Quick start: Creating applications

Create Argo CD applications in Codefresh

We’ve created two of the three core entities essential for GitOps promotions: Environments and products.
In this quick start, we’ll create applications—the fundamental building blocks of software delivery.
The ultimate goal is to deploy and maintain these applications efficiently, ensuring they run reliably in production.

In Codefresh, applications are Argo CD applications that represent the Kubernetes resources deployed and managed through GitOps principles.

• By linking applications to Git Sources, you have a centralized location from which to manage multiple manifests.
• By associating applications with products, you get an organizational layer that simplifies tracking and managing deployments throughout the software delivery lifecycle.

For detailed information, see Creating Argo CD applications.

Key features of applications in Codefresh

• GitOps-driven management
  Codefresh leverages Argo CD to ensure applications always align with their Git repository definitions, allowing declarative management and version control.

• Flexible creation methods
  Create applications in the Codefresh UI, imported from an existing Argo CD instance, defined programmatically using YAML, or in our intuitive Form modes.

Create your first application

We’ll create an application with only the required settings for this quick start. We’ll also connect the application to the product we created in the previous quick start.

Use the Form editor or code directly in YAML. Switch between the two as you prefer.

Step-by-step

1. In the Codefresh UI, from the sidebar, select GitOps Apps.
2. Click Add Application on the top-right.
3. In the Add Application panel, add definitions for the application:
   • Application name: demo-trioapp-dev for the quick start.
     We added -dev to the application name to differentiate it from other applications we’ll create.
   • Runtime: The runtime to associate with the application, demo-runtime for the quick start.
   • Name for YAML file: The name of the application’s configuration manifest, assigned on commit to Git. By default, the manifest is assigned the application name.
     You can click the Edit icon and change the name if you want to.

NOTE
You cannot change the application definitions once you continue to the Configuration settings.

4. Click Next to go to the Configuration tab. By default you are in Form mode. You can toggle between Form and YAML modes as you define the application’s configuration settings.
5. Define the General settings for the application:
   • Product: From the list of products, select the product to which to connect this application, demo-trio-gitsource for the quick start.
   • Repository URL: The URL to the repo in Git where you created the YAML resource files for the application.
   • Revision: The branch in Git with the resource files.
   • Path: The folder in Git with the resource files.
   • Namespace: For the quick start, we’ll define a namespace for the application, entitled demo-dev.
   • Auto-create namespace: If you defined a namespace, select this option to ensure that the namespace is created if it doesn’t exist.
   • Sync Policy: Change to Automatic if needed, and select Prune resources to automatically remove unused resources.

6. Retain the default Advanced Settings.
   The only setting to note here is that we are creating a Helm application.
7. To commit all changes, select Commit.
   The Commit form is displayed with the application’s definitions on the left, and the read-only version of the manifest with the configuration settings you defined on the right.
8. Select the Git Source to which to commit the application’s manifest.
   For the quick start, we have one Git Source which we created earlier, the demo-trio-gitsource.

9. Add a commit message and then click Commit at the bottom-right of the panel.
   You are directed to the GitOps Apps dashboard.
   You may have to wait for a few seconds until the application is synced to the cluster for it to be displayed in the dashboard.

Create additional applications

Follow the steps in Create your first application to create more applications.

One of the requirements for promotions in GitOps is to have an application in each of the environments you want to target in your promotion lifecyle.
For the quick start, since we created three environments, we’ll add two more applications: demo-trioapp-qa and demo-trioapp-prod. Remember to select the product for each of the applications.

Here’s a view of the GitOps Apps dashboard with all the three applications linked to their Git Source.

View changes in Environments dashboard

Let’s return to the Environments dashboard to see how the new apps we created are displayed in it.

• From the sidebar, select Environments.

Each environment displays the product demo-trioapp. Mouse over the product name in any environment to see the associated application.

View changes in Product Dashboard

Let’s also visit the Product Dashboard now that we have created applications and assigned them to the demo-trioapp product.

• From the sidebar, select Products, and then click the product, demo-trioapp.

Here’s an example of the Product Dashboard for demo-trioapp with the applications we created for the quick start.

What’s next

Explore the Product Dashboard to uncover insights about your product and its applications.

Quick start: Exploring the Product Dashboard