Workflow: Debugging Diffs¶

How to troubleshoot unexpected diff output.

Common Causes¶

1. Controller-managed fields¶

Some fields are set by controllers after apply (e.g., status, metadata.generation). Use server diff mode:

hydra gitops diff '<app>' --diff-mode server

Server mode uses dry-run apply which strips server-managed fields.

2. Default values injected by webhooks¶

Admission webhooks may add fields not in your templates. Solutions: - Add the field explicitly to your template - Configure global.hydra.diff.ignore to exclude

3. Annotation/label drift¶

ArgoCD or other tools may add annotations. Check global.hydra.diff.ignore patterns.

4. Helm hook resources¶

Resources managed by Helm hooks may not match Hydra's rendered state. Use --exclude to filter them.

Diagnostic Steps¶

# 1. Check if diff is real
hydra gitops diff '<app>'

# 2. Try server mode
hydra gitops diff '<app>' --diff-mode server

# 3. Inspect a specific resource
hydra gitops inspect <cluster> "<resource-id>"

# 4. Check diff ignore config
hydra local values '<app>' | grep -A5 "diff:"

Configuration¶

In values, configure diff ignore rules:

global:
  hydra:
    diff:
      ignore:
        - path: /metadata/annotations/argocd.argoproj.io~1.*
        - path: /status