Erich Blume
5b91a1c315
## Summary - Fix misleading `[[tailscale|Pulumi]]` wiki-link → `[[pulumi]]` - Simplify `[[ansible|Ansible]]` and `[[argocd|ArgoCD]]` to plain wiki-links per convention - Rename "Tailnet" layer to "Network" to reflect Pulumi's full scope (Tailscale ACLs + Gandi DNS) - Fix `apt install` → `brew install` (indri is macOS) - Add `[[pulumi]]` to Related section - Add `last-reviewed: 2026-02-13` frontmatter Reviewed-on: https://forge.ops.eblu.me/eblume/blumeops/pulls/184
73 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
73 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
---
|
|
title: Why GitOps
|
|
modified: 2026-02-13
|
|
last-reviewed: 2026-02-13
|
|
tags:
|
|
- explanation
|
|
- philosophy
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
# Why GitOps?
|
|
|
|
> **Note:** This article was drafted by AI and reviewed by Erich. I plan to rewrite all explanatory content in my own words - these serve as placeholders to establish the documentation structure.
|
|
|
|
BlumeOps uses GitOps principles for managing personal infrastructure. This might seem like overkill for a homelab, but there are good reasons.
|
|
|
|
## The Problem with Manual Infrastructure
|
|
|
|
Traditional server management involves SSHing into machines and running commands. This works, but creates problems:
|
|
|
|
- **Drift**: The actual state diverges from what you think it is
|
|
- **Amnesia**: You forget what you changed and why
|
|
- **Fragility**: One bad command can break things with no easy rollback
|
|
- **Bus factor**: Only you know how it works (even AI assistants struggle without context)
|
|
|
|
## Git as the Source of Truth
|
|
|
|
GitOps inverts the model: instead of pushing changes to servers, you commit desired state to Git, and automation pulls it into reality.
|
|
|
|
**Benefits:**
|
|
- Every change is tracked with commit history
|
|
- Pull requests enable review before deployment
|
|
- Rollback is just `git revert`
|
|
- The repo *is* the documentation
|
|
|
|
## Why This Matters for a Homelab
|
|
|
|
A personal homelab isn't a production environment, but it shares the same challenges:
|
|
|
|
1. **Memory is unreliable** - Six months from now, you won't remember why you configured Caddy that way
|
|
2. **Experimentation is constant** - You try things, break things, want to undo things
|
|
3. **AI assistance needs context** - Claude can help much more effectively when it can read your infrastructure as code
|
|
|
|
## The BlumeOps Approach
|
|
|
|
BlumeOps uses layered GitOps:
|
|
|
|
| Layer | Tool | What it manages |
|
|
|-------|------|-----------------|
|
|
| **Network** | [[pulumi]] | Tailscale ACLs, tags; Gandi DNS |
|
|
| **Host config** | [[ansible]] | Services on [[indri]] |
|
|
| **Kubernetes** | [[argocd]] | Containerized workloads |
|
|
|
|
Each layer has its own reconciliation loop:
|
|
- Pulumi applies on `mise run tailnet-up`
|
|
- Ansible applies on `mise run provision-indri`
|
|
- ArgoCD watches Git and syncs manually or automatically
|
|
|
|
## Trade-offs
|
|
|
|
GitOps isn't free:
|
|
|
|
- **Learning curve** - You need to understand Ansible, ArgoCD, Pulumi
|
|
- **Indirection** - Can't just `brew install` something; need to add it to config
|
|
- **Complexity** - More moving parts than a simple server
|
|
|
|
But for BlumeOps, the trade-off is worth it. The infrastructure is complex enough that managing it imperatively would be error-prone, and the GitOps approach enables effective AI-assisted operations.
|
|
|
|
## Related
|
|
|
|
- [[architecture]] - How the pieces fit together
|
|
- [[pulumi]] - Network infrastructure as code
|
|
- [[argocd]] - Kubernetes GitOps
|
|
- [[ansible]] - Host configuration
|