FluxCD — How It Works

GitOps Toolkit (GOTK) controllers, pull-based reconciliation, and image automation pipeline.

Controller Reconciliation Model

flowchart TB
    subgraph GOTK["GitOps Toolkit Controllers"]
        SC["Source Controller\n(acquires artifacts)"]
        KC["Kustomize Controller\n(applies Kustomizations)"]
        HC["Helm Controller\n(applies HelmReleases)"]
        NC["Notification Controller\n(alerts)"]
    end

    subgraph Sources["Sources"]
        GitRepo["GitRepository\n(poll interval: 1min)"]
        HelmRepo["HelmRepository"]
        OCIRepo["OCIRepository"]
    end

    subgraph Cluster["Kubernetes Cluster"]
        API["K8s API Server"]
        Resources["Deployed Resources"]
    end

    GitRepo --> SC
    HelmRepo --> SC
    OCIRepo --> SC
    SC -->|"artifact ready\nevent"| KC
    SC -->|"chart ready\nevent"| HC
    KC -->|"Server-Side Apply"| API
    HC -->|"Helm SDK"| API
    API --> Resources

Image Automation Pipeline

sequenceDiagram
    participant Registry as Container Registry
    participant IAC as Image Reflector Controller
    participant IUA as Image Update Automation
    participant Git as Git Repository
    participant SC as Source Controller
    participant KC as Kustomize Controller

    IAC->>Registry: Poll for new image tags
    IAC->>IAC: Match tag pattern (semver, regex)
    IAC->>IUA: New image: myapp:v2.1.0
    IUA->>Git: Push commit (update image tag in YAML)
    SC->>Git: Detect new commit
    SC->>KC: Trigger reconciliation
    KC->>KC: Apply updated manifests

Sources

• Flux Architecture
• GitOps Toolkit