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Workflow: Cluster Apply

Day-to-day workflow for deploying changes to a running cluster.

Steps

1. Make changes locally

Edit values, templates, or chart versions in the charts-repository.

2. Validate locally

hydra local template '<cluster>.<app>'
hydra local test refs '<cluster>.**'
hydra local review '<cluster>.<app>'

3. Check the diff

hydra gitops diff '<cluster>.<app>'

Review the output. Expect only your intended changes.

4. Apply

hydra gitops apply '<cluster>.<app>'

5. Verify

hydra gitops status '<cluster>.<app>'
hydra gitops diff '<cluster>.<app>'  # Should be empty now

Handling Immutable Fields

Some Kubernetes fields cannot be patched (e.g., Service clusterIP, Job selector). If the diff shows changes to immutable fields:

hydra gitops apply '<cluster>.<app>' --replace

Warning: --replace deletes and recreates the affected resource, causing downtime.

See Also