The GitOps Idea

GitOps is a term coined by software technology practitioners and analysts as a way of describing a set of tools and working principles. Applying them results in powerful automation workflows that offer a way to keep version-controlled configuration files in sync for declaring the state of an entity, like:

• A software code base
• A data center full of cloud servers
• A web application

or really any technology construct that can be modified with commands, an advanced programming interface (API) or configuration-as-code.

Though GitOps is obviously associated with git, it goes beyond simply using git alone. It's also not a stand-alone product for sale. GitOps is an idea.

GitOps components

Git

Git is an open-source, text-based, distributed version control system for managing changes to a set of files, referred to as a repository, or "repo". Git is packaged and delivered as a command-line interface (CLI) binary and was originally created by Linus Torvalds around 2005 to help him track contributions to the Linux project.

Files can be added to a repo and modified non-destructively by one or many contributors. Each change (referred to as a "commit") in each file can be viewed by moving backwards or forwards through the commit history timeline. Any version of a file's history can be promoted as the correct one. Work on files is often collaborative via a system of approvals.

The result? A repository that represents a "source of truth", logically composed of all up-to-date commits.

Continuous delivery and integration (CI/CD)

CI/CD has a less-than-catchy name tag, but it's a relatively simple idea:

Assuming there is a logical, frictionless way for a group of contributors to work on a set of files together without overwriting or messing up the contributions (e.g., git, but really any version-control system), the contributors, theoretically, should be able to work faster, commit more often, and continuously.

Small, iterative changes that are tested in real-time and shipped quickly to production are preferred over years-long refactoring projects that don't go out into the world until they are perfect. The impact this way of thinking and the practice can have on a team, a product, an organization, and on work itself should not be underestimated.

Automation

By using git combined with CI/CD concepts and making use of git repository management solution automation capabilities (e.g., GitHub Actions or GitLab CI/CD) to merge changes, check for approvals, run validation/tests, and ultimately push known-good changes to a target production system, GitOps was born!

GitOps benefits

A discussion of GitOps benefits is somewhat elusive outside the context of a specific use case, but there is no question that its widespread adoption is proof of its value. Here are some of the most important general benefits:

Principle of least privilege

Creating guardrails around a git repository is a critical necessity. Git repository management solutions allow all contributors to add value and enable the designation of "codeowners" who can block commits before they cause problems.

Collaboration and auditing

Because changes that are submitted to the repository can be seen by other contributors, GitOps enables opportunities for collaboration not available outside of a system like git. Git repository management solutions have inline comments. For every change, git records what was changed, when, and by whom. It's purpose-built for discovery and rolling back to a previous repository state if needed.

Testing and validation

The sky is the limit when it comes to what can happen on a git repository management solution automation runner like GitHub Actions or GitLab CI/CD. Any script, any code, any binary can run in the cloud on almost any computing platform: pre-deployment checks, code linting, security compliance, and organizational standards checks. The ability to execute on a CI/CD runner is the behind-the-scenes magic of GitOps.

Confidence and resilience

Powerful auditing and declarative control over any system should result in a reduction of the hours needed to fix problems and outages. Because code in a system like GitOps is easier to maintain than it is to maintain and monitor the state of a graphical user interface (GUI), GitOps can also lower the effort of long-term maintenance for a target system.

GitOps is ready when you are

You don't need specific reasons or products to apply GitOps thinking to your work today. GitOps is a set of practices and ideas that can be creatively applied in almost any context or technology domain.

To get a feel for how GitOps fits with device management, Allen Houchins has written an excellent article about his journey to GitOps adoption as head of IT for Fleet: What I have learned from managing devices with GitOps.