You probably don't need ArgoCD - good-enough GitOps with git and docker compose

Short summary

For self-hosted infrastructure on a single machine or small team, ArgoCD and Flux are unnecessary complexity. GitOps fundamentals—git as source of truth plus automated reconciliation—can be implemented with Docker Compose and ~20 lines of script, giving 90% of benefits with zero control plane overhead. Graduate to heavier tooling only at 3+ machines or when you need unified audit trails and multi-host coordination.

• •ArgoCD/Flux unnecessary for single-host or small-team self-hosting
• •Git + Docker Compose + simple script achieves 90% of GitOps benefits
• •Scale up tooling only at 3+ machines or when you need audit trails

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.