Concepts

GitOps

Operational practice using Git as single source of truth for infrastructure and configuration, with automatic reconciliation between desired and actual state.

seed#gitops#argocd#flux#kubernetes#automation#declarative

What it is

GitOps is a practice where Git is the single source of truth for desired infrastructure and application state. An operator (ArgoCD, Flux) monitors the repository and automatically reconciles actual state with what's declared in Git.

Principles

  1. Declarative: desired state is described, not steps
  2. Versioned: everything in Git with complete history
  3. Automatic: Git changes are applied automatically
  4. Reconciliation: operator continuously corrects drift

Flow

Dev → PR → Review → Merge → Git repo
                              ↓
                    GitOps operator detects change
                              ↓
                    Applies changes to cluster
                              ↓
                    Continuously reconciles state

Tools

ToolFocus
ArgoCDRich UI, multi-cluster
FluxLightweight, CNCF
CrossplaneCloud infrastructure via K8s

Why it matters

GitOps turns Git into the source of truth for infrastructure and applications. Every change goes through a PR, is reviewed, and is applied automatically. This provides complete auditing, instant rollback, and a workflow developers already know.

References

  • OpenGitOps — Principles and standard.
  • ArgoCD — Official documentation.
  • Flux CD — CNCF, 2024. Kubernetes-native GitOps tool.
Concepts