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ArgoCD Labs

Lab Overview

Welcome to the hands-on ArgoCD labs! This comprehensive series of 26 labs guides you from basic setup through advanced topics like progressive delivery, ApplicationSets, secrets management, and GitOps best practices.

Available Labs

Beginner Track - Foundation

Lab Topic Description
000 Setup Install kubectl, kind, ArgoCD CLI; create local cluster; install ArgoCD
001 ArgoCD Install Deep dive into ArgoCD components, CRDs, and architecture
002 First App Create your first ArgoCD Application and observe sync
003 Git Repo Connect Connect private Git repos via SSH and HTTPS tokens
004 Sync Policies Manual sync, automated sync, SelfHeal, Prune, and sync windows
005 Health Checks Built-in and custom health checks, health status states

Intermediate Track - Core Skills

Lab Topic Description
006 Rollback Rollback to previous revision, history, diff, and undo
007 Multi Cluster Register external clusters and deploy across multiple environments
008 App of Apps Bootstrap a cluster from a single root ArgoCD Application
009 Helm Integration Deploy Helm charts with value overrides and post-renderers
010 Kustomize Deploy Kustomize apps with base + overlays per environment
011 Notifications Slack/email alerts on sync events using notification templates
012 RBAC ArgoCD RBAC policies, roles, and project-level access control
013 SSO Configure SSO with Dex, GitHub OAuth, and group-based RBAC
014 Projects AppProjects with source/destination restrictions and resource limits
015 Waves & Hooks Sync phases, resource hooks, and wave-based ordering

Advanced Track - Expert Topics

Lab Topic Description
016 Secrets Management Sealed Secrets, External Secrets Operator, Vault integration
017 Image Updater Automatic image tag updates with write-back strategies
018 CI Integration GitHub Actions + ArgoCD GitOps workflow end-to-end
019 Monitoring Prometheus metrics, Grafana dashboards, and alert rules
020 Disaster Recovery Backup, restore ArgoCD state, and HA setup
021 Multi Tenancy Namespace isolation, project boundaries, tenant onboarding
022 App Sets ApplicationSets with List, Cluster, and Git generators
023 Progressive Delivery Argo Rollouts: Canary, Blue/Green, and traffic splitting
024 GitOps Best Practices Repo structure, mono-repo vs multi-repo, environment promotion
025 Advanced Patterns Config Management Plugins, API automation, drift remediation

Learning Paths

Beginner Path

Start here if you’re new to ArgoCD and GitOps:

  1. Lab 000: Setup
  2. Lab 001: ArgoCD Install
  3. Lab 002: First App
  4. Lab 003: Git Repo Connect
  5. Lab 004: Sync Policies
  6. Lab 005: Health Checks

Intermediate Path

For those comfortable with ArgoCD basics:

  1. Lab 006: Rollback
  2. Lab 008: App of Apps
  3. Lab 009: Helm Integration
  4. Lab 010: Kustomize
  5. Lab 012: RBAC
  6. Lab 014: Projects
  7. Lab 015: Waves & Hooks

Advanced Path

For experienced GitOps engineers:

  1. Lab 016: Secrets Management
  2. Lab 017: Image Updater
  3. Lab 018: CI Integration
  4. Lab 022: App Sets
  5. Lab 023: Progressive Delivery
  6. Lab 024: GitOps Best Practices
  7. Lab 025: Advanced Patterns

Tips for Success

  • Take your time: Don’t rush through the labs - understanding beats speed
  • Read the diff: ArgoCD’s diff view shows exactly what changed - use it
  • Use the UI and CLI: Practice both argocd CLI commands and the web UI
  • Break and fix: Intentionally cause drift, then watch ArgoCD reconcile
  • Commit your work: Use Git to track your manifests as they evolve
  • Check events: kubectl describe application -n argocd <name> reveals a lot

Get Started

Ready to begin? Start with Lab 000: Setup!