GitOps With Argo CD: Declarative Kubernetes From Git Repositories

**GitOps** stores Kubernetes manifests (or Helm/Kustomize overlays) in Git as the source of truth. **Argo CD** (`argo-cd.readthedocs.io`) watches repos and syncs cluster state, detecting drift and supporting rollback to commits.

Applications map paths to clusters and namespaces. Sync policies range from manual approval to automated hooks. Sealed Secrets or external secret operators protect credentials committed as templates.

Pair GitOps with PR reviews for infra changes, policy checks (Kyverno, OPA Gatekeeper), and staged environments (dev, staging, prod) as separate Argo projects.

GitOps complements but does not replace CI image builds. Typical flow: CI builds and pushes images, updates manifest tags in Git, Argo CD deploys.