ArgoCD is a declarative, GitOps-style continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes. Instead of a CI pipeline pushing changes into a cluster with kubectl apply, ArgoCD runs inside the cluster and pulls the desired state from Git — plain manifests, Helm charts, or Kustomize overlays — then continuously compares it against what is actually running. When the two drift apart, ArgoCD reports the difference and can reconcile it automatically or wait for an approved sync.

Everything ArgoCD manages is expressed as Kubernetes custom resources:

• Application — maps a source (repo, path, revision) to a destination (cluster and namespace), along with its sync policy.
• AppProject — groups Applications and enforces guardrails such as allowed source repos, destination clusters, and resource kinds.
• ApplicationSet — generates many Applications from a single template using generators (lists, clusters, Git directories, pull requests, and more).

ArgoCD's strengths are its web UI for visualising sync and health status, native hub-and-spoke management of multiple clusters from one control plane, and tight integration with Argo Rollouts for canary and blue/green delivery. It began at Intuit, is a CNCF graduated project, and is one of the two dominant GitOps engines alongside Flux.

Guides in This Section¶

• ArgoCD: A Comprehensive Guide — architecture, installation, core concepts, sync policies and waves, rendering engines, RBAC and SSO, multi-cluster management, CLI essentials, notifications, progressive delivery, operational best practices, and troubleshooting.
• ArgoCD and Flux: How They Intersect and Complement Each Other — how the two GitOps tools differ in design, where they compete, where they can work together, what doesn't mix, a concept cheat sheet, and a decision framework for choosing between them.