Flux CD Operations

Manage Flux CD reconciliation operations including suspend, resume, force sync, rollback, and multi-cluster management.

Keywords

flux, fluxcd, reconcile, suspension, resumption, sync, rollback, rolling back, drift, helmrelease, kustomization, gitops, operations, management, upgrade, upgrading, failure, failed, debugging, debug

When to Use This Skill

Need to force immediate reconciliation
Suspending reconciliation for maintenance
Rolling back a failed deployment
Upgrading Flux components
Managing drift detection
Multi-cluster Flux operations

Related Skills

flux-troubleshooting - Diagnosing issues
flux-gitops-patterns - Architecture patterns
k8s-platform-operations - General cluster operations

Quick Reference

Task	Command
Force sync all	`flux reconcile ks flux-system --with-source`
Suspend resource	`flux suspend ks <name> -n <ns>`
Resume resource	`flux resume ks <name> -n <ns>`
Check status	`flux get all -A`
View diff	`flux diff ks <name> --path <local>`

Reconciliation Management

Force Immediate Reconciliation

flux reconcile kustomization <name> -n <namespace> --with-source
flux reconcile helmrelease <name> -n <namespace> --with-source
flux reconcile source git <name> -n <namespace>
flux reconcile source oci <name> -n <namespace>
flux reconcile source helm <name> -n <namespace>

Suspend Reconciliation

flux suspend kustomization <name> -n <namespace>
flux suspend helmrelease <name> -n <namespace>
flux suspend source git <name> -n <namespace>

GitOps method (persisted, recommended):

apiVersion: kustomize.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1
kind: Kustomization
metadata:
  name: <name>
spec:
  suspend: true

Resume Reconciliation

flux resume kustomization <name> -n <namespace>
flux resume helmrelease <name> -n <namespace>

Rollback Strategies

Git Revert (Recommended)

git log --oneline -10
git revert <commit-sha>
git push origin main
flux reconcile kustomization flux-system --with-source

Version Pin

spec:
  chart:
    spec:
      version: "1.2.3"

Emergency Helm Rollback

flux suspend helmrelease <name> -n <namespace>
helm history <release-name> -n <namespace>
helm rollback <release-name> <revision> -n <namespace>
flux resume helmrelease <name> -n <namespace>

Drift Detection

Enable Drift Detection

apiVersion: helm.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v2
kind: HelmRelease
spec:
  driftDetection:
    mode: enabled  # or 'warn'
    ignore:
      - paths: ["/spec/replicas"]
        target:
          kind: Deployment
      - paths: ["/metadata/annotations"]
        target:
          kind: Service

Check for Drift

kubectl get helmrelease <name> -n <ns> -o jsonpath='{.status.drift}'
flux diff kustomization <name> --path ./path/to/local

Flux Upgrade Procedures

Check Current Version

flux version
flux check

Upgrade Flux

brew upgrade fluxcd/tap/flux
flux install --export > flux-system/gotk-components.yaml
git add -A && git commit -m "Upgrade Flux to $(flux version --client)"
git push

Upgrade with Bootstrap

flux bootstrap github \
  --owner=<org> \
  --repository=<repo> \
  --branch=main \
  --path=./clusters/production \
  --personal

Multi-Cluster Operations

Switch Context

kubectl config get-contexts
kubectl config use-context <cluster-name>
flux check

Cross-Cluster Source Reference

apiVersion: source.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1
kind: GitRepository
metadata:
  name: shared-config
spec:
  url: https://github.com/org/shared-config
  ref:
    branch: main

HelmRelease Configuration

Remediation Settings

apiVersion: helm.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v2
kind: HelmRelease
spec:
  install:
    remediation:
      retries: 3
  upgrade:
    remediation:
      retries: 5
      remediateLastFailure: true
    cleanupOnFail: true
  rollback:
    timeout: 5m
    recreate: false
    force: false
    cleanupOnFail: false
  test:
    enable: true

Disable Health Checks

spec:
  install:
    disableWait: true
  upgrade:
    disableWait: true

GitOps Best Practices

Prefer Git operations - Rollbacks via git revert maintain audit trail
Always resume suspended resources - Don't leave resources suspended indefinitely
Use --with-source - Ensures source is refreshed during reconciliation
Check dependsOn chains - Child resources need parents reconciled first
Document suspensions - Note why and when in commit messages

MCP Tools Available

mcp__flux-operator-mcp__reconcile_flux_kustomization
mcp__flux-operator-mcp__reconcile_flux_helmrelease
mcp__flux-operator-mcp__reconcile_flux_source
mcp__flux-operator-mcp__suspend_flux_reconciliation
mcp__flux-operator-mcp__resume_flux_reconciliation

flux-operations