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argocdgitopskubernetesdeployment
ArgoCD GitOps Essentials: Quick Reference
Core ArgoCD concepts, architecture components, and key features at a glance.
CIOps vs GitOps
| CIOps (Push) | GitOps (Pull) | |
|---|---|---|
| How | CI pipeline pushes to cluster | ArgoCD watches git, syncs to cluster |
| Use for | Dev/test environments | Staging/production |
Core Concepts
| Concept | What it means |
|---|---|
| Application | CRD grouping K8s resources from a manifest |
| Target state | What’s in Git |
| Live state | What’s in the cluster |
| Sync | Making live = target |
| Refresh | Comparing Git vs live |
| Health | Is the app actually running and serving? |
Architecture
- API Server: gRPC/REST for Web UI, CLI, CI/CD. Handles auth + RBAC.
- Repo Server: Caches git repos, generates manifests from Helm/Kustomize/YAML.
- App Controller: Watches running apps, detects
OutOfSync, runs lifecycle hooks.
Supported config management
Kustomize, Helm, Jsonnet, plain YAML
Lifecycle hooks order
PreSync → Sync → PostSync → SyncFail
Use for blue/green and canary with Argo Rollouts.
Gotcha
- ArgoCD does not handle traffic shifting or canary analysis — pair it with Argo Rollouts for that
HealthyandSyncedare independent — an app can be synced but unhealthy (e.g. CrashLoopBackOff)- Refresh interval is 3 minutes by default. For faster detection, configure webhooks (GitHub/GitLab/BitBucket)