diff --git a/charts/opensearch-cluster/values.yaml b/charts/opensearch-cluster/values.yaml
index dfb7e783e..c7e478bb6 100644
--- a/charts/opensearch-cluster/values.yaml
+++ b/charts/opensearch-cluster/values.yaml
@@ -121,6 +121,9 @@ cluster:
     # -- bootstrap pod affinity rules
     affinity: {}
 
+    # -- bootstrap pod annotations
+    annotations: {}
+
     # -- bootstrap pod jvm options. If jvm is not provided then the java heap size will be set to half of resources.requests.memory which is the recommend value for data nodes.
     # If jvm is not provided and resources.requests.memory does not exist then value will be -Xmx512M -Xms512M
     jvm: ""
@@ -243,6 +246,8 @@ cluster:
   # -- Opensearch nodes configuration
   nodePools:
     - component: masters
+      # -- node pool pod annotations
+      annotations: {}
       diskSize: "30Gi"
       replicas: 3
       roles:
diff --git a/charts/opensearch-operator/files/opensearch.opster.io_opensearchclusters.yaml b/charts/opensearch-operator/files/opensearch.opster.io_opensearchclusters.yaml
index 13385cd89..4adb48004 100644
--- a/charts/opensearch-operator/files/opensearch.opster.io_opensearchclusters.yaml
+++ b/charts/opensearch-operator/files/opensearch.opster.io_opensearchclusters.yaml
@@ -987,6 +987,10 @@ spec:
                             x-kubernetes-list-type: atomic
                         type: object
                     type: object
+                  annotations:
+                    additionalProperties:
+                      type: string
+                    type: object
                   jvm:
                     type: string
                   keystore:
diff --git a/opensearch-operator/api/v1/opensearch_types.go b/opensearch-operator/api/v1/opensearch_types.go
index e044660d4..ffd9898d8 100644
--- a/opensearch-operator/api/v1/opensearch_types.go
+++ b/opensearch-