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+# Phase 1: Migrate 9 Hookless Releases to ArgoCD
+
+## Releases to migrate (no presync/postsync hooks)
+1. strimzi-operator
+2. kafka-cluster
+3. kmsvc-redis
+4. queue-crd
+5. management-service
+6. promtail
+7. blackbox-exporter
+8. portainer
+9. claude-terminal
+
+## Pattern per release
+
+### 1. Create Application in k8s/argocd/apps/
+
+**Helmfile source:**
+```yaml
+- name: strimzi-operator
+  namespace: sqs
+  createNamespace: true
+  chart: strimzi/strimzi-kafka-operator
+  version: 0.46.0
+  values:
+    - watchNamespaces: ["sqs"]
+```
+
+**ArgoCD Application:**
+```yaml
+apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
+kind: Application
+metadata:
+  name: strimzi-operator
+  namespace: argocd
+  annotations:
+    argocd.argoproj.io/sync-wave: "0"
+spec:
+  project: homelab
+  source:
+    repoURL: https://strimzi.io/charts/
+    chart: strimzi-kafka-operator
+    targetRevision: 0.46.0
+    helm:
+      values: |
+        watchNamespaces: ["sqs"]
+  destination:
+    server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
+    namespace: sqs
+  syncPolicy:
+    automated:
+      prune: true
+      selfHeal: true
+    syncOptions:
+      - CreateNamespace=true
+```
+
+### 2. Test ArgoCD application (dry-run)
+
+```bash
+# If app created, check diff
+kubectl apply -f k8s/argocd/apps/{WAVE}-{RELEASE}.yaml --dry-run=client -o yaml
+
+# Or: use argocd CLI
+argocd app diff {RELEASE}  # should be clean (no diffs) if spec matches helmfile
+```
+
+### 3. Remove from helmfile
+
+Delete the release block from `helmfile.yaml.gotmpl`, commit.
+
+```bash
+# Verify no unintended drift
+helmfile diff
+```
+
+### 4. Commit
+
+Per-release commit (one app at a time).
+
+## Helmfile → Application mapping
+
+| Helmfile | Chart | Namespace | Version | Wave | Status |
+|----------|-------|-----------|---------|------|--------|
+| strimzi-operator | strimzi/strimzi-kafka-operator | sqs | 0.46.0 | 0 | TODO |
+| kmsvc-redis | bitnami/redis | sqs | 20.6.0 | 0 | TODO |
+| prometheus | prometheus-community/kube-prometheus-stack | monitoring | latest | 0 | TODO |
+| kafka-cluster | ./k8s/sqs/charts/kafka-cluster | sqs | local | 1 | TODO |
+| queue-crd | ./k8s/sqs/charts/queue-crd | sqs | local | 1 | TODO |
+| management-service | ./k8s/sqs/charts/management-service | sqs | local | 1 | TODO |
+| promtail | grafana/promtail | logging | latest | 1 | TODO |
+| blackbox-exporter | prometheus-community/prometheus-blackbox-exporter | monitoring | ~11 | 1 | TODO |
+| portainer | portainer/portainer | dashboard | latest | 3 | TODO |
+| claude-terminal | ./k8s/dev-tools | dev-tools | local | 3 | TODO |
+
+## Local charts mapping
+
+For local charts (e.g., `./k8s/sqs/charts/kafka-cluster`), use `source.path` instead of `source.chart`:
+
+```yaml
+source:
+  repoURL: https://forgejo.riotpiao.homelab.com/riotpiao.com/homelab.git
+  targetRevision: main
+  path: k8s/sqs/charts/kafka-cluster
+  helm:
+    valueFiles:
+      - values.yaml  # or path to values override
+```
+
+## Verification
+
+After all 9 releases migrated:
+
+```bash
+argocd app list | grep -E "strimzi-operator|kmsvc-redis|prometheus|kafka-cluster|queue-crd|management-service|promtail|blackbox-exporter|portainer|claude-terminal"
+
+# All should show: Synced | Healthy
+```
+
+Then:
+```bash
+helmfile diff  # should show no diffs (these releases removed from helmfile)
+```
+
+## Rollback
+
+If an Application breaks the cluster during migration:
+1. Keep helmfile release block in git (don't delete until verified)
+2. If needed: `helmfile apply -l name={RELEASE}` restores from helmfile
+3. Debug the Application spec and retry