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Operator SDK CLI reference

The Operator SDK command-line interface (CLI) is a development kit designed to make writing Operators easier.

The Red Hat-supported version of the Operator SDK CLI tool, including the related scaffolding and testing tools for Operator projects, is deprecated and is planned to be removed in a future release of OKD. Red Hat will provide bug fixes and support for this feature during the current release lifecycle, but this feature will no longer receive enhancements and will be removed from future OKD releases.

The Red Hat-supported version of the Operator SDK is not recommended for creating new Operator projects. Operator authors with existing Operator projects can use the version of the Operator SDK CLI tool released with OKD 4.17 to maintain their projects and create Operator releases targeting newer versions of OKD.

The following related base images for Operator projects are not deprecated. The runtime functionality and configuration APIs for these base images are still supported for bug fixes and for addressing CVEs.

  • The base image for Ansible-based Operator projects

  • The base image for Helm-based Operator projects

For the most recent list of major functionality that has been deprecated or removed within OKD, refer to the Deprecated and removed features section of the OKD release notes.

For information about the unsupported, community-maintained, version of the Operator SDK, see Operator SDK (Operator Framework).
Operator SDK CLI syntax
$ operator-sdk <command> [<subcommand>] [<argument>] [<flags>]

Operator authors with cluster administrator access to a Kubernetes-based cluster (such as OKD) can use the Operator SDK CLI to develop their own Operators based on Go, Ansible, or Helm. Kubebuilder is embedded into the Operator SDK as the scaffolding solution for Go-based Operators, which means existing Kubebuilder projects can be used as is with the Operator SDK and continue to work.

bundle

The operator-sdk bundle command manages Operator bundle metadata.

validate

The bundle validate subcommand validates an Operator bundle.

Table 1. bundle validate flags
Flag Description

-h, --help

Help output for the bundle validate subcommand.

--index-builder (string)

Tool to pull and unpack bundle images. Only used when validating a bundle image. Available options are docker, which is the default, podman, or none.

--list-optional

List all optional validators available. When set, no validators are run.

--select-optional (string)

Label selector to select optional validators to run. When run with the --list-optional flag, lists available optional validators.

cleanup

The operator-sdk cleanup command destroys and removes resources that were created for an Operator that was deployed with the run command.

Table 2. cleanup flags
Flag Description

-h, --help

Help output for the run bundle subcommand.

--kubeconfig (string)

Path to the kubeconfig file to use for CLI requests.

-n, --namespace (string)

If present, namespace in which to run the CLI request.

--timeout <duration>

Time to wait for the command to complete before failing. The default value is 2m0s.

completion

The operator-sdk completion command generates shell completions to make issuing CLI commands quicker and easier.

Table 3. completion subcommands
Subcommand Description

bash

Generate bash completions.

zsh

Generate zsh completions.
Table 4. completion flags
Flag Description

-h, --help

Usage help output.

For example:

$ operator-sdk completion bash
Example output
# bash completion for operator-sdk                         -*- shell-script -*-
...
# ex: ts=4 sw=4 et filetype=sh

create

The operator-sdk create command is used to create, or scaffold, a Kubernetes API.

api

The create api subcommand scaffolds a Kubernetes API. The subcommand must be run in a project that was initialized with the init command.

Table 5. create api flags
Flag Description

-h, --help

Help output for the run bundle subcommand.

generate

The operator-sdk generate command invokes a specific generator to generate code or manifests.

bundle

The generate bundle subcommand generates a set of bundle manifests, metadata, and a bundle.Dockerfile file for your Operator project.

Typically, you run the generate kustomize manifests subcommand first to generate the input Kustomize bases that are used by the generate bundle subcommand. However, you can use the make bundle command in an initialized project to automate running these commands in sequence.
Table 6. generate bundle flags
Flag Description

--channels (string)

Comma-separated list of channels to which the bundle belongs. The default value is alpha.

--crds-dir (string)

Root directory for CustomResoureDefinition manifests.

--default-channel (string)

The default channel for the bundle.

--deploy-dir (string)

Root directory for Operator manifests, such as deployments and RBAC. This directory is different from the directory passed to the --input-dir flag.

-h, --help

Help for generate bundle

--input-dir (string)

Directory from which to read an existing bundle. This directory is the parent of your bundle manifests directory and is different from the --deploy-dir directory.

--kustomize-dir (string)

Directory containing Kustomize bases and a kustomization.yaml file for bundle manifests. The default path is config/manifests.

--manifests

Generate bundle manifests.

--metadata

Generate bundle metadata and Dockerfile.

--output-dir (string)

Directory to write the bundle to.

--overwrite

Overwrite the bundle metadata and Dockerfile if they exist. The default value is true.

--package (string)

Package name for the bundle.

-q, --quiet

Run in quiet mode.

--stdout

Write bundle manifest to standard out.

