Use when building a Kubernetes Operator — custom controllers that reconcile CRD state. Triggers on "build an operator", "CRD design", "reconcile loop", "controller-runtime", "kubebuilder", "operator-sdk", "metacontroller", "KOPF", "operator capability levels", or "custom
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Use when building a Kubernetes Operator — custom controllers that reconcile CRD state. Triggers on "build an operator", "CRD design", "reconcile loop", "controller-runtime", "kubebuilder", "operator-sdk", "metacontroller", "KOPF", "operator capability levels", or "custom
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LanguagePython
LicenseMIT
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</> SKILL.md
kubernetes-operator.SKILL.md
---name: kubernetes-operator
description: Use when building a Kubernetes Operator — custom controllers that reconcile CRD state. Triggers on "build an operator", "CRD design", "reconcile loop", "controller-runtime", "kubebuilder", "operator-sdk", "metacontroller", "KOPF", "operator capability levels", or "custom resource". Ships CRD validator, reconcile-loop linter, and OperatorHub capability auditor (all stdlib Python), 4 references on the operator pattern + CRD design + reconcile patterns + tooling landscape, and a /operator-audit slash command. NOT a generic k8s skill — specifically the Operator pattern.
context: fork
version: 2.9.0
author: claude-code-skills
license: MIT
tags: [kubernetes, operator, crd, controller-runtime, kubebuilder, operator-sdk, metacontroller, kopf, reconcile, devops]
compatible_tools: [claude-code, codex-cli, cursor, antigravity, opencode, gemini-cli]
---# Kubernetes Operator
Build operators that reconcile correctly. Most operator bugs are not Kubernetes bugs — they are reconcile-loop bugs: missing finalizers, blocking calls, no requeue on transient errors, status drift, RBAC over-grants. This skill catches them deterministically before they reach a cluster.
## When to use
- Building a new Kubernetes Operator (controller for a CRD)
- Reviewing an existing operator for capability-level gaps
- Auditing a CRD spec for status/conditions/finalizer correctness
- **No finalizer** — external resources orphan on deletion.
- **CRD without status subresource** — status updates trigger spec reconciles (infinite loop).
- **Reconcile function > 200 lines** — extract reconcileXxx subroutines per condition.
- **`x-kubernetes-preserve-unknown-fields: true` on spec root** — defeats validation.
- **Imperative reconcile** — "if creating, do A; if updating, do B; if deleting, do C". Wrong shape. Reconcile = make actual=desired, regardless of how we got here.
## Verifiable success
A team using this skill should achieve:
- 100% of new CRDs pass `crd_validator.py` before merge
- All reconcile functions pass `reconcile_lint.py` strict mode
- Operators reach OperatorHub Capability Level 3 (Full Lifecycle) before public release
- Mean time to fix a reconcile bug: <1 day (no infinite loops in production)
