Hybrid — Orkestra

The Deployment and ServiceAccount are declared in the Katalog. The Service is created in a Go hook with access to the fully-typed CR. Orkestra runs the declared templates first, then calls the hook — or the other way around if runHooksFirst: true.

This is the 90/10 pattern. Most operators have some resources that are straightforward to declare and one or two that need Go. Hybrid lets you draw that line yourself.

ork init --pack from-controller-runtime
cd from-controller-runtime/02-hybrid

What you will learn

How to mix declared templates and a Go hook in one Katalog
How runHooksFirst controls execution order
When to use a hook versus pkg/resources in the declarative path
How notes, conditionals, normalize, and cross-operator data can push the declared side further before you need Go

What changed from declarative

The ServiceAccount and Deployment stay declared in the Katalog. The Service moves into Go:

operatorBox:
  reconciler:
    hooks:
      location: github.com/myorg/webapp-operator/hooks
      function: WebAppHooks
      resources:
        - kind: Service

The hook receives obj *apiv1.WebApp — the fully-typed CR. It creates the Service using pkg/resources, which handles drift detection, owner references, and system labels automatically.

Execution order

`runHooksFirst`	Order
`false` (default)	Declared templates → hook
`true`	Hook → declared templates

See Typed Operators — hooks for the full lifecycle.

When to reach for the hook

Processes that cannot be expressed as a sequence of declarative steps. Before adding a hook, check whether Notes, Conditionals, Normalize, External, or OnCOP covers the need. The declarative surface keeps expanding.

Try it

ork init --pack from-controller-runtime
cd from-controller-runtime/02-hybrid
# Follow steps in README

→ 03 — Hooks only