Getting Started with ArgoCD Using Helm and Ingress

You’ve got a Kubernetes cluster up and humming. Now it’s time to deploy applications the GitOps way—with ArgoCD. In this guide, we’ll use Helm to install ArgoCD, configure an Ingress with cert-manager for automatic TLS, and wire up your Git repository (argocd-example) to manage application deployment.

Why ArgoCD?

ArgoCD helps you manage Kubernetes the GitOps way. Everything lives in Git, changes are declarative, and you can see drift in real-time. It syncs your cluster with your repo and provides a dashboard, CLI, and API for managing everything.

Prerequisites

Before diving in, make sure you have:

• A working Kubernetes cluster (kubectl configured)
  • See Spinning Up a Civo Kubernetes Cluster
• Helm installed
• A domain name (e.g. argocd.example.com)
• A Git repo ready (we’ll use the argocd example app repo. https://github.com/argoproj/argocd-example-apps)
• An Ingress controller (e.g. NGINX or Traefik)
• cert-manager installed and a valid ClusterIssuer
  • See How to Install and Configure cert-manager with Cloudflare on Kubernetes
• external-dns installed and configured
  • See Automate Kubernetes DNS with ExternalDNS and Cloudflare

Step 1: Add the ArgoCD Helm Repo

helm repo add argo https://argoproj.github.io/argo-helm
helm repo update

Step 2: Install ArgoCD with Helm and Ingress Enabled

We'll install ArgoCD and configure it to use an Ingress and a TLS certificate automatically issued by cert-manager.

Let's create a values.yaml. Make sure you change the domain to be your domain.

global:
  domain: argocd.example.com

configs:
  params:
    server.insecure: true

server:
  ingress:
    enabled: true
    ingressClassName: nginx
    annotations:
      nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/force-ssl-redirect: "true"
      nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/backend-protocol: "HTTP"
      cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: letsencrypt-dns
      external-dns.alpha.kubernetes.io/hostname: argocd.example.com
    extraTls:
      - hosts:
          - argocd.example.com
        secretName: argocd-tls

This tells ArgoCD to:

• Enable Ingress
• Use your domain (argocd.example.com)
• Request a TLS cert via cert-manager using ClusterIssuer: letsencrypt-dns
• Terminate TLS with a secret named argocd-tls

Change letsencrypt-dns to your actual ClusterIssuer name if different.

• Adds a DNS record for argocd.example.com

Apply the chart

helm upgrade --install argocd argo/argo-cd --namespace argocd \
--create-namespace --values=values.yaml

Step 3: cert-manager Automatically Handles TLS

Since cert-manager is already running, it will see the cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer annotation on the ArgoCD Ingress and automatically:

• Issue a certificate using Let’s Encrypt (or your configured CA)
• Store it in the argocd-tls secret
• Handle renewals automatically

You can verify that the certificate is issued and the secret exists:

kubectl describe certificate argocd-tls -n argocd

And confirm the Ingress is live:

kubectl get ingress -n argocd

Step 4: External-DNS automatically handles the DNS record

Visit https://argocd.example.com to see the ArgoCD login screen with a valid HTTPS cert.

Step 5: Log into ArgoCD

Get the default admin password:

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

Install the CLI:

brew install argocd

or visit: https://argo-cd.readthedocs.io/en/stable/cli_installation/

Login using the CLI:

argocd login argocd.example.com --username admin --password <password>

Step 6: Connect Your Git Repository

Connect the argocd-example-apps repo to ArgoCD:

argocd repo add https://github.com/argoproj/argocd-example-apps

Step 8: Deploy Your First Application

Create an Application YAML in your repo:

# guestbook.yaml
apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: guestbook
  namespace: argocd
spec:
  project: default
  source:
    repoURL: https://github.com/argoproj/argocd-example-apps
    targetRevision: HEAD
    path: guestbook
  destination:
    server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
    namespace: guestbook
  syncPolicy:
    automated:
      prune: true
      selfHeal: true

Create the guestbook namespace to deploy the apps into

kubectl create namespace guestbook

And deploy it with kubectl

kubectl apply -f guestbook.yaml

Once committed and pushed, ArgoCD will detect and sync the application automatically.

Wrapping Up

With ArgoCD installed via Helm and secured by cert-manager, you now have a GitOps pipeline ready to deploy and manage your Kubernetes applications.