Artefact resolution in Nexus Repository Pro

This topic explains how Nexus resolves artefacts when requested. It focuses on the workflow, not repository definitions.

For conceptual understanding, see Overview of Nexus Repository Pro and Repository types.
To see the list of available proxy repositories, see Nexus proxy repositories.
For accessing Docker Proxies from a remote runner, see Access Docker Proxies via Remote Runner.

Resolution workflow

1. Group repositories

   • Requests are first sent to a group repository (if used).
   • Nexus searches repositories in the configured order.

2. Proxy repositories

   • If a proxy repository is reached, Nexus first checks its local cache.
   • If artefact is missing, it fetches from the upstream remote repository and caches it.

3. Hosted repositories

   • If a hosted repository is reached, artefacts are served from local storage.
   • If missing, the request fails.

Example scenario

• CI/CD pipeline requests library-X:1.0 from a Maven group repository.
• Nexus searches in the group order: hosted-releases → maven-proxy.
• hosted-releases does not have it → maven-proxy checks cache → missing → fetch from Maven Central → cache locally → pipeline succeeds.