Argo CD 0.1: GitOps Delivery for Kubernetes Hits GA

Introduction

On December 5, 2018, Intuit and the Argo community introduced Argo CD 0.1, the first generally available GitOps controller dedicated to Kubernetes. Argo CD watches Git repositories, compares desired versus live state, and applies changes automatically or on demand—tightening the feedback loop for application delivery.

Core Capabilities

Declarative Applications

• Models deployments as Application CRDs referencing Git repositories, paths, and revisions.
• Supports Helm charts, Kustomize overlays, raw YAML, and Jsonnet out of the gate.
• Keeps audit history by recording sync operations and health statuses.

Continuous Sync & Drift Detection

• Periodically compares live cluster resources to Git commits.
• Offers automated, manual, or hook-based sync policies with waves and hooks.
• Surfaces drift warnings through the Argo CD UI and CLI, highlighting out-of-band changes.

Multi-Cluster Support

• Manages multiple Kubernetes clusters from a single control plane using service accounts.
• Implements SSO integrations (Dex, OIDC, LDAP) for secure multi-team access.
• Provides RBAC policies to isolate applications by project and namespace.

Getting Started

1. Install Argo CD into a argocd namespace:

   kubectl apply -n argocd -f argoproj/argo-cd/v0.1.0/manifests/install.yaml
   

2. Port-forward the API server and log in with the initial admin password stored in the argocd-initial-admin-secret.

3. Create an Application pointing to your Git repo via the web UI or the argocd app create CLI.

4. Trigger argocd app sync <name> and observe pods roll out while Git remains the single source of truth.

Operational advice (early GitOps lessons)

• Start with manual sync for critical apps until you trust your repo hygiene and promotion workflow.
• Decide how you’ll handle “break glass” changes: Argo CD will surface drift, but your team needs a policy for when to revert vs when to bless the change in Git.
• Normalize health checks for your workloads — GitOps works best when “healthy” means the same thing across teams.

Ecosystem Fit

• Complements Tekton 0.1 by consuming signed images from CI pipelines.
• Works with cert-manager 0.1 to secure the Argo CD API and ingress endpoints.
• Pairs with FluxCD 1.6 for multi-tool GitOps comparisons and migration paths.

Summary

Argo CD 0.1 marked the inflection point where GitOps jumped from pattern to product, providing teams with a visual, policy-driven control plane for Kubernetes releases.