gitops-workflow

★ 37,559

by wshobson · part of wshobson/agents

Implement GitOps workflows with ArgoCD and Flux for automated, declarative Kubernetes deployments with continuous reconciliation. Use when implementing GitOps practices, automating Kubernetes deployments, or setting up declarative infrastructure management.

🧩 One of 7 skills in the wshobson/agents package — works on its own, and pairs well with its siblings.

This is the playbook your agent receives when the skill activates — you don't need to read it to use the skill, but it's here to audit before installing.

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

Sync Policies

Auto-Sync Configuration

ArgoCD:

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:

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

Reference: See references/sync-policies.md

Progressive Delivery

Canary Deployment with ArgoCD Rollouts

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

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

Secret Management

External Secrets Operator

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

# 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

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

Copy & paste — that's it

npx skills add https://github.com/wshobson/agents --skill gitops-workflow

Run this in your project — your agent picks the skill up automatically.

ArgoCD Setup

1. Installation

# 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

# 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

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

# 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

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

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

GitOps Workflow

Purpose

When to Use This Skill

OpenGitOps Principles

Sync Policies

Auto-Sync Configuration

Progressive Delivery

Canary Deployment with ArgoCD Rollouts

Blue-Green Deployment

Secret Management

External Secrets Operator

Sealed Secrets

Best Practices

Related Skills

ArgoCD Setup

1. Installation

2. Repository Structure

3. Create Application

4. App of Apps Pattern

Flux CD Setup

1. Installation

2. Create GitRepository

3. Create Kustomization

Troubleshooting