Argo CD is an open-source, declarative GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes. It watches Git repositories containing Kubernetes manifests, Helm charts, or Kustomize configurations and automatically synchronizes the cluster state to match what’s defined in Git. If someone makes a manual change in the cluster, Argo CD detects the drift and can automatically correct it.
Argo CD provides a web UI and CLI for managing applications, viewing sync status, and inspecting resource health. It supports multi-cluster deployments, SSO integration, RBAC, and webhook triggers. The application-of-apps pattern allows teams to manage hundreds of applications across multiple clusters from a single Argo CD instance.
The Argo project started at Applatix (acquired by Intuit in 2018) and includes other tools: Argo Workflows (workflow engine), Argo Events (event-driven automation), and Argo Rollouts (progressive delivery). All are CNCF graduated projects as of 2022.
Argo CD has become the most popular GitOps tool for Kubernetes, often compared with Flux CD. Companies like Intuit, Tesla, and Red Hat use it in production. Commercial support is available through Akuity, a company founded by Argo’s original creators, which offers a managed Argo CD platform.
