Fresh playground? If you're starting this lab on a new playground, run:
curl -sf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cloudpirates/flux-workshop/main/scripts/catch-up.sh | bash
This sets up Gitea, Flux, and the workshop repo automatically (~4 min).

Lab 2: Deploy with GitRepository + Kustomization

Duration: 15 minutes Goal: Deploy a sample application using Flux's core reconciliation loop

What You'll Do

Add application manifests to your Git repo
Create a Flux Kustomization to deploy them
Make a change in Git and watch Flux apply it
Introduce manual drift and see Flux correct it

Step 1: Add the Application Manifests

We'll deploy podinfo, a tiny Go app built specifically for Kubernetes demos.

cd ~/workshop/flux-workshop

# Create the apps directory structure (may already exist)
mkdir -p apps/base apps/staging

Create apps/base/deployment.yaml:

cat > apps/base/deployment.yaml << 'EOF'
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: podinfo
spec:
  replicas: 2
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: podinfo
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: podinfo
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: podinfo
          image: ghcr.io/stefanprodan/podinfo:6.7.0
          ports:
            - containerPort: 9898
              name: http
          resources:
            requests:
              cpu: 100m
              memory: 64Mi
          livenessProbe:
            httpGet:
              path: /healthz
              port: http
          readinessProbe:
            httpGet:
              path: /readyz
              port: http
EOF

Create apps/base/service.yaml:

cat > apps/base/service.yaml << 'EOF'
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: podinfo
spec:
  type: ClusterIP
  selector:
    app: podinfo
  ports:
    - name: http
      port: 9898
      targetPort: http
EOF

Create apps/base/kustomization.yaml:

cat > apps/base/kustomization.yaml << 'EOF'
apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Kustomization
namespace: apps
resources:
  - deployment.yaml
  - service.yaml
EOF

Step 2: Tell Flux to Deploy These Manifests

Create the namespace and Flux Kustomization in your cluster config:

cat > clusters/staging/apps.yaml << 'EOF'
apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
  name: apps
---
apiVersion: kustomize.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1
kind: Kustomization
metadata:
  name: apps
  namespace: flux-system
spec:
  interval: 1m
  path: ./apps/base
  prune: true
  sourceRef:
    kind: GitRepository
    name: flux-system
  targetNamespace: apps
  healthChecks:
    - apiVersion: apps/v1
      kind: Deployment
      name: podinfo
      namespace: apps
EOF

Commit and push:

git add -A
git commit -m "Add podinfo app with Flux Kustomization"
git push

Step 3: Watch the Deployment

# Trigger immediate reconciliation (or wait ~1 min for the interval)
flux reconcile source git flux-system

# Watch the Kustomization status
flux get kustomizations -w

Press Ctrl+C once you see the apps Kustomization show Ready True.

# Check the pods
kubectl get pods -n apps

# Verify the service
kubectl port-forward -n apps svc/podinfo 9898:9898 &
curl http://localhost:9898

You should see podinfo running with 2 replicas and a JSON response from the API.

Step 4: Update via Git

Change the replica count in Git:

# Edit the deployment — scale from 2 to 3
sed -i 's/replicas: 2/replicas: 3/' apps/base/deployment.yaml

git add -A
git commit -m "Scale podinfo to 3 replicas"
git push

# Trigger reconciliation
flux reconcile source git flux-system

# Watch pods scale up
kubectl get pods -n apps -w

No kubectl scale, no kubectl apply. Just Git push, Flux applies. Press Ctrl+C once you see 3 pods running.

Step 5: Break It — Drift Detection

Now let's prove drift detection works:

# Manually scale down (bypassing GitOps)
kubectl scale deployment podinfo -n apps --replicas=1

# Verify — only 1 pod
kubectl get pods -n apps

# Wait for reconciliation (or trigger it)
flux reconcile kustomization apps

# Watch Flux restore to 3 replicas
kubectl get pods -n apps -w

Flux detects the drift between desired state (3 replicas in Git) and actual state (1 replica) and corrects it automatically. Press Ctrl+C once restored.

Note

Key Learning: The Git → Cluster reconciliation loop. Flux watches Git and converges the cluster. Manual changes are ephemeral — Git always wins. This is the core of GitOps.

Checkpoint

If you fell behind:

kubectl apply -f ~/workshop/checkpoints/lab2-complete.yaml

Kill any port-forward before moving on:

kill %1 2>/dev/null || true

Course progress

Lab 2: Deploy with GitRepository + Kustomization

Lab 2: Deploy with GitRepository + Kustomization

What You'll Do

Step 1: Add the Application Manifests

Step 2: Tell Flux to Deploy These Manifests

Step 3: Watch the Deployment

Step 4: Update via Git

Step 5: Break It — Drift Detection

Checkpoint