Clever kubernetes operator

A kubernetes operator that exposes clever cloud's resources through custom resource definition

How it works

This project is based on the operator pattern to provide Custom Resources. Those resources will match Clever-Cloud's add-ons.

Status

The operator is under development, you can use it, but it may have bugs or unimplemented features. You could see missing features by checking issues with the label enhancement.

Install

There are multiple ways to install the operator, you can built it from sources and deploy it through your own registry or use an already built operator hosted on dockerhub or operatorhub.

From source

You will need some tools on your computer to build and deploy the operator, at least you will git, rust toolchain and docker. To deploy the operator, you will also need the kubectl command and a kubernetes cluster.

So, firstly, you will need to retrieve the source. You can clone them directly from GitHub using the following command.

$ git clone https://github.com/CleverCloud/clever-kubernetes-operator.git

or

$ gh repo clone CleverCloud/clever-kubernetes-operator

Then, you will need to go into the new created folder where are located the source code.

$ cd clever-kubernetes-operator

At this step, you can choose to build the binary and use it directly or build the docker image and push it to your registry and then deploy it into your kubernetes cluster.

Build the binary

To build the binary, you can use the following command:

$ make build

The operator binary will be located under the folder target/release/clever-kubernetes-operator. Then, you can run it.

$ target/release/clever-kubernetes-operator

Build the docker image and deploy it

To build the docker image, you can use the following command:

$ DOCKER_IMG=<your-registry>/<your-namespace>/clever-kubernetes-operator:latest make docker-build

Then, push it to your registry.

$ DOCKER_IMG=<your-registry>/<your-namespace>/clever-kubernetes-operator:latest make docker-push

Then, update the kubernetes deployment script located in deployments/kubernetes/v1.24.0/20-deployment.yaml to deploy your docker image in your kubernetes cluster. Finally, apply the deployment script.

$ make deploy-kubernetes

or

$ kubectl apply -f deployments/kubernetes/v1.30.0

From the helm chart

You can also use the available Helm chart. Configure the values.yaml file in deployments/kubernetes/helm with your own values, then run:

$ helm install clever-kubernetes-operator -n clever-kubernetes-operator --create-namespace -f values.yaml .

From dockerhub

The docker image will be provided by the dockerhub account of Clever-Cloud and you only need to apply the deployment script.

$ make deploy-kubernetes

or

$ kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CleverCloud/clever-kubernetes-operator/main/deployments/kubernetes/v1.30.0/10-custom-resource-definition.yaml
$ kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CleverCloud/clever-kubernetes-operator/main/deployments/kubernetes/v1.30.0/20-deployment.yaml

Credentials

To connect to the Clever Cloud API, the operator supports three authentication methods:

1. Full OAuth1 Authentication (Four Parameters)

This option uses the complete OAuth1 authentication flow with all four required credentials.

[api]
token = "your-oauth-token"
secret = "your-oauth-secret"
consumer-key = "your-consumer-key"
consumer-secret = "your-consumer-secret"

When to use:

• When you have your own OAuth consumer application registered with Clever Cloud
• When you need custom permissions or scopes
• For production environments where you want full control over authentication

2. Simplified OAuth1 Authentication (Token and Secret Only)

This option uses OAuth1 authentication but automatically applies the public Clever Tools consumer credentials when you only provide token and secret.

[api]
token = "your-oauth-token"
secret = "your-oauth-secret"

When to use:

• For most standard use cases
• When you have personal tokens but don't want to manage consumer credentials
• For development or testing environments

When only token and secret are provided, the SDK automatically uses the same public consumer credentials as the Clever Cloud CLI tools.

3. Bearer Token Authentication

This is the simplest authentication method, using a single bearer token with the "oauthless auth backend."

[api]
token = "your-bearer-token"

When to use:

• When working with the oauthless auth backend
• For simple integrations or scripts
• When you have a personal access token that doesn't require OAuth flow

For most users, Option 2 (token and secret only) provides the best balance of security and convenience.

Configuration

Global

To work properly, the operator needs to be configured with at least credentials to connect the Clever Cloud's API. Those configurations could be provided through a ConfigMap, a Secret or by the environment.

An example of deployment using a Secret is located at deployments/kubernetes/v1.30.0/20-deployment.yaml. An example of deployment using a ConfigMap is located at deployments/helm/.

Environment variables are:

Name	Kind	Default	Required	Description
CLEVER_OPERATOR_OPERATOR_LISTEN	SocketAddress	0.0.0.0:7080	yes
CLEVER_OPERATOR_API_SECRET	String	none	false
CLEVER_OPERATOR_API_TOKEN	String	none	yes	if used alone, we assume that we are using oauthless auth backend
CLEVER_OPERATOR_API_CONSUMER_KEY	String	none	false
CLEVER_OPERATOR_API_CONSUMER_SECRET	String	none	false

By default, if the --config flag is not provided to the binary, the operator will look at the following paths to retrieve its configuration:

• /usr/share/clever-kubernetes-operator/config.{toml,yaml,json}
• /etc/clever-kubernetes-operator/config.{toml,yaml,json}
• $HOME/.config/clever-kubernetes-operator/config.{toml,yaml,json}
• $HOME/.local/share/clever-kubernetes-operator/config.{toml,yaml,json}
• config.{toml,yaml,json}

License

See the license.

Getting in touch

• @FlorentinDUBOIS