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ArgoCD › GitOps Principles

What is the difference between GitOps and Infrastructure as Code (IaC)?

Intermediate

Answer

IaC is codifying infrastructure declaratively; GitOps is an operating model that uses IaC plus Git as the source of truth and an agent that continuously reconciles. All GitOps uses IaC, but not all IaC is GitOps—IaC run manually via a pipeline isn't GitOps without pull-based continuous reconciliation.
Real-world example Terraform applied by hand is IaC; the same declarations reconciled continuously by an in-cluster agent is GitOps.

Common follow-ups: Is all IaC GitOps? | What does GitOps add to IaC?