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Flux’s Source Controller provides a unified interface for fetching artifacts from external sources—such as Git repositories, OCI registries, object storage buckets, and Helm chart repositories—and making them available within your cluster for other controllers to consume.

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Supported Source Types

Source TypeUse CaseFlux Resource
GitKubernetes manifests and Helm chartsGitRepository
OCI registryOCI artifacts (images, charts)OCIRepository
Object storageArtifacts in S3/Azure/GCS bucketsBucket
Helm chart repoHelm chartsHelmRepository
When you bootstrap Flux, it creates (or connects to) a GitRepository in the flux-system namespace to store Flux’s own configuration in a GitOps style. To list all configured Git sources: 
flux get sources git

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1. Creating a GitRepository Source

Assume you have a GitHub repository sidd-harth/app1 containing two manifest files at commit 1b31558. To have Flux fetch these manifests every 10 seconds, run: 
flux create source git source-app1 \
  --url https://github.com/sidd-harth/app1 \
  --branch main \
  --interval 10s \
  --export > source-app1.yaml
This generates source-app1.yaml: 
apiVersion: source.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1beta2
kind: GitRepository
metadata:
  name: source-app1
  namespace: flux-system
spec:
  url: https://github.com/sidd-harth/app1
  ref:
    branch: main
  interval: 10s
Apply it to your cluster: 
kubectl apply -f source-app1.yaml
If your repository is private, create a Kubernetes Secret with authentication credentials and reference it in the spec.secretRef field of the GitRepository.

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2. Verifying the Source

After a short interval, Flux will clone the repo and store its contents as an artifact. Check status with: 
flux get sources git
Example output: 
NAME          REVISION        SUSPENDED  READY  MESSAGE
flux-system   main/7e35678     False      True   stored artifact revision 'main/7e35678...'
source-app1   main/1b31558     False      True   stored artifact revision 'main/1b31558...'
  • REVISION: Git reference and commit hash
  • READY: Indicates whether the artifact is successfully stored

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3. Inspecting Fetched Artifacts

Flux stores fetched artifacts under the Source Controller’s data directory. Exec into the Source Controller pod: 
kubectl -n flux-system exec -it deployment/source-controller -- sh
cd data/gitrepository/flux-system/source-app1
ls
You should see a latest.tar.gz file containing your manifests at the most recent revision. To list its contents: 
tar -tf latest.tar.gz
# deployment.yml
# service.yml
To extract them: 
tar -xzf latest.tar.gz
Now deployment.yml and service.yml are available for other controllers—such as the Kustomize Controller—to consume.
This workflow enables seamless GitOps-driven deployments by decoupling artifact fetching (Source Controller) from rendering and applying manifests (e.g., Kustomize, Helm Controllers).

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