Flux Operator CLI

Installation

brew install controlplaneio-fluxcd/tap/flux-operator

Uses ~/.kube/config. Supports offline (no cluster) and online commands.

Command Overview

Commands fall into two categories: offline (no cluster access) and online (requires cluster).

Offline Commands (no cluster needed)

Command	Purpose
build instance	Generate K8s manifests from a FluxInstance YAML
build rset	Generate K8s manifests from a ResourceSet YAML
diff yaml <source> <target>	Compare YAML files, produce RFC 6902 JSON patch
patch instance	Generate kustomize patches for upgrading Flux controllers

Online Commands (cluster access required)

Command	Purpose
get instance|rset|rsip|all	List Flux Operator resources and their status
export report	Export FluxReport with distribution status
export resource <kind>/<name>	Export a Flux resource as YAML/JSON
reconcile instance|rset|rsip|resource|all	Trigger reconciliation
suspend instance|rset|rsip|resource	Pause reconciliation
resume instance|rset|rsip|resource	Resume reconciliation
delete instance|rset|rsip	Delete Flux resources
stats	Reconciliation statistics and storage usage
trace <kind>/<name>	Trace object through GitOps delivery pipeline
tree rset|ks|hr	Visualize managed objects as a tree
wait instance|rset|rsip	Poll until resource is ready
create secret <type>	Create Kubernetes secrets for Flux
install	Bootstrap cluster with Flux Operator + instance
uninstall	Remove Flux Operator from cluster
version	Show CLI, operator, and distribution versions

Common Patterns

Build and preview manifests locally

# Build FluxInstance manifests
flux-operator build instance -f flux-instance.yaml

# Build ResourceSet with inputs
flux-operator build rset -f resourceset.yaml \
  --inputs-from inputs.yaml

# Diff two YAML files (local or remote URLs)
flux-operator diff yaml old.yaml new.yaml -o json-patch-yaml

Day-2 cluster operations

# Check status of everything
flux-operator get all -A

# Filter by readiness
flux-operator get all --ready-status=False

# Reconcile a stuck resource
flux-operator reconcile resource Kustomization/my-app -n default --wait

# Reconcile everything
flux-operator reconcile all --wait

# Trace where an object comes from in the GitOps pipeline
flux-operator trace Deployment/my-app -n default

# View the object tree under a Kustomization
flux-operator tree ks my-app -n default

Upgrade Flux controllers

# Generate upgrade patches for a target version
flux-operator patch instance -f flux-instance.yaml -v v2.5

# With a custom registry
flux-operator patch instance -f flux-instance.yaml -v v2.5 \
  -r my-registry.example.com/flux

# Verify controllers updated
flux-operator get instance -A

Suspend and resume for maintenance

# Suspend before maintenance
flux-operator suspend instance flux -n flux-system

# Verify suspended
flux-operator get instance flux -n flux-system

# Resume after maintenance
flux-operator resume instance flux -n flux-system --wait

Delete with safety

# Delete but keep managed resources in place
flux-operator delete instance flux -n flux-system --with-suspend

# Delete and wait for completion
flux-operator delete rset my-rset -n default --wait

# Verify deletion
flux-operator get all -n default

Bootstrap a cluster

# Basic install
flux-operator install

# Verify install succeeded
flux-operator get all -A

# Install with Git sync
flux-operator install \
  --instance-sync-url=https://github.com/org/fleet \
  --instance-sync-ref=main \
  --instance-sync-path=clusters/production \
  --instance-sync-creds=username:ghp_token

# Install with cluster tuning
flux-operator install \
  --instance-cluster-type=aws \
  --instance-cluster-size=large \
  --instance-cluster-multitenant

Create secrets for Flux

# Git SSH auth
flux-operator create secret ssh my-ssh-secret \
  --private-key-file=id_ed25519 \
  --knownhosts-file=known_hosts \
  -n flux-system

# Container registry auth
flux-operator create secret registry my-reg-secret \
  --server=ghcr.io \
  --username=bot \
  --password-stdin \
  -n flux-system

# SOPS age encryption
flux-operator create secret sops my-sops-secret \
  --age-key-file=age.key \
  -n flux-system

# Export as YAML instead of applying (for GitOps)
flux-operator create secret basic-auth my-auth \
  --username=admin --password=secret --export

Uninstall

# Full removal
flux-operator -n flux-system uninstall

# Keep the namespace
flux-operator -n flux-system uninstall --keep-namespace

# Verify removal
flux-operator version

References

• references/commands-build-diff-patch.md - Build, diff, and patch commands
• references/commands-cluster-ops.md - Cluster operations (get, reconcile, suspend, resume, etc.)
• references/commands-secrets.md - All create secret subcommands
• references/commands-skills.md - Skills management commands

Abbreviations

Short	Full Resource
rset	ResourceSet
rsip	ResourceSetInputProvider
ks	Kustomization
hr	HelmRelease

Tips

• Use --export on create secret commands to generate YAML without applying — useful for GitOps workflows where secrets are managed declaratively.

• trace walks backward from any Kubernetes object to find which Flux reconciler manages it and where the source manifests live.

• diff yaml accepts remote URLs (GitHub, GitLab, Gist, OCI) in addition to local files.

• patch instance modifies the FluxInstance YAML in-place and replaces previously generated patches, so it's safe to run repeatedly.

• install is designed for dev/test environments. For production, use Helm charts.