name: ark-controller-development description: Guidance for developing the Ark Kubernetes operator. Use when modifying Go types, CRDs, controllers, or webhooks. Helps with CRD generation and Helm chart sync issues.

Ark Controller Development

Guidance for developing the Ark Kubernetes operator in ark/.

When to use this skill

• Modifying Go type definitions (api/v1alpha1/*_types.go)
• Fixing CRD/Helm chart sync errors
• Adding new CRD fields or resources

CRD Generation Flow

api/v1alpha1/*_types.go     # Go types with markers
        ↓
    make manifests          # Generates CRDs and syncs to Helm chart
        ↓
config/crd/bases/*.yaml     # Source CRDs (auto-generated)
dist/chart/templates/crd/   # Helm chart CRDs (auto-synced)

make manifests automatically syncs source CRDs to the Helm chart while preserving templated headers.

Fixing "CRDs out of sync" Errors

When make build fails with CRD validation errors:

cd ark
make manifests
make build

Key Directories

Common Tasks

After Modifying Types or Comments

Go type comments become CRD field descriptions:

cd ark
make manifests
make build

After Any Go Code Change

make lint-fix    # Format and fix linting
make build       # Build and validate