ARTIFACTORY: How to Enable Web UI View/Preview for Custom File Extensions (e.g., .vsixmanifest) in Artifactory

Problem Statement

By default, Artifactory maps known file extensions to specific MIME types, which determine whether a file can be viewed/previewed directly within the Artifactory Web UI as text or syntax-highlighted content.

Files with custom or unmapped extensions (such as `.vsixmanifest` used in Visual Studio extensions) might not have the "View" option available in the UI by default. This article explains how to configure `$JFROG_HOME/artifactory/var/etc/artifactory/mimetypes.xml` to add support for `.vsixmanifest` (or any custom XML-based extension) to be viewed directly from the Artifactory UI.



Solution

Step 1: Locate or Create `mimetypes.xml`

Navigate to the Artifactory configuration directory:

Shell

cd $JFROG_HOME/artifactory/var/etc/artifactory/



Step 2: Edit `mimetypes.xml`

Open `mimetypes.xml` in your preferred text editor.

Locate the existing `application/xml` definition. For example:

XML

<mimetype type="application/xml" extensions="xml, xsl, xsi" viewable="true" syntax="xml" css="xml"/>

Append `vsixmanifest` to the `extensions` attribute list and ensure `viewable="true"` and `syntax="xml"` are set:

XML

<mimetype type="application/xml" extensions="xml, xsl, xsi, vsixmanifest" viewable="true"
syntax="xml" css="xml"/>

```
Save and close the file.
```



Step 3: Set Correct File Permissions (Linux)

Ensure the `artifactory` user owns the modified file:

Shell

chown artifactory:artifactory $JFROG_HOME/artifactory/var/etc/artifactory/mimetypes.xml
chmod 640 $JFROG_HOME/artifactory/var/etc/artifactory/mimetypes.xml



Step 4: Restart Artifactory

For the updated MIME type mappings to take effect across the node/cluster, restart the Artifactory service:

Systemd / Service:

Shell

systemctl restart artifactory.service

HA Deployments: Apply the changes and restart each Artifactory node in the cluster.



Verification

```
Log in to the Artifactory Web UI.
```

Navigate to Platform > Artifactory > Artifacts.

Locate any repository containing a `.vsixmanifest` file.

Right-click the `.vsixmanifest` file or select it in the tree browser.

Confirm that the View option is now available and displays the file content with XML syntax highlighting.