Is there documentation on how to use a Build Artifact? Or is there any alternate approach to 'check out once'?

**Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.**
I'm attempting to "check out once," build (and apply environment-specific variables) and deploy to separate environments. Originally, I was thinking I could re-use this action for all of my deploys (dev, staging, production, for example) but I am struggling a little with how to make sure I only check out the code from the repository once and use that same "snapshot" of the code to avoid checking out in every workflow step.

**Describe the solution you'd like**
I was searching how others have accomplished this, but I haven't found much. It would be nice to leverage an artifact or some other mechanism for only checking out once from the repo, but still applying `env` variables during each build and deploy.

**Describe alternatives you've considered**
I tried leveraging a built artifact this way: `app_location: '/dist/apps/'` and `skip_app_build: true` .. I also tried `app_location: '/'` but am starting to wonder if I needed to also unzip the build artifact or taken a different approach.

**Additional context**
This action has surpassed my expectations so far -- there is likely just a misunderstanding or a missed reference that does what I am requesting.