Pipeline template, building and versioning images, secrets, GitOps and backups: the whole path of a change from the repository to a running application.
Twenty repositories and twenty copies of the same CI file, each slightly different. How to move the logic into a versioned GitLab CI template and leave projects only their variables.
A Docker daemon in the pipeline means a privileged container or the host socket inside a CI job. How to build an image from the same Dockerfile in an ordinary pod, and what to choose now that the kaniko repository has been archived.
A Deployment pointing at app:latest works until the first time a pod restarts on another node. How to tag images with a version and commit hash, pin them by digest, protect tags in the registry and clean the registry up safely.
Passwords in playbooks, tokens in pipeline variables, Secrets created by hand in the cluster. How a small team can move secrets into one source and deliver them to consumers without storing values in the repository.
A script executes steps and exits; GitOps maintains state. Using an Argo CD Application as the example: automated sync, self-healing, resource ordering and detecting manual changes on the cluster.
A GitOps-managed cluster can be rebuilt from scratch in an hour, but the repository will not bring back volume data, secrets or API state. etcd snapshots in k3s, Velero, and a restore test to a separate cluster.