Update Argo CD Application Manifests

The Update Argo CD Application Manifests step is responsible for generating a set of Argo CD Application manifests from a set of Octostache template files, which have been populated with Octopus variables.

This step is agnostic of the application source repository content. Regardless of what’s in the source repository, the step writes populated templates to the path specified in the Argo CD application source.

The following provides instructions on how to configure an Update Manifests step, constraints on its usage, and how it executes.

Manifest Templates

1. Specify the set of input template files which can be sourced from either:

   • A git repository (requires URL, credentials and branch-name), or a
   • Package from a configured feed (e.g. a zip file, NuGet package, etc.)

2. Specify the path to your templates

   • A subfolder (or file) within the previously specified repository/package which contains the template files to be used
   • If the string entered is a directory, all files (recursively) within that directory are considered templates
   • If the string entered is a single file - only that file will be considered a template.

   A single file will be copied into the root directory of the path defined in the mapped Argo CD Application. When a directory is specified, the structure below the specified path is maintained when moving files into the Argo CD Application’s repository.

3. Container images can be defined, but are optional. These let you attach automated processes, such as external feed triggers, to the project.

Git Commit Settings

In addition to the common Git commit settings, this step also provides the following option:

Purge Argo CD Source Folder

Purging the source folder clears the Path directory of the Argo CD Application’s repository prior to adding newly templated files.

• This can be useful when resources have been removed from your input templates, but also need to be removed from the target repository.

Creating and Deploying a Release

When deploying a release containing an Update Argo CD Applications Manifest step, Octopus will:

• Collect input-templates configured in the step
• Populate the templates with Octopus variables
• For each mapped Argo CD Application
  • Clone each source repository
  • Copy populated templates into the source repository
  • Changed files are committed, and pushed back to the repo/branch as specified in the Argo CD Application
    • A PR will be created (rather than merging to the targetRevision branch) if configured in the step UI

Example Manifests

Config Map

The following represents a template of a configmap. The database_url is set via the user-specified project variable DB_NAME, whose value can change based on Octopus variable scoping mechanisms (e.g. via environment or tenant).

The time of the deployment, defined in the inbuilt Octopus.Deployment.Created, is written to the deployment_created_at field.

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: my-app-config
data:
  # Key-value pairs for configuration data
  log_level: INFO
  directory: "#{Octopus.Environment.Name}"
  feature_flag_enabled: "true"
  database_url: "jdbc:postgresql://mydb.example.com:5432/#{DB_NAME}"
  deployment_created_at: "#{Octopus.Deployment.Created}"

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Page updated on Wednesday, March 4, 2026