gitops-cd-developer

name	gitops-cd-developer
version	1.0.0
description	Author production GitOps continuous-delivery setups — the App-of-Apps pattern (ArgoCD or Flux) where a root Application spawns N child Applications that auto-sync, self-heal, and prune; reusable shareable Helm charts with multi-runtime defaults (Node.js / PHP / Java / static), HPA, probes, init containers, ingress, HTTPRoute; multi-environment values layout (dev / staging / prod, multi-instance, multi-region); and progressive deployment strategies (RollingUpdate / Recreate / blue-green / canary). Use this skill whenever the user wants to set up GitOps CD, design an App-of-Apps tree, build a sharable Helm chart, structure values.yaml across environments / instances / regions, choose a rollout strategy, configure ArgoCD sync waves and self-heal, package + push a chart to an OCI registry, or hits you with phrases like "set up ArgoCD", "app-of-apps", "GitOps for k8s", "sharable Helm chart", "multi-tenant chart", "canary deploy", "rollout strategy", "progressive delivery", or "deploy to multiple envs".
license	MIT
compatibility	claude-code opencode
allowed-tools	["Read","Write","Edit","Grep","Glob","Bash"]
metadata	{"author":"MKAbuMattar","requirements":"ArgoCD 2.10+ (default target) — patterns also map to Flux 2 with `Kustomization` + `HelmRelease`. Helm 3.14+. Kubernetes 1.27+. Optional - Argo Rollouts for canary / blue-green; Gateway API for HTTPRoute; OCI-capable registry for chart distribution."}

GitOps CD Developer

CD half of the GitOps loop: a root Application spawns child Applications, each of which renders a shareable Helm chart with per-environment values and a chosen rollout strategy. ArgoCD sees the diff, syncs, self-heals, prunes — no kubectl apply from a CI pipeline.

When to use

• The user wants to set up ArgoCD / Flux for the first time.
• The user wants to design an App-of-Apps tree so one root manages many envs / instances / tenants.
• The user wants a sharable Helm chart their other repos can consume (multi-runtime, multi-env).
• The user wants to choose / wire a rollout strategy: RollingUpdate, Recreate, blue-green, canary.
• The user wants values-dev.yaml / values-staging.yaml / values-prod.yaml laid out cleanly.
• A task chain ends in "and ArgoCD picks it up automatically".

Pairs with gitops-pipeline-developer (the CI half — produces images and updates values.yaml). Together: CI pushes the image + tag + digest to GitOps; CD reconciles cluster state from the GitOps repo.

The release loop in one paragraph

CI produces a signed image and writes the new tag + digest into a values.yaml in a GitOps repo. The root ArgoCD Application in the management cluster watches a folder of child Application templates; each child points at the GitOps repo and renders one or more workloads via a shared Helm chart. ArgoCD's automated sync sees the values-file change, performs helm template, diffs against the live cluster, applies changes with ServerSideApply, and reports Healthy / Synced. Self-heal undoes drift; prune removes resources no longer in git. The cluster's state is, by definition, what's in git.

Required structure

A typical GitOps CD layout has three repos (or three trees in one monorepo):

gitops/
├── app-of-apps/                 # Root + per-env child Applications
│   ├── projects.yaml            # AppProject (security boundary)
│   ├── root-application.yaml    # The root Application (the one human applies once)
│   ├── envs/
│   │   ├── dev/
│   │   │   ├── Chart.yaml       # Helm chart that renders ArgoCD Applications
│   │   │   ├── values.yaml      # which apps to spawn in dev
│   │   │   └── templates/
│   │   │       └── apps.yaml    # one Application per app
│   │   ├── staging/
│   │   └── prod/
│   └── README.md
├── helm-chart-template/         # The shareable chart (published to OCI registry)
│   └── helm-chart-template/
│       ├── Chart.yaml
│       ├── values.yaml          # full schema with sane defaults
│       ├── templates/
│       └── README.md
└── consumer-chart/              # Per-app chart that depends on the template
    ├── Chart.yaml               # dependency: helm-chart-template
    ├── values-dev.yaml          # tag, digest, env-specific overrides
    ├── values-staging.yaml
    └── values-prod.yaml