Scoping Annotations

For an Octopus deployment to update the desired Argo CD Application Source, the relationship between an Argo CD Application Source and a Project, Environment and/or a Tenant must be defined. By setting up these relationships, you answer the question:

When I deploy Project-X to the Staging environment - which Argo CD Application Source(s) should be updated?

This is done by adding “Scoping” annotations to the Argo CD Application definition, either through the Argo CD Web UI, or directly in the Argo CD Application resource manifest (YAML).

The three scoping annotations are (where <source-name> is the name of the source to be updated):

Single source

If the Argo CD Application contains a single source, the name property is optional.

If the source is not named, the annotations must be unscoped.

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: guestbook
  namespace: argocd
  annotations:
    argo.octopus.com/environment: development
    argo.octopus.com/project: argo-cd-guestbook
spec:
  source:
    repoURL: https://github.com/example-org/guestbook.git
    targetRevision: HEAD
    path: ./    

If the source is named, then the annotations must also source-scoped.

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: guestbook
  namespace: argocd
  annotations:
    argo.octopus.com/environment.guestbook-source: development
    argo.octopus.com/project.guestbook-source: argo-cd-guestbook
spec:
  source:
    repoURL: https://github.com/example-org/guestbook.git
    targetRevision: HEAD
    path: ./
    name: guestbook-source

Multiple sources

If there are multiple sources, the sources being updated must be named and the annotations must also be source-scoped.

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: guestbook
  namespace: argocd
  annotations:
    argo.octopus.com/environment.guestbook-service-1: development
    argo.octopus.com/project.guestbook-service-1: argo-cd-guestbook-service-1
    argo.octopus.com/environment.guestbook-service-2: development
    argo.octopus.com/project.guestbook-service-2: argo-cd-guestbook-service-2
spec:
  sources:
    - repoURL: https://github.com/example-org/guestbook-service-1.git
      targetRevision: HEAD
      path: ./
      name: guestbook-service-1
    - repoURL: https://github.com/example-org/guestbook-service-2.git
      targetRevision: HEAD
      path: ./
      name: guestbook-service-2

Updating in Argo CD Web UI

You can update the annotations for an Argo CD Application via the Argo CD Web UI.

1. Navigate to the Web UI
2. Navigate to the application page of the target application
3. Click the Details button, the details drawer should slide out.
4. On the Summary tab in the drawer, click the Edit button in the top section
5. You can add new annotations by pressing the + button in the Annotations section
6. Click Save

Updating the Argo CD Application resource manifest

If you are managing your Argo CD Application manifests in YAML files, you can add the annotations directly into the metadata.annotations node.

Example:

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: guestbook
  namespace: argocd
  annotations:
    argo.octopus.com/environment: development
    argo.octopus.com/project: argo-cd-guestbook
spec:
  ...

Generating the yaml annotations

To help generate the correct annotations, in the Octopus UI there is a form that allows for easy selection of projects, environments and/or tenants and the correct scoping annotations will be generated for you.

To find this form go to:

1. Navigate to Infrastructure ➜ Argo CD Instances, then click the name of the relevant Argo CD instance
2. On the Argo CD instance Settings page, click the Generate Scoping Annotations button
3. In the drawer, you can select a Project, Environment and optionally a Tenant. The annotation yaml will be generated and can be copied directly into the manifest.

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Page updated on Monday, September 15, 2025