Time to get hands-on. In this lesson you’ll install Argo CD into a Kubernetes cluster, access its dashboard, and create your first Application that deploys manifests directly from a Git repo.

🎯 Learning Objectives

• Install Argo CD into a cluster
• Access the Argo CD UI and CLI
• Create an Application (via YAML and CLI)
• Trigger your first sync

Step 1 — Install Argo CD

Argo CD installs as a set of pods in its own namespace:

kubectl create namespace argocd
kubectl apply -n argocd -f \
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/argoproj/argo-cd/stable/manifests/install.yaml

NAME                                  READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
argocd-server-6b7d9f7c8-xk2lm         1/1     Running   0          60s
argocd-repo-server-77c9c4b8d-9wq4t    1/1     Running   0          60s
argocd-application-controller-0       1/1     Running   0          60s
argocd-redis-5b6f8d799-2pnzt          1/1     Running   0          60s

The application-controller is the reconciliation engine; the repo-server fetches and renders manifests from Git; the server hosts the API and UI.

Step 2 — Log In

Get the auto-generated admin password and log in with the CLI:

# initial admin password
kubectl -n argocd get secret argocd-initial-admin-secret \
-o jsonpath="{.data.password}" | base64 -d

# port-forward the UI to your machine
kubectl port-forward svc/argocd-server -n argocd 8080:443

# log in with the CLI
argocd login localhost:8080

Step 3 — Define an Application

An Application is just another Kubernetes resource. It says: “take the manifests in this Git path and deploy them to this cluster/namespace.”

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
name: guestbook
namespace: argocd
spec:
project: default
source:
  repoURL: https://github.com/your-org/guestbook.git
  targetRevision: main
  path: k8s                 # folder in the repo holding the manifests
destination:
  server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
  namespace: guestbook
syncPolicy:
  syncOptions:
    - CreateNamespace=true

Apply it like any manifest:

kubectl apply -f guestbook-app.yaml

Step 4 — Sync It

Right after creation the app is OutOfSync — defined in Git but not yet applied. Sync it to deploy:

# via CLI
argocd app sync guestbook

# check status
argocd app get guestbook

Name:               guestbook
Project:            default
Sync Status:        Synced to main (a1b2c3d)
Health Status:      Healthy

GROUP  KIND        NAMESPACE  NAME        STATUS  HEALTH
     Service     guestbook  guestbook   Synced  Healthy
apps   Deployment  guestbook  guestbook   Synced  Healthy

Synced + Healthy means the cluster now matches Git and the workloads are running. You just did your first GitOps deploy.

🧪 Hands-on Lab

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
name: api
namespace: argocd
spec:
project: default
source:
  repoURL: https://github.com/acme/api.git
  targetRevision: main
  path: deploy
destination:
  server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
  namespace: api
syncPolicy:
  syncOptions:
    - CreateNamespace=true

🧠 Knowledge Check

💼 Interview Preparation

Summary

You installed Argo CD, logged in, defined an Application, and performed your first sync. Next, we go deeper into sync strategies, health assessment, and Argo CD’s self-healing.