Frequently Asked Questions

3 min read

Concepts

Core concepts — what Orkestra is, how it works, and how it compares.

  • What is Orkestra?
  • Is Orkestra an operator?
  • Does Orkestra install my CRDs?
  • Are Katalog, Komposer, Motif, E2E, and Simulate Kubernetes CRDs?
  • Do I need to write Go code?
  • How does Orkestra differ from Helm or Kustomize?
  • What is a Katalog? What is a Komposer?
  • What is a Motif?
  • What is the note expression language?
  • What is the OrkestraRegistry?
  • What is the super-operator model?
  • Does Orkestra support multi-version CRDs?

Running

Setup, configuration, operations, and RBAC.

  • Can Orkestra manage multiple CRDs?
  • How do I start Orkestra?
  • What does ork validate do?
  • Does Orkestra require cert-manager?
  • What environment variables does Orkestra read?
  • What RBAC permissions does Orkestra need?
  • What does ork generate bundle do, and when do I re-run it?
  • How do I debug a CRD in production?
  • What is the Control Center?
  • Is Orkestra safe for production?
  • Does the deletion protection webhook protect Orkestra itself?
  • What happens when Orkestra restarts?

Usage

Common usage patterns — built-in kinds, validation, mutation, conditions.

  • Can Orkestra manage built-in Kubernetes resources?
  • What is the difference between validation and mutation?
  • Does ENABLE_ADMISSION_WEBHOOK=true block the API server if Orkestra is down?
  • How do I use when: conditions?
  • How does dependsOn ordering work?
  • What does forEach do?
  • What is the difference between normalize: and conversion.paths:?
  • When do I need Go hooks?
  • When do I need a constructor?
  • Can I mix declarative, hooks, and constructor operators in one binary?

Ecosystem

Comparisons and the path forward.

  • How does Orkestra compare to ArgoCD?
  • How does Orkestra compare to Kubebuilder and Operator SDK?
  • How does Orkestra compare to kro?
  • Can Orkestra manage third-party CRDs?
  • What is the path to Kubernetes core?

Testing

Simulate, E2E, and the testing tools.

  • How do I test an Orkestra operator?
  • What is the difference between ork simulate and ork e2e?
  • How do I generate a simulate.yaml?
  • What does --debug-ops do?
  • What does skipExternal: true do?
  • What is ork simulate --dev-server?
  • Can I run simulate for multiple operators at once?
  • Does simulate run the real reconciler?

Registry

Publishing patterns and quality gates.

  • How do I publish a Katalog to the registry?
  • How do I publish a Motif?
  • How do simulate and e2e gate publication?
  • Can I use a private registry?

Why Katalog and Komposer are not CRDs

See Why Not CRDs for the full reasoning behind keeping Katalog and Komposer as plain YAML files rather than Kubernetes CRDs.

Where to go next

  • Getting Started — your first operator in minutes
  • Security — admission control, RBAC, namespace protection
  • Deploying — running Orkestra in a real cluster
  • Roadmap — what is shipped and what is coming