Declarative GitOps workflows with Argo CD

GitOps defines the desired state of a Kubernetes cluster entirely within Git repositories. Argo CD continuously compares the running cluster state against the declared manifests in Git, reconciling any detected configuration drift.

Reconciliation architecture

Argo CD runs directly inside the cluster, polling Git repositories or listening for webhooks to apply new application versions without storing cluster credentials in external CI systems.

Component	Function	Sync interval
Repo Server	Clones Git repositories and generates manifests	On-demand
Application Controller	Compares live cluster state with Git target state	3 minutes
API Server	Exposes RBAC-controlled interface and metrics	Real-time

Declaring an Argo CD Application

Applications are themselves declared as Kubernetes Custom Resources:

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: cloud-service
  namespace: argocd
spec:
  project: default
  source:
    repoURL: https://github.com/h1zardian/cloud-service
    targetRevision: main
    path: manifests/production
  destination:
    server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
    namespace: production
  syncPolicy:
    automated:
      prune: true
      selfHeal: true

Safe rollback strategies

When a defect is introduced in production, reverting the commit in Git automatically triggers Argo CD to reconcile the cluster back to the last known stable release.

Discussion

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