How to generate Operator Bundles for Kubernetes

March 16, 2026 · View on GitHub

For Kubernetes Platform (operatorhub.io) release we generate the bundle using the release-manifest strategy.

Prerequisites

Container registry: You can use either Quay.io or ttl.sh (anonymous, no login).
- Quay.io: Log in first (docker login quay.io). Set IMAGE_NAMESPACE to a Quay org/namespace you can push to (e.g. your-username/tektoncd/operator). The default jkhelil/tektoncd/operator is only an example and will fail with "unauthorized" unless you have access.
- ttl.sh (instead of Quay): No login. Use ttl.sh so the catalog image is at a public URL like ttl.sh/<name>/operator-catalog:0.79.0 instead of quay.io/.../operator-catalog:0.79.0. Set:
```
export IMAGE_HOST=ttl.sh
export IMAGE_NAMESPACE=tektoncd-operator   # or any single path segment, e.g. your-name-operator
```
You can pass IMAGE_HOST and IMAGE_NAMESPACE on the command line (e.g. make operator-bundle-push IMAGE_NAMESPACE=your-username/tektoncd/operator) or edit operatorhub/Makefile.
Kubernetes cluster (for testing with OLM): Steps 5 and 6 (install OLM and run the operator catalog) require a cluster. You do not need Kind specifically—any cluster is fine (Kind, Minikube, k3d, or a cloud cluster). Ensure kubectl is configured and your current context points to that cluster:
```
kubectl config current-context
kubectl cluster-info
```

Steps to generate bundles from an existing github release.yaml

Generate the operator bundle

Note: The input release.yaml could be a github release or the result of ko resolve config

Set minKubeVersion (required by OperatorHub CI). In operatorhub/kubernetes/config.yaml set min-kube-version to the minimum Kubernetes version your operator supports (e.g. "1.28.0"). When you run make operator-bundle, the bundle tooling (bundle.py) will add spec.minKubeVersion to the generated CSV automatically. Without this, the community-operators CI may fail with "csv.Spec.minKubeVersion is not informed".

Make sure that we have the release manifest file ready eg:

tektoncd_operator_version=$( curl -sL https://api.github.com/repos/tektoncd/operator/releases | jq  -r '.[].tag_name' | sort -Vr | head -n 1 | tr -d 'v')
release_file_name=release-v${tektoncd_operator_version}.yaml
curl -sL -o ${release_file_name} "https://github.com/tektoncd/operator/releases/download/v${tektoncd_operator_version}/release.notags.yaml"

From the project root (tektoncd/operator) run (note absolute path for --release-manifest flag is necessary)

export BUNDLE_ARGS="--workspace kubernetes --operator-release-version ${tektoncd_operator_version} --channels stable --default-channel stable --fetch-strategy-release-manifest --release-manifest $(pwd)/${release_file_name} --upgrade-strategy-semver"
make operator-bundle

CLI flags explained

Flag	Description
`--workspace kubernetes`	the working directory (inside operatorhub/) where the operator bundle should be assembled
`--operator-release-version ${tektoncd_operator_version}`	version of the release (version of bundle)
`--channels stable`	target release channel(s) (eg: stable,preview)
`--default-channel stable`	set default channel of the operator
`--fetch-strategy-release-manifest`	gather input kubernetes resources from a list of yaml manifests instead of using local files
`--release-manifest $(pwd)/${release_file_name}`	specify absolute ( $(pwd)/$ {release_file_name}) path to release manifest file
`--upgrade-strategy-semver`	specify update strategy (options `replaces` or `semver`)

Note: the generated files are the base bundle files that serve to create a PR in https://github.com/k8s-operatorhub/community-operators/

Test the operator bundle

Version: Set VERSION in operatorhub/Makefile (default 0.79.0) to match the version you use when generating the bundle.

Build the operator bundle image using
```
make operator-bundle-build
```
Push the operator bundle image to a container registry.
- Log in first (e.g. for Quay: docker login quay.io).
- Set IMAGE_HOST and IMAGE_NAMESPACE to a registry and namespace you can push to (e.g. make operator-bundle-push IMAGE_NAMESPACE=your-username/tektoncd/operator or edit operatorhub/Makefile). The default jkhelil/tektoncd/operator is only an example.
```
make operator-bundle-push
```
Build the operator catalog source image
```
make operator-catalog-build
```
Push the operator catalog source image
```
make operator-catalog-push
```
Install OLM (requires a Kubernetes cluster; see Prerequisites)
```
make install-olm
```
Run the operator catalog
```
make operator-catalog-run
```
Verify the installation: TektonConfig should be up and ready at the end of testing. Check that the operator has created and reconciled the config:
```
kubectl get tektonconfig -A
```
You should see a config TektonConfig with READY True and your bundle version (e.g. v0.79.0). If it is not ready, check operator and catalog pods and logs.