archive of previous runs.
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Configure the CI provider to retain the files
Add an artifact-upload step to the provider’s job or workflow and point it to the actual Cypress output paths. The upload must run even when tests fail if failure evidence is the goal. Cypress runs in providers including GitHub Actions, CircleCI, GitLab CI, Jenkins, and AWS CodeBuild, but artifact syntax and behavior are provider-specific; one provider’s YAML cannot be assumed to work in another.
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Declare the generated paths under the job’s artifacts.paths and use when: always when the artifacts should be collected regardless of job outcome:
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test:
script:
- npm ci
- npx cypress run
artifacts:
when: always
paths:
- cypress/videos/**/*.mp4
- cypress/screenshots/**/*.pngKeep the paths aligned with your Cypress configuration and actual file types. If you customize the output folders, update the artifact paths too.
GitHub Actions
Cypress maintains the cypress-io/github-action, and Cypress’s GitHub Actions guide demonstrates using GitHub’s upload-artifact and download-artifact actions to move files between jobs. The important behavior is that upload must still execute after a failed Cypress step. Check the current syntax and versions in the action documentation when building a workflow; versioned action syntax can change.
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Choose artifact paths deliberately, such as cypress/screenshots and cypress/videos, and make sure a downstream job downloads the artifact before trying to inspect those files. If the upload step is skipped on failure, the workflow can report a failed test without preserving its evidence.
CircleCI, Jenkins, AWS CodeBuild, and other providers
Use the provider’s current native artifact or build-output feature and target the Cypress output folders. For example, CircleCI documents job artifacts for preserving output after a job ends, including screenshots and reports. For every provider, verify the configuration against its current documentation: upload timing on failure, artifact retention, size limits, access controls, and cross-job download support differ.
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Choose what to keep and where
| Approach | What it does | Check before adopting |
|---|---|---|
| CI-provider job artifacts | Stores the generated files with the CI job or build so a developer can retrieve them after completion. | Whether upload runs after test failure; retention period; file-size limits; access permissions; and whether other jobs can download the files. |
| Cypress Cloud | Provides a hosted place to browse recorded test results and associated screenshots and videos. | Whether the organization’s data-handling requirements allow the hosted service, and the applicable retention settings and plan terms. |
These approaches can be combined if the team needs both a provider-managed copy and a Cloud record, but not every team needs both. Cypress output folders are generated files and are often excluded from source control; committing screenshots and videos is not a substitute for configuring CI artifact retention.
Troubleshoot missing or incomplete artifacts
- No video files: Video capture is off by default. Set
video: trueand confirm thatcypress/videosis the configured output location. - No screenshot after a failure: Cypress’s automatic failure screenshots apply to
cypress run; check that screenshot capture has not been disabled and that the provider is collectingcypress/screenshots. - Files exist in the job but disappear afterward: Cypress created them, but the provider did not preserve them. Add its native artifact-upload configuration before the workspace is discarded.
- Artifacts are missing only on failed runs: The upload step may be skipped after the test command exits unsuccessfully. Configure the provider’s failure-handling behavior so the upload runs regardless of the test result, then verify with an intentionally failing run.
- Upload reports no matching files: Confirm the configured directories, glob syntax, and file extensions against a real CI run. If output paths are customized, the provider’s paths must match.
- Artifacts appear for one job but not another: Job workspaces are not automatically shared. Upload in the producing job and use the provider’s download or artifact-transfer feature in the consuming job.
- Files are truncated, rejected, or unavailable later: Check your provider’s current artifact size limits, retention policy, and access settings. There is no universal retention period or size limit across CI providers.
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For a separate task—capturing a clean screenshot of a webpage rather than preserving Cypress test-run evidence—ScreenshotNeo provides a website screenshot API and MCP server. It does not replace Cypress’s CI artifact upload. One GET request captures a URL; see the ScreenshotNeo API documentation.
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webpScreenshotNeo accepts cookie or consent banners and removes more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups, and chat widgets before capture; those steps can be turned off. Bot checks, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits are not billed, and the response identifies the page verdict and billing status in headers. Its MCP server provides take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf tools for AI agents. The free plan includes 1,000 screenshots per month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 shots.
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