Source: wshobson/agents Original Plugin: kubernetes-operations

GitOps Workflow

Complete guide to implementing GitOps workflows with ArgoCD and Flux for automated Kubernetes deployments.

Purpose

Implement declarative, Git-based continuous delivery for Kubernetes using ArgoCD or Flux CD, following OpenGitOps principles.

When to Use This Skill

Set up GitOps for Kubernetes clusters
Automate application deployments from Git
Implement progressive delivery strategies
Manage multi-cluster deployments
Configure automated sync policies
Set up secret management in GitOps

OpenGitOps Principles

Declarative - Entire system described declaratively
Versioned and Immutable - Desired state stored in Git
Pulled Automatically - Software agents pull desired state
Continuously Reconciled - Agents reconcile actual vs desired state

ArgoCD Setup

1. Installation

BASH

# Create namespace
kubectl create namespace argocd

# Install ArgoCD
kubectl apply -n argocd -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/argoproj/argo-cd/stable/manifests/install.yaml

# Get admin password
kubectl -n argocd get secret argocd-initial-admin-secret -o jsonpath="{.data.password}" | base64 -d

Reference: See references/argocd-setup.md for detailed setup

2. Repository Structure

gitops-repo/
├── apps/
│   ├── production/
│   │   ├── app1/
│   │   │   ├── kustomization.yaml
│   │   │   └── deployment.yaml
│   │   └── app2/
│   └── staging/
├── infrastructure/
│   ├── ingress-nginx/
│   ├── cert-manager/
│   └── monitoring/
└── argocd/
    ├── applications/
    └── projects/

3. Create Application

YAML

# argocd/applications/my-app.yaml
apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: my-app
  namespace: argocd
spec:
  project: default
  source:
    repoURL: https://github.com/org/gitops-repo
    targetRevision: main
    path: apps/production/my-app
  destination:
    server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
    namespace: production
  syncPolicy:
    automated:
      prune: true
      selfHeal: true
    syncOptions:
    - CreateNamespace=true

4. App of Apps Pattern

YAML

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: applications
  namespace: argocd
spec:
  project: default
  source:
    repoURL: https://github.com/org/gitops-repo
    targetRevision: main
    path: argocd/applications
  destination:
    server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
    namespace: argocd
  syncPolicy:
    automated: {}

Flux CD Setup

1. Installation

BASH

# Install Flux CLI
curl -s https://fluxcd.io/install.sh | sudo bash

# Bootstrap Flux
flux bootstrap github \
  --owner=org \
  --repository=gitops-repo \
  --branch=main \
  --path=clusters/production \
  --personal

2. Create GitRepository

YAML

apiVersion: source.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1
kind: GitRepository
metadata:
  name: my-app
  namespace: flux-system
spec:
  interval: 1m
  url: https://github.com/org/my-app
  ref:
    branch: main

3. Create Kustomization

YAML

apiVersion: kustomize.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1
kind: Kustomization
metadata:
  name: my-app
  namespace: flux-system
spec:
  interval: 5m
  path: ./deploy
  prune: true
  sourceRef:
    kind: GitRepository
    name: my-app

Sync Policies

Auto-Sync Configuration

ArgoCD:

YAML

syncPolicy:
  automated:
    prune: true      # Delete resources not in Git
    selfHeal: true   # Reconcile manual changes
    allowEmpty: false
  retry:
    limit: 5
    backoff:
      duration: 5s
      factor: 2
      maxDuration: 3m

Flux:

YAML

spec:
  interval: 1m
  prune: true
  wait: true
  timeout: 5m

Reference: See references/sync-policies.md

Progressive Delivery

Canary Deployment with ArgoCD Rollouts

YAML

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Rollout
metadata:
  name: my-app
spec:
  replicas: 5
  strategy:
    canary:
      steps:
      - setWeight: 20
      - pause: {duration: 1m}
      - setWeight: 50
      - pause: {duration: 2m}
      - setWeight: 100

Blue-Green Deployment

YAML

strategy:
  blueGreen:
    activeService: my-app
    previewService: my-app-preview
    autoPromotionEnabled: false

Secret Management

External Secrets Operator

YAML

apiVersion: external-secrets.io/v1beta1
kind: ExternalSecret
metadata:
  name: db-credentials
spec:
  refreshInterval: 1h
  secretStoreRef:
    name: aws-secrets-manager
    kind: SecretStore
  target:
    name: db-credentials
  data:
  - secretKey: password
    remoteRef:
      key: prod/db/password

Sealed Secrets

BASH

# Encrypt secret
kubeseal --format yaml < secret.yaml > sealed-secret.yaml

# Commit sealed-secret.yaml to Git

Best Practices

Use separate repos or branches for different environments
Implement RBAC for Git repositories
Enable notifications for sync failures
Use health checks for custom resources
Implement approval gates for production
Keep secrets out of Git (use External Secrets)
Use App of Apps pattern for organization
Tag releases for easy rollback
Monitor sync status with alerts
Test changes in staging first

Troubleshooting

Sync failures:

BASH

argocd app get my-app
argocd app sync my-app --prune

Out of sync status:

BASH

argocd app diff my-app
argocd app sync my-app --force

k8s-manifest-generator - For creating manifests
helm-chart-scaffolding - For packaging applications