GitOps definition
GitOps is an operational practice in which the desired state of infrastructure and applications is stored as declarative configuration in a Git repository, and automated agents continuously reconcile the live environment to match it. Changes happen through pull requests, giving every deployment a review, an audit trail and an easy rollback by reverting a commit.
How does GitOps work?
The term was coined by Weaveworks in 2017 to describe how it ran Kubernetes. Application and infrastructure configuration live in Git as declarative files, such as Kubernetes manifests, Helm charts or Kustomize overlays. An agent running inside the cluster, typically Argo CD or Flux, watches the repository and applies any change it sees, then keeps checking that the cluster still matches.
A typical flow: CI builds and tests a new container image, then opens a pull request that updates the image tag in the configuration repository. A reviewer approves and merges it. Within moments the GitOps agent notices the new commit and rolls out the change. If someone edits the cluster by hand, the agent detects the drift and restores the state recorded in Git, or alerts the team.
The four GitOps principles
The OpenGitOps project, part of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, defines four principles that separate GitOps from simply keeping YAML in a repository. All four must hold for the model to deliver its benefits. Teams can use them to assess an existing setup.
- Declarative: the entire desired state of the system is expressed declaratively.
- Versioned and immutable: that state is stored in a way that keeps complete version history.
- Pulled automatically: software agents pull the desired state from the source.
- Continuously reconciled: agents keep observing the actual state and correcting differences.
GitOps vs traditional CI/CD
In a push-based pipeline, the CI system holds credentials to the cluster and runs deployment commands directly. In GitOps, the cluster pulls its own configuration, so CI needs no production credentials, which shrinks the attack surface. Git becomes the single record of what should be running, every change has a reviewer and a commit, and rolling back means reverting a commit rather than rerunning an old pipeline.
GitOps tools and patterns
Argo CD offers a visual dashboard and strong multi-cluster management, while Flux is a lightweight set of controllers that compose well with other tools. Both work with Helm and Kustomize. Most teams separate application source code from environment configuration, with folders or branches per environment. Secrets need special handling, using tools such as Sealed Secrets, SOPS or the External Secrets Operator so no plain-text secret ever lands in Git.
Progressive delivery tools such as Argo Rollouts and Flagger add canary and blue-green releases on top, shifting traffic gradually and rolling back automatically when metrics degrade. This combines the audit trail of GitOps with the safety of gradual, metric-driven releases in production.
Benefits and limitations
GitOps gives auditability, easy rollback, drift correction and a consistent way to manage many clusters. Its limits: it fits declarative, Kubernetes-style systems best, repository structure needs careful design as environments multiply, and some operations, such as database migrations, need extra handling. Nexzem sets up GitOps with Argo CD or Flux for clients running Kubernetes, including secrets management and progressive delivery from the start.