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stage	group	info
Configure	Configure	To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#designated-technical-writers

GitOps with the Kubernetes Agent (PREMIUM SELF)

The GitLab Kubernetes Agent supports the pull-based version of GitOps. To be useful, the feature must be able to perform these tasks:

Connect one or more Kubernetes clusters to a GitLab project or group.
Synchronize cluster-wide state from a Git repository.
Synchronize namespace-scoped state from a Git repository.
Control the following settings:
- The kinds of objects an agent can manage.
- Enabling the namespaced mode of operation for managing objects only in a specific namespace.
- Enabling the non-namespaced mode of operation for managing objects in any namespace, and managing non-namespaced objects.
Synchronize state from one or more Git repositories into a cluster.
Configure multiple agents running in different clusters to synchronize state from the same repository.

GitOps architecture

In this architecture, the Kubernetes cluster (agentk) periodically fetches configuration from (kas), spawning a goroutine for each configured GitOps repository. Each goroutine makes a streaming GetObjectsToSynchronize() gRPC call. kas accepts these requests, then checks if this agent is authorized to access this GitLab repository. If authorized, kas polls Gitaly for repository updates and sends the latest manifests to the agent.

Before each poll, kas verifies with GitLab that the agent's token is still valid. When agentk receives an updated manifest, it performs a synchronization using gitops-engine.

If a repository is removed from the list, agentk stops the GetObjectsToSynchronize() calls to that repository.

graph TB
  agentk -- fetch configuration --> kas
  agentk -- fetch GitOps manifests --> kas

  subgraph "GitLab"
  kas[kas]
  GitLabRoR[GitLab RoR]
  Gitaly[Gitaly]
  kas -- poll GitOps repositories --> Gitaly
  kas -- authZ for agentk --> GitLabRoR
  kas -- fetch configuration --> Gitaly
  end

  subgraph "Kubernetes cluster"
  agentk[agentk]
  end

Architecture considered but not implemented

As part of the implementation process, this architecture was considered, but ultimately not implemented.

In this architecture, agentk periodically fetches configuration from kas. For each configured GitOps repository, it spawns a goroutine. Each goroutine then spawns a copy of git-sync. It polls a particular repository and invokes a corresponding webhook on agentk when it changes. When that happens, agentk performs a synchronization using gitops-engine.

For repositories no longer in the list, agentk stops corresponding goroutines and git-sync copies, also deleting their cloned repositories from disk:

graph TB
  agentk -- fetch configuration --> kas
  git-sync -- poll GitOps repositories --> GitLabRoR

  subgraph "GitLab"
  kas[kas]
  GitLabRoR[GitLab RoR]
  kas -- authZ for agentk --> GitLabRoR
  kas -- fetch configuration --> Gitaly[Gitaly]
  end

  subgraph "Kubernetes cluster"
  agentk[agentk]
  git-sync[git-sync]
  agentk -- control --> git-sync
  git-sync -- notify about changes --> agentk
  end

Comparing implemented and non-implemented architectures

Both architectures attempt to answer the same question: how to grant an agent access to a non-public repository?

In the implemented architecture:

Favorable: Fewer moving parts, as git-sync and git are not used, making this design more reliable.
Favorable: Uses existing connectivity and authentication mechanisms are used (gRPC + agentk token).
Favorable: No polling through external infrastructure. Saves traffic and avoids noise in access logs.

In the unimplemented architecture:

Favorable: agentk uses git-sync to access repositories with standard protocols (either HTTPS, or SSH and Git) with accepted authentication and authorization methods.
- Unfavorable: The user must put credentials into a secret. GitLab doesn't have a mechanism for per-repository tokens for robots.
- Unfavorable: Rotating all credentials is more work than rotating a single agentk token.
Unfavorable: A dependency on an external component (git-sync) that can be avoided.
Unfavorable: More network traffic and connections than the implemented design

Ideas considered for the unimplemented design

As part of the design process, these ideas were considered, and discarded:

Running git-sync and gitops-engine as part of kas.
- Favorable: More code and infrastructure under our control for GitLab.com
- Unfavorable: Running an arbitrary number of git-sync processes would require an unbounded amount of RAM and disk space.
- Unfavorable: Unclear which kas replica is responsible for which agent and repository synchronization. If done as part of agentk, leader election can be done using client-go.
Running git-sync and a "gitops-engine driver" helper program as a separate Kubernetes Deployment.
- Favorable: Better isolation and higher resiliency. For example, if the node with agentk dies, not all synchronization stops.
- Favorable: Each deployment has its own memory and disk limits.
- Favorable: Per-repository synchronization identity (distinct ServiceAccount) can be implemented.
- Unfavorable: Time consuming to implement properly:
  - Each Deployment needs CRUD (create, update, and delete) permissions.
  - Users may want to customize a Deployment, or add and remove satellite objects like PodDisruptionBudget, HorizontalPodAutoscaler, and PodSecurityPolicy.
  - Metrics, monitoring, logs for the Deployment.

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