Description of problem:

In ACM pull-model GitOps deployments, ArgoCD Applications on the hub cluster remain in a constant “Refreshing” state within the ArgoCD UI. The actual Applications on the managed clusters are deployed successfully and are healthy, but their status is not reflected correctly on the hub. This issue appears after a user clicks into the Application in the ArgoCD UI, which adds the argocd.argoproj.io/refresh: normal annotation. Since argocd.argoproj.io/skip-reconcile: 'true' is also set (as required in pull model), the Application status is not updated, and the Application appears stuck in a refreshing state.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

• ACM version: 2.11.3

• OpenShift GitOps: 1.12.1

How reproducible:
Always

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Deploy an ApplicationSet in pull model on ACM hub cluster.

1. The Application is propagated to a managed cluster and syncs successfully.

1. Open ArgoCD UI on the hub cluster and click into the propagated Application.

1. Application enters a "Refreshing" state and remains stuck there.

Actual results:

• Application on the hub cluster remains stuck in a “Refreshing” state in ArgoCD UI.

• /etc/gitops-resources/ directory in the integration pod is empty.

• Logs show failures to load ApplicationSet CRDs from expected paths.

Example log:

Failed to load appSet CRD err: open /etc/gitops-resources/paas-gitops_testapp.yaml: no such file or directory

Expected results:

• Application status should either remain static or reflect the actual status from the managed cluster.

• The pull-integration-controller should clear the refresh annotation or otherwise prevent the Application from getting stuck in a perpetual refresh state.

Additional info:

• Workaround: Removing the argocd.argoproj.io/refresh: normal annotation resolves the stuck state.

• This is primarily a UI issue and does not affect the actual resource deployment on managed clusters.

• Could be documented as a known issue if not fixed immediately.

• Screenshots and JSON GraphQL search output available in case 04203019.