Packages

Packages are the reusable building blocks of Bluebricks

Packages are the reusable building blocks you use to create and deploy infrastructure in Bluebricks. They define exactly what should run in an environment.

Packages help you take individual infrastructure components (whether built in Bluebricks or pulled from existing Infrastructure as Code (IaC)) and turn them into modular, versioned, and repeatable deployments. In most cases, a package is simply a published version of an artifact.

Understanding Packages in Bluebricks

There are two types of packages:

Artifact: A single infrastructure building block. Artifacts define one component’s code, inputs, outputs, and metadata. They aren’t deployed on their own, but they become powerful when reused inside blueprints.

Blueprint: A deployable template made of one or more packages. Blueprints connect artifacts together, set defaults, and expose only the inputs needed at deployment time.

Artifacts vs blueprints

These two package types serve different roles:

	Artifact	Blueprint
What it represents	A single IaC component (one Terraform module, one Helm chart, one CloudFormation template)	A composed stack of one or more packages
Deployable directly?	No, must be included in a blueprint	Yes, installed into an environment
Defines relationships?	No, it has inputs and outputs but no awareness of other packages	Yes, wires packages together through data references
Versioned?	Yes	Yes
Contains other packages?	No	Yes, artifacts, other blueprints, or both

The distinction mirrors a common pattern in software: artifacts are libraries, blueprints are applications. You build and test libraries independently, but you ship applications that compose them into something useful.

Where to start

If you’re getting started with packages, begin by creating an artifact, then build up from there:

1. Create an artifact Define a reusable infrastructure building block with clear inputs and outputs. Learn how to create an artifact

2. Create a blueprint Compose one or more artifacts and define how they connect. Learn how to create a blueprint

3. Deploy the blueprint into an environment Bluebricks orchestrates the environment and runs the underlying infrastructure code for you. Learn more about environments