Motif — Orkestra

Motif is not a Kubernetes CRD

kubectl apply will not work. Orkestra kinds are consumed by the ork CLI and runtime — not by the Kubernetes API server. Your CRD is enough.

A Motif is the smallest reusable unit in Orkestra’s composition model. It declares named inputs and contributes resource blocks to a Katalog CRD entry. It cannot run alone — it must be imported by a Katalog.

Motif     — named inputs + resource blocks. One concern.
    ↓
Katalog   — operator declaration. Imports Motifs via imports:.
    ↓
Komposer  — platform declaration. Composes Katalogs.
    ↓
E2E       — declarative end-to-end test for a Katalog.

Wire format

apiVersion: orkestra.orkspace.io/v1
kind: Motif

metadata:
  name: postgres
  version: v0.1.0
  description: >
    PostgreSQL StatefulSet with persistent storage, headless Service, and pgAdmin.
  author: orkspace
  license: Apache-2.0
  tags:
    - database
    - statefulset

inputs:
  - name: image
    description: PostgreSQL image
    default: "postgres:latest"

  - name: replicas
    description: Number of replicas
    default: "1"

  - name: volumeSize
    description: PVC storage size
    default: "10Gi"

resources:
  onCreate:
    secrets:
      - name: "{{ .metadata.name }}-creds"
        once: true
        data:
          password: "{{ randomAlphanumeric 16 }}"

  statefulSets:
    - name: "{{ .metadata.name }}-postgres"
      image: "{{ .inputs.image }}"
      replicas: "{{ .inputs.replicas }}"
      volumeClaimTemplates:
        - name: data
          storageSize: "{{ .inputs.volumeSize }}"
          mountPath: /var/lib/postgresql/data

  services:
    - name: "{{ .metadata.name }}-postgres"
      port: 5432

status:
  fields:
    - path: postgresReady
      value: "{{ allReplicasReady .children.statefulset }}"
    - path: connectionString
      value: "postgresql://{{ .metadata.name }}-postgres.{{ .metadata.namespace }}.svc.cluster.local:5432"

How a Motif is used

A Katalog imports a Motif at the CRD entry level via imports:. The Katalog binds CR field values to Motif inputs using with:.

# In a Katalog
spec:
  crds:
    database:
      apiTypes:
        group: apps.example.io
        version: v1
        kind: Database
      imports:
        - motif: oci://ghcr.io/orkspace/patterns/motifs/postgres:v0.1.0
          with:
            image: "{{ .spec.image }}"
            volumeSize: "{{ .spec.storage | default \"10Gi\" }}"

At reconcile time, Orkestra:

Resolves and fetches the Motif from the declared source.
Evaluates each with: value as a Go template against the CR being reconciled.
Merges the Motif’s resources into the CRD entry alongside the Katalog’s own operatorBox.
Runs onCreate resources exactly once (on CR creation). All other blocks run on every reconcile.

`metadata`

Field	Required	Description
`name`	yes	Motif identifier. Used as the registry artifact name.
`version`	no	Semver tag shown in `ork patterns`.
`description`	no	Short description shown in the registry UI.
`author`	no	Author or org name.
`license`	no	SPDX identifier (e.g. `Apache-2.0`).
`tags`	no	Free-form tags for registry discoverability.

Pattern directory structure

postgres/
  motif.yaml      ← required — the Motif spec
  README.md       ← optional — shown in registry UI
  example/
    katalog.yaml  ← optional — example Katalog importing this Motif

motif.yaml is the only required file. The registry identifies the artifact kind from kind: Motif in the file.

Try it

Example 16/06 is the capstone Motif example: a Platform CRD imports a Motif that provisions a MessageQueue, ObjectStore, and SearchCluster as child CRs — all from a single CR apply.

ork init --pack advanced
cd advanced/16-custom-resources/06-full-platform-composition
ork run -f katalog.yaml

Apply a small Platform CR:

kubectl apply -f cr-small.yaml

Orkestra resolves platform-motif.yaml, evaluates the with: bindings, and creates all three child CRs. Delete the Platform CR and all children are garbage-collected.

To browse the production-ready Motifs in the Orkestra Registry:

ork patterns --kind Motif

Where to go

Page	Covers
01-inputs	`inputs` — declaration, required/optional, defaults, type hints
02-resources	`resources` — blocks, template context, `onCreate`, `status`, `admission`
03-importing	Importing into a Katalog — `imports:`, `with:` bindings, multiple Motifs