Aspects of the subject matter described herein relate to publishing applications from a source environment to a target environment. In aspects, a publishing pipeline has multiple segments in which work related to the publishing is performed. In the pipeline, file data associated with an application is collected. Settings that need to be created and/or changed in target environment are also determined. Transformation actions may also occur to determine and prepare files to be published to the target environment. After the files and settings to publish are determined and the transformation actions occur, the application may then be published to the target environment.