2026 GitOps
Best Practices

GitOps is now the standard way to run Kubernetes. But the Open GitOps Principles only tell you what good looks like. They don't tell you how to get there. As the creators of Argo CD and Kargo, we wrote this guide to fill that gap, with lessons from over a decade of running GitOps in production at scale.

The 2026 edition adds a full section on promotion with Kargo and Argo CD's native Source Hydrator. These are the patterns teams use to move a change from commit to production with verification, approvals, and a clear audit trail.