GitOps Workflow On A Kind Kubernetes Cluster Using ArgoCD

GitOps Workflow on kind Kubernetes Using ArgoCD

GitOps is a modern approach to continuous deployment where Git is the single source of truth for infrastructure and application configurations. In this guide, we’ll set up GitOps using ArgoCD on a Kind Kubernetes cluster.

What is GitOps?¶

GitOps is a way of managing Kubernetes (and other systems) using Git repositories as the source of truth. With GitOps:

You define your entire system configuration and applications in Git.
Tools like ArgoCD automatically sync changes from Git to your Kubernetes cluster.
Every change is version-controlled, reviewable, and reversible.

What is ArgoCD?¶

ArgoCD is a declarative, GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes. It:

Watches a Git repository for manifest changes
Automatically or manually syncs these changes into your Kubernetes cluster
Provides a web UI and CLI for managing apps

Now, we will deploy an app using ArgoCD on Kubernetes.

Prerequisites¶

Before you begin, make sure you have the following installed:

Step 1: Create a Kind Cluster¶

We’ll use a custom configuration to expose the ArgoCD UI on port 8080.

cluster-config.yaml

kind: Cluster
apiVersion: kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4
nodes:
  - role: control-plane
    image: kindest/node:v1.32.2
    extraPortMappings:
      - containerPort: 30443
        hostPort: 8080
        protocol: TCP
        listenAddress: "0.0.0.0"
  - role: worker
    image: kindest/node:v1.32.2

Create the Cluster¶

Run this command to create the Kubernetes cluster.

kind create cluster --name random-cluster --config cluster-config.yaml

You should see something like this:

Verify the cluster:

kubectl cluster-info --context kind-random-cluster

You will see

Step 2: Install ArgoCD¶

Let’s create a namespace called argocd

kubectl create namespace argocd

Apply ArgoCD Installation Manifests¶

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

Expose ArgoCD Server¶

By default, the ArgoCD server is a ClusterIP service, not accessible outside the cluster. We'll change it to NodePort.

kubectl patch svc argocd-server -n argocd -p \
'{"spec": {"type": "NodePort", "ports": [
  {"name": "http", "nodePort": 30080, "port": 80, "protocol": "TCP", "targetPort": 8080},
  {"name": "https", "nodePort": 30443, "port": 443, "protocol": "TCP", "targetPort": 8080}
]}}'

Now the ArgoCD UI will be accessible at: https://localhost:8080

Log in to ArgoCD UI¶

Get the initial admin password:

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

Visit https://localhost:8080. Log in with:

Username: admin
Password: (from above command)

Deploy an App Using GitOps¶

On the homepage, you will see the UI

argoCD UI

Now let’s deploy a sample Express.js app directly from a GitHub repo using GitOps!

We can use both ArgoCD and a manifest file to deploy apps. But in this post, we will use a manifest file.

ArgoCD Application Manifest¶

Save the following YAML file as express-app-application.yaml:

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: express-app
  namespace: argocd
spec:
  project: default
  source:
    repoURL: https://github.com/OlyMahmudMugdho/kube-express
    targetRevision: HEAD
    path: k8s
  destination:
    server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
    namespace: demo
  syncPolicy:
    automated:
      prune: true
      selfHeal: true
    syncOptions:
    - CreateNamespace=true

Apply the Manifest¶

kubectl apply -f express-app-application.yaml

- repoURL: GitHub repository with your app’s manifests. - targetRevision: Git revision to track (HEAD = latest commit on main/master). - path: The folder in the repo contains Kubernetes YAMLs. - destination.server: Kubernetes API server (here we use the in-cluster default). - destination.namespace: Namespace to deploy to (demo) will be created automatically. - syncPolicy.automated.prune: Removes orphaned resources that are not in Git. - syncPolicy.automated.selfHeal: Fixes any drift between the live cluster and Git. - syncOptions.CreateNamespace: Automatically creates the target namespace if it doesn’t exist.

Verify Deployment¶

Go to the ArgoCD UI, you will see something like this:

Check the deployed resources:

kubectl get all -n demo

Access the Express App¶

Port forward the app to access it from the browser

kubectl port-forward svc/express-app-service 5000:80 -n demo

Visit: http://localhost:5000

Congratulations! 🎉 We’ve now built a full GitOps pipeline using:

A local Kind cluster
ArgoCD for Git-based deployment
A GitHub repo containing Kubernetes manifests

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