--version (string)

Semantic version of the Operator in the generated bundle. Set only when creating a new bundle or upgrading the Operator.
Additional resources

  • See Bundling an Operator for a full procedure that includes using the make bundle command to call the generate bundle subcommand.

kustomize

The generate kustomize subcommand contains subcommands that generate Kustomize data for the Operator.

manifests

The generate kustomize manifests subcommand generates or regenerates Kustomize bases and a kustomization.yaml file in the config/manifests directory, which are used to build bundle manifests by other Operator SDK commands. This command interactively asks for UI metadata, an important component of manifest bases, by default unless a base already exists or you set the --interactive=false flag.

Table 7. generate kustomize manifests flags
Flag Description

--apis-dir (string)

Root directory for API type definitions.

-h, --help

Help for generate kustomize manifests.

--input-dir (string)

Directory containing existing Kustomize files.

--interactive

When set to false, if no Kustomize base exists, an interactive command prompt is presented to accept custom metadata.

--output-dir (string)

Directory where to write Kustomize files.

--package (string)

Package name.

-q, --quiet

Run in quiet mode.

init

The operator-sdk init command initializes an Operator project and generates, or scaffolds, a default project directory layout for the given plugin.

This command writes the following files:

  • Boilerplate license file

  • PROJECT file with the domain and repository

  • Makefile to build the project

  • go.mod file with project dependencies

  • kustomization.yaml file for customizing manifests

  • Patch file for customizing images for manager manifests

  • Patch file for enabling Prometheus metrics

  • main.go file to run

Table 8. init flags
Flag Description

--help, -h

Help output for the init command.

--plugins (string)

Name and optionally version of the plugin to initialize the project with. Available plugins are ansible.sdk.operatorframework.io/v1, go.kubebuilder.io/v2, go.kubebuilder.io/v3, and helm.sdk.operatorframework.io/v1.

--project-version

Project version. Available values are 2 and 3-alpha, which is the default.

run

The operator-sdk run command provides options that can launch the Operator in various environments.

bundle

The run bundle subcommand deploys an Operator in the bundle format with Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM).

Table 9. run bundle flags
Flag Description

--index-image (string)

Index image in which to inject a bundle. The default image is quay.io/operator-framework/upstream-opm-builder:latest.

--install-mode <install_mode_value>

Install mode supported by the cluster service version (CSV) of the Operator, for example AllNamespaces or SingleNamespace.

--timeout <duration>

Install timeout. The default value is 2m0s.

--kubeconfig (string)

Path to the kubeconfig file to use for CLI requests.

-n, --namespace (string)

If present, namespace in which to run the CLI request.

--security-context-config <security_context>

Specifies the security context to use for the catalog pod. Allowed values include restricted and legacy. The default value is legacy. [1]

-h, --help

Help output for the run bundle subcommand.

  1. The restricted security context is not compatible with the default namespace. To configure your Operator’s pod security admission in your production environment, see "Complying with pod security admission". For more information about pod security admission, see "Understanding and managing pod security admission".

Additional resources

bundle-upgrade

The run bundle-upgrade subcommand upgrades an Operator that was previously installed in the bundle format with Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM).

Table 10. run bundle-upgrade flags
Flag Description

--timeout <duration>

Upgrade timeout. The default value is 2m0s.

--kubeconfig (string)

Path to the kubeconfig file to use for CLI requests.

-n, --namespace (string)

If present, namespace in which to run the CLI request.

--security-context-config <security_context>

Specifies the security context to use for the catalog pod. Allowed values include restricted and legacy. The default value is legacy. [1]

-h, --help

Help output for the run bundle subcommand.

  1. The restricted security context is not compatible with the default namespace. To configure your Operator’s pod security admission in your production environment, see "Complying with pod security admission". For more information about pod security admission, see "Understanding and managing pod security admission".

Additional resources

scorecard

The operator-sdk scorecard command runs the scorecard tool to validate an Operator bundle and provide suggestions for improvements. The command takes one argument, either a bundle image or directory containing manifests and metadata. If the argument holds an image tag, the image must be present remotely.

Table 11. scorecard flags
Flag Description

-c, --config (string)

Path to scorecard configuration file. The default path is bundle/tests/scorecard/config.yaml.

-h, --help

Help output for the scorecard command.

--kubeconfig (string)

Path to kubeconfig file.

-L, --list

List which tests are available to run.

-n, --namespace (string)

Namespace in which to run the test images.

-o, --output (string)

Output format for results. Available values are text, which is the default, and json.

--pod-security <security_context>

Option to run scorecard with the specified security context. Allowed values include restricted and legacy. The default value is legacy. [1]

-l, --selector (string)

Label selector to determine which tests are run.

-s, --service-account (string)

Service account to use for tests. The default value is default.

-x, --skip-cleanup

Disable resource cleanup after tests are run.

-w, --wait-time <duration>

Seconds to wait for tests to complete, for example 35s. The default value is 30s.

  1. The restricted security context is not compatible with the default namespace. To configure your Operator’s pod security admission in your production environment, see "Complying with pod security admission". For more information about pod security admission, see "Understanding and managing pod security admission".

Additional resources