About promotions

Explore the power of promotions in Codefresh GitOps for continuous delivery

Promotions with GitOps: The Codefresh advantage

Continuous Delivery (CD) is an essential practice in the software development lifecycle (SDLC) that automates the release process, ensuring consistent and reliable deployment of application updates across environments. CD bridges the gap between development and operations, empowering teams to deliver changes to production with speed and confidence.

Promotions are a core aspect of CD—advancing application versions through environments, such as from staging to production, based on predefined criteria or approvals. In Codefresh GitOps, promotions enhance visibility, control, and automation, integrating seamlessly with Git as the single source of truth.

GitOps promotions in Codefresh

GitOps promotions in Codefresh

Watch this video to see a promotion in action:
Drag-and-drop Promotion

Why use Codefresh’s GitOps promotions?

Codefresh extends Argo CD’s deployment model by introducing structured promotion flows with additional context and automation:

  • Declarative and version-controlled
    Every promotion is tracked in Git, tied to a commit, ensuring full traceability. Teams can see who triggered a promotion and why.

  • Context and visibility
    While Argo CD manages deployments at the application level, promotions with Codefresh GitOps goes beyond this offering:

    • Environments:
      Represent stages in the software lifecyle, allowing teams to easily track application progression.
      Read more on Environments.
    • Products
      Group related applications for unified promotion management.
      Read more on Products.
    • Releases
      Provide end-to-end visibility into deployment across environments.
      Read more on Releases.

Environments, products, releases

Environments, products, releases

NOTE
Promotions in Codefresh GitOps require Runtime version 0.13.4 or higher. Ensure your runtime is updated to access promotion features.

Key features with GitOps promotions

Codefresh GitOps provides specialized functionality to streamline and automate promotions while maintaining consistency and control without the need for custom scripts. These capabilities enable predictable and reusable delivery lifecycles with built-in validations, reducing operational overhead.

  • Predefine properties to promote
    Control which application properties are promoted to avoid unnecessary changes.
    See Configuring version and promotable properties for products.

  • Enforce environment-specific checks
    Automate validations, compliance, and performance checks for different environments at different stages of promotions.
    See Promotion Workflows.

  • Govern promotion behavior with policy-based gating
    Use promotion policies to define rules and ensure promotions meet environment-specific security and compliance requirements.
    See Promotion Policies.

  • Automate complex promotion flows
    Reduce manual effort with multi-environment promotions.
    See Promotion Flows.

Getting started with promotions

Walk through with quick starts

Use these quick start guides to begin using promotions in Codefresh GitOps:

Watch this video to learn how to configure an automated Promotion Flow:
Promotion Flows

Understand the building blocks

Learn how promotions work by exploring their core components. See Promotion building blocks.

Configure and trigger promotions

Follow the guidelines in Promotions: Setup & configuration to configure, trigger, and monitor promotions.