Argo CD GitOps

advanced

Declarative continuous delivery for Kubernetes with GitOps workflow.

Overview

Argo CD is a declarative GitOps continuous delivery tool that brings Git-driven deployment workflows to Kubernetes environments. Originally developed by Intuit and now a CNCF graduated project, Argo CD implements the GitOps methodology where Git repositories serve as the single source of truth for application configurations and deployment states. This approach revolutionizes how teams manage Kubernetes deployments by eliminating manual kubectl commands and configuration drift through automated synchronization between Git repositories and cluster states. This comprehensive stack combines Argo CD's core components with Redis for caching and Dex for identity management to create a production-grade GitOps platform. The argocd-server provides the web UI and API gateway, argocd-repo-server handles Git repository operations and manifest generation, while argocd-application-controller continuously monitors and reconciles application states. Redis serves as the distributed cache and session store, significantly improving performance for large-scale deployments, while Dex enables enterprise-grade authentication through OIDC, SAML, and other identity providers. This configuration is ideal for DevOps teams, platform engineers, and organizations seeking to implement mature GitOps practices without the complexity of manual Kubernetes installation. Unlike traditional CI/CD tools that push changes to environments, Argo CD pulls desired state from Git repositories, providing better security, auditability, and disaster recovery capabilities. The stack particularly excels in multi-cluster environments where centralized application lifecycle management and consistent deployment practices are critical for operational efficiency.

Key Features

Declarative GitOps workflow with Git repositories as the source of truth for all deployments
Real-time application health monitoring with detailed resource status and sync state visibility
Multi-cluster deployment management from a single Argo CD instance with cluster credential isolation
Automated drift detection and self-healing capabilities when cluster state deviates from Git
Pre-sync and post-sync hooks for database migrations, testing, and custom deployment logic
Role-based access control with project-level permissions and Git repository restrictions
Application rollback capabilities with Git history-based version management
SSO integration through Dex supporting OIDC, SAML, GitHub, GitLab, and enterprise identity providers

Common Use Cases

1Multi-environment Kubernetes deployments with promotion pipelines from dev to staging to production
2Microservices architecture deployment where multiple teams manage independent applications through Git
3Infrastructure as Code management for Kubernetes resources including ingress controllers, monitoring, and security policies
4Multi-cluster application deployment across different cloud providers or regions with consistent configurations
5Disaster recovery scenarios where entire cluster states can be reconstructed from Git repository definitions
6Compliance-driven environments requiring audit trails and approval workflows for production changes
7Development team self-service platforms where developers deploy applications without direct cluster access

Prerequisites

Minimum 2GB RAM allocated to Docker (1GB for Argo CD components, 512MB for Redis, plus system overhead)
Access to Kubernetes cluster with kubectl configured (required for Argo CD to manage applications)
Git repository with Kubernetes manifests, Helm charts, or Kustomize configurations for applications
Port 8080 available for Argo CD web interface access
Basic understanding of Kubernetes concepts including deployments, services, and YAML manifests
Git repository access credentials and webhook configuration knowledge for automated sync triggers

For development & testing. Review security settings, change default credentials, and test thoroughly before production use. See Terms

docker-compose.yml

1services: 
2  argocd-server: 
3    image: quay.io/argoproj/argocd:v2.9.3
4    container_name: argocd-server
5    command: argocd-server --staticassets /shared/app
6    environment: 
7      - ARGOCD_SERVER_INSECURE=true
8      - REDIS_SERVER=redis:6379
9    volumes: 
10      - argocd-data:/home/argocd
11      - ./repositories:/home/argocd/repo
12    ports: 
13      - "8080:8080"
14    depends_on: 
15      - redis
16    networks: 
17      - argocd-network
18    restart: unless-stopped
19
20  argocd-repo-server: 
21    image: quay.io/argoproj/argocd:v2.9.3
22    container_name: argocd-repo-server
23    command: argocd-repo-server --redis redis:6379
24    volumes: 
25      - argocd-repo:/home/argocd
26    depends_on: 
27      - redis
28    networks: 
29      - argocd-network
30    restart: unless-stopped
31
32  argocd-application-controller: 
33    image: quay.io/argoproj/argocd:v2.9.3
34    container_name: argocd-controller
35    command: argocd-application-controller --redis redis:6379 --repo-server argocd-repo-server:8081
36    volumes: 
37      - argocd-controller:/home/argocd
38    depends_on: 
39      - argocd-repo-server
40    networks: 
41      - argocd-network
42    restart: unless-stopped
43
44  redis: 
45    image: redis:7-alpine
46    container_name: argocd-redis
47    volumes: 
48      - redis-data:/data
49    networks: 
50      - argocd-network
51    restart: unless-stopped
52
53  dex: 
54    image: ghcr.io/dexidp/dex:v2.37.0
55    container_name: argocd-dex
56    command: dex serve /etc/dex/config.yaml
57    volumes: 
58      - ./dex-config.yaml:/etc/dex/config.yaml:ro
59    networks: 
60      - argocd-network
61    restart: unless-stopped
62
63volumes: 
64  argocd-data: 
65  argocd-repo: 
66  argocd-controller: 
67  redis-data: 
68
69networks: 
70  argocd-network: 
71    driver: bridge

.env Template

.env

1# Argo CD
2# Note: This is a simplified Docker Compose setup
3# For production, deploy to Kubernetes
4
5# Get initial admin password:
6# kubectl -n argocd get secret argocd-initial-admin-secret -o jsonpath="{.data.password}" | base64 -d

Usage Notes

1Web UI at http://localhost:8080
2Login: admin / (get from secret)
3GitOps continuous delivery
4Sync apps from Git repos
5Best run on Kubernetes

