Flux GitOps Operator

Flux is a continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes that implements the GitOps operational model, where Git repositories serve as the single source of truth for the desired state of cluster resources and Flux automatically reconciles the live cluster state with the declared configuration. The controller runs inside the Kubernetes cluster as a set of custom controllers, continuously polling configured Git repositories for changes, rendering templates using tools like Kustomize or Helm, and applying the resulting manifests to the cluster through the Kubernetes API server. When a commit changes a deployment image tag or modifies a configuration value, Flux detects the change within the configured polling interval, or immediately through webhook notifications, and applies the update to the cluster with automatic retries on transient failures. The reconciliation engine handles drift detection: if someone manually edits a resource in the cluster through kubectl, Flux detects the divergence from Git and either alerts or reverts the change depending on configuration, ensuring that the cluster state never silently diverges from the repository. Multi-tenancy is supported through the Source controller, which manages different repository sources with independent credentials and access scopes, and the Helm controller, which manages Helm releases with automated rollback on failed installations. Image automation enables automatic image tag updates: Flux can scan container registries for new image versions matching semantic version patterns, update the image references in Git manifests, and commit the changes back to the repository, triggering a new reconciliation cycle that deploys the updated image. As a CNCF graduated project, Flux is used in production by organizations including Weaveworks, SAP, and Amazon.