ArgoCDReview - ArgoCD CLI Review & Troubleshooting

Comprehensive ArgoCD CLI commands for reviewing applications, diagnosing issues, and managing deployments.

This skill provides structured commands for inspecting ArgoCD application state, comparing live manifests against Git, reviewing deployment history, and troubleshooting sync failures.

Prerequisites

• ArgoCD CLI installed (argocd )

• Logged into ArgoCD server: argocd login <server>

• Context set if using multiple clusters

Verify connection

argocd version argocd account get-user-info

Quick Reference Commands

Application Status Overview

List all applications with status

argocd app list

Get detailed app status (health, sync, resources)

argocd app get <app-name>

Get app status as JSON (for scripting)

argocd app get <app-name> -o json

Wide output with more columns

argocd app list -o wide

Health & Sync Status

Check sync status only

argocd app get <app-name> --show-operation

List all OutOfSync applications

argocd app list --sync-status OutOfSync

List all Degraded applications

argocd app list --health-status Degraded

List applications by project

argocd app list --project <project-name>

Workflow Routing

Workflow Trigger File

ReviewApplication "review app", "check app status", "app health" Workflows/ReviewApplication.md

DiffManifests "diff app", "compare live vs desired", "what changed" Workflows/DiffManifests.md

TroubleshootSync "sync failed", "why not syncing", "sync errors" Workflows/TroubleshootSync.md

RollbackApp "rollback", "revert deployment", "previous version" Workflows/RollbackApp.md

ReviewResources "list resources", "app resources", "managed resources" Workflows/ReviewResources.md

Core Review Operations

1. Application Diff (Live vs Desired)

Compare what's deployed vs what Git says should be deployed:

Show diff between live state and Git

argocd app diff <app-name>

Show diff with local manifests

argocd app diff <app-name> --local <repo-path>

Server-side manifest generation (recommended for Helm/Kustomize)

argocd app diff <app-name> --local <repo-root> --server-side-generate

2. View Application Manifests

Show desired manifests (from Git)

argocd app manifests <app-name>

Show live manifests (from cluster)

argocd app manifests <app-name> --source live

Get specific resource manifest

argocd app get-resource <app-name>
--kind Deployment
--name <deployment-name>
--namespace <namespace>

3. Deployment History

View deployment history

argocd app history <app-name>

Output example:

ID DATE REVISION

0 2025-01-10 10:00:00 +0000 UTC abc1234 (HEAD)

1 2025-01-09 15:30:00 +0000 UTC def5678 (v1.2.0)

2 2025-01-08 09:00:00 +0000 UTC 789abcd (v1.1.0)

4. Resource Tree & Details

Show resource tree

argocd app resources <app-name>

Show resource tree with health status

argocd app resources <app-name> --tree

Get specific resource details

argocd app get-resource <app-name>
--resource-name <resource>
--kind <kind>

Sync Operations

Safe Sync (Preview First)

Preview what would sync (dry-run)

argocd app sync <app-name> --dry-run

Sync single application

argocd app sync <app-name>

Sync and wait for completion

argocd app sync <app-name> --wait

Sync specific resources only

argocd app sync <app-name> --resource :Service:my-service argocd app sync <app-name> --resource apps:Deployment:my-deployment

Selective Sync

Sync by label selector

argocd app sync -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=my-app

Sync multiple apps

argocd app sync app1 app2 app3

Sync excluding specific resources

argocd app sync <app-name> --resource '!apps:Deployment:skip-this'

Force Sync (Use with Caution)

Force sync (replaces resources)

argocd app sync <app-name> --force

Force sync with prune (deletes removed resources)

argocd app sync <app-name> --prune --force

Sync with replace strategy

argocd app sync <app-name> --replace

Rollback Operations

View history first

argocd app history <app-name>

Rollback to specific history ID

argocd app rollback <app-name> <history-id>

Rollback without confirmation

argocd app rollback <app-name> <history-id> --yes

Rollback and wait for completion

argocd app rollback <app-name> <history-id> --timeout 300

Troubleshooting Commands

Sync Failure Diagnosis

Get detailed sync operation status

argocd app get <app-name> --show-operation

View sync operation result

argocd app get <app-name> -o json | jq '.status.operationState'

Check for resource errors

argocd app resources <app-name> --tree | grep -E "(Degraded|Progressing|Missing)"

Application Logs

View logs for app's pods

argocd app logs <app-name>

Follow logs

argocd app logs <app-name> -f

Logs for specific container

argocd app logs <app-name>
--container <container-name>

Logs for specific group/kind

argocd app logs <app-name>
--kind Deployment
--name <deployment-name>

Resource Events

Get Kubernetes events for app resources

kubectl get events -n <namespace> --sort-by='.lastTimestamp' | grep <app-name>

Common Diagnostic Scenarios

Scenario 1: App Stuck in "Progressing"

1. Check what's progressing

argocd app resources <app-name> --tree

2. Find stuck resources (usually Deployments)

argocd app get <app-name> -o json | jq '.status.resources[] | select(.health.status == "Progressing")'

3. Check pod events

kubectl describe deployment <deployment-name> -n <namespace> kubectl get pods -n <namespace> | grep <app-name>

Scenario 2: App Shows "OutOfSync" but Won't Sync

1. Check diff

argocd app diff <app-name>

2. Check for ignored differences

argocd app get <app-name> -o json | jq '.spec.ignoreDifferences'

3. Check sync policy

argocd app get <app-name> -o json | jq '.spec.syncPolicy'

4. Force refresh from Git

argocd app get <app-name> --refresh

Scenario 3: Health Status "Degraded"

1. Find unhealthy resources

argocd app resources <app-name> --tree

2. Get resource details

argocd app get-resource <app-name>
--kind <kind>
--name <name>

3. Check pod status

kubectl get pods -n <namespace> -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=<app-name> kubectl describe pod <pod-name> -n <namespace>

Multi-Source Applications

For applications with multiple sources:

Sync with specific source revisions

argocd app sync <app-name>
--revisions v1.0.0 --source-positions 1
--revisions v2.0.0 --source-positions 2

Sync by source name

argocd app sync <app-name>
--revisions v1.0.0 --source-names helm-chart
--revisions main --source-names values-repo

Best Practices Checklist

• Always run argocd app diff before syncing

• Use --dry-run for sync operations in production

• Check deployment history before rollback

• Review resource tree when troubleshooting health

• Use JSON output for scripting: -o json

• Set appropriate timeouts for sync operations

Examples

Example 1: Review failing application

User: "Why is my-app not healthy?" → Run argocd app get my-app --show-operation → Check argocd app resources my-app --tree → Identify Degraded resources → Investigate with kubectl describe

Example 2: Compare live vs desired state

User: "What changed in production?" → Run argocd app diff my-app → Shows line-by-line diff → Identify configuration drift

Example 3: Rollback after bad deployment

User: "Rollback my-app to previous version" → Run argocd app history my-app → Identify target history ID → Run argocd app rollback my-app <id> → Verify with argocd app get my-app

Related Tools

• kubectl: For direct cluster inspection

• k9s: Interactive Kubernetes dashboard

• stern: Multi-pod log tailing

• kubectx/kubens: Context and namespace switching