Individual Services(5 services)

Copy individual services to mix and match with your existing compose files.

argocd-server

argocd-server:
  image: quay.io/argoproj/argocd:v2.9.3
  container_name: argocd-server
  command: argocd-server --staticassets /shared/app
  environment:
    - ARGOCD_SERVER_INSECURE=true
    - REDIS_SERVER=redis:6379
  volumes:
    - argocd-data:/home/argocd
    - ./repositories:/home/argocd/repo
  ports:
    - "8080:8080"
  depends_on:
    - redis
  networks:
    - argocd-network
  restart: unless-stopped

argocd-repo-server

argocd-repo-server:
  image: quay.io/argoproj/argocd:v2.9.3
  container_name: argocd-repo-server
  command: argocd-repo-server --redis redis:6379
  volumes:
    - argocd-repo:/home/argocd
  depends_on:
    - redis
  networks:
    - argocd-network
  restart: unless-stopped

argocd-application-controller

argocd-application-controller:
  image: quay.io/argoproj/argocd:v2.9.3
  container_name: argocd-controller
  command: argocd-application-controller --redis redis:6379 --repo-server argocd-repo-server:8081
  volumes:
    - argocd-controller:/home/argocd
  depends_on:
    - argocd-repo-server
  networks:
    - argocd-network
  restart: unless-stopped

redis

redis:
  image: redis:7-alpine
  container_name: argocd-redis
  volumes:
    - redis-data:/data
  networks:
    - argocd-network
  restart: unless-stopped

dex

dex:
  image: ghcr.io/dexidp/dex:v2.37.0
  container_name: argocd-dex
  command: dex serve /etc/dex/config.yaml
  volumes:
    - ./dex-config.yaml:/etc/dex/config.yaml:ro
  networks:
    - argocd-network
  restart: unless-stopped

Quick Start

terminal

1# 1. Create the compose file
2cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
3services:
4  argocd-server:
5    image: quay.io/argoproj/argocd:v2.9.3
6    container_name: argocd-server
7    command: argocd-server --staticassets /shared/app
8    environment:
9      - ARGOCD_SERVER_INSECURE=true
10      - REDIS_SERVER=redis:6379
11    volumes:
12      - argocd-data:/home/argocd
13      - ./repositories:/home/argocd/repo
14    ports:
15      - "8080:8080"
16    depends_on:
17      - redis
18    networks:
19      - argocd-network
20    restart: unless-stopped
21
22  argocd-repo-server:
23    image: quay.io/argoproj/argocd:v2.9.3
24    container_name: argocd-repo-server
25    command: argocd-repo-server --redis redis:6379
26    volumes:
27      - argocd-repo:/home/argocd
28    depends_on:
29      - redis
30    networks:
31      - argocd-network
32    restart: unless-stopped
33
34  argocd-application-controller:
35    image: quay.io/argoproj/argocd:v2.9.3
36    container_name: argocd-controller
37    command: argocd-application-controller --redis redis:6379 --repo-server argocd-repo-server:8081
38    volumes:
39      - argocd-controller:/home/argocd
40    depends_on:
41      - argocd-repo-server
42    networks:
43      - argocd-network
44    restart: unless-stopped
45
46  redis:
47    image: redis:7-alpine
48    container_name: argocd-redis
49    volumes:
50      - redis-data:/data
51    networks:
52      - argocd-network
53    restart: unless-stopped
54
55  dex:
56    image: ghcr.io/dexidp/dex:v2.37.0
57    container_name: argocd-dex
58    command: dex serve /etc/dex/config.yaml
59    volumes:
60      - ./dex-config.yaml:/etc/dex/config.yaml:ro
61    networks:
62      - argocd-network
63    restart: unless-stopped
64
65volumes:
66  argocd-data:
67  argocd-repo:
68  argocd-controller:
69  redis-data:
70
71networks:
72  argocd-network:
73    driver: bridge
74EOF
75
76# 2. Create the .env file
77cat > .env << 'EOF'
78# Argo CD
79# Note: This is a simplified Docker Compose setup
80# For production, deploy to Kubernetes
81
82# Get initial admin password:
83# kubectl -n argocd get secret argocd-initial-admin-secret -o jsonpath="{.data.password}" | base64 -d
84EOF
85
86# 3. Start the services
87docker compose up -d
88
89# 4. View logs
90docker compose logs -f

One-Liner

Run this command to download and set up the recipe in one step:

terminal

1curl -fsSL https://docker.recipes/api/recipes/argo-cd-gitops/run | bash

Troubleshooting

Application stuck in 'Unknown' health status: Check that Kubernetes cluster is accessible and kubectl context is properly configured in the cluster settings
ComparisonError with 'unable to load data from /tmp/...' messages: Repository server cannot access Git repository, verify SSH keys or HTTPS credentials in repository configuration
OutOfSync status despite no visible differences: Enable 'IgnoreExtraneous' resource option or check for resources created outside of Argo CD management
Redis connection timeouts causing slow UI performance: Increase Redis memory allocation or check network connectivity between Argo CD components and Redis container
Dex authentication failing with OIDC providers: Verify redirect URIs include http://localhost:8080/auth/callback in your identity provider configuration
'permission denied' errors during sync operations: Check that Argo CD service account has appropriate RBAC permissions in the target Kubernetes namespace

Community Notes

Loading notes...

Download Recipe Kit

Get all files in a ready-to-deploy package

Includes docker-compose.yml, .env template, README, and license

Components

argocd-serverargocd-repo-serverargocd-controllerredisdex

Related Recipes

Ad Space

Shortcuts: C CopyF FavoriteD Download