Connect maintains a local Maven Repository for artifact dependencies that cannot be resolved using the standard repos.

Where is the local repository?

The repo is stored here:

<CONNECT_CLONE_DIR>/ThirdParty/repo

Artifacts from the local repository are installed into your local maven cache during the maven-install-plugin executions specified in <CONNECT_CLONE_DIR>/ThirdParty/pom.xml.

How do I add a new artifact to the local maven repository?

Storing artifacts in the CONNECT local repository should be a last resort. Always prefer the standard repositories which are configured under <CONNECT_CLONE_DIR>/Product/pom.xml.

First, you will need a jar file that you want to deploy as a Maven Repository entry. Run the mvn deploy:deploy-file to deploy the jar into the local repository.

mvn deploy:deploy-file -Durl=file:///<CONNECT_CLONE_DIR>/ThirdParty/repo/ -Dfile=/path/to/my/example.jar -DgroupId=org.example -DartifactId=example -Dversion=1.1 -Dpackaging=jar

Then add an entry in <CONNECT_CLONE_DIR>/ThirdParty/pom.xml which installs the artifacts into your local maven cache.

...
<execution>
    <id>javax.jms:jms</id>
    <phase>initialize</phase>
    <goals>
        <goal>install-file</goal>
    </goals>
    <configuration>
        <pomFile>${basedir}/repo/path/to/deployed/example.pom</pomFile>
        <file>${basedir}/repo/path/to/deployed/example.jar</file>
    </configuration>
</execution>
...

Add a dependency entries in the poms where appropriate.

Links

https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/local-maven-dependencies
http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-install-plugin/install-file-mojo.html