DevOps Dictionary

GitOps is an operating model for deploying and managing infrastructure and applications where Git is the single source of truth for the desired state of your systems. Teams describe environments using declarative configuration (files that state what should exist, not the steps to create it), store those changes in Git, and use automated controllers to continuously reconcile the running environment to match what’s in the repository. This addresses common problems in delivery and operations such as configuration drift, inconsistent deployments, and hard-to-audit manual changes by making every change reviewable, versioned, and repeatable.

With GitOps, releases and infrastructure updates become predictable and recoverable through pull requests and rollbacks; without it, teams often rely on ad hoc scripts and console changes that increase risk, slow incident response, and obscure accountability. This gap exists because reconciliation loops enforce the declared state continuously, rather than depending on one-time deployment actions.