GitOps deployments with multi-image Kustomize

Problem

The internal GitOps platform assumed one image per deployment, reconstructured the deployment state visualisation too slowly and required manual validation before development releases. Multi-container services needed workarounds, and developers could not rely on the platform for timely release information.

Approach

I refactored the application to support granular Kustomize image updates and GitHub webhooks with a Flask API and React GUI. I added repository-level authorization, automatic GitHub OAuth, HMAC-signed webhooks, Firestore caching and ETag-based conditional requests, then covered the release path with Playwright integration tests.

Impact

• GitHub Actions execution time dropped by approximately one hour per day across the platform as static deployments weren’t needed anymore.
• UI load time fell to approximately 350 ms while deployment state became close to real time.
• Automated Playwright coverage removed approximately 20 minutes of manual validation from each development release.
• Multi-container services gained the same secure, auditable self-service deployment path as single-image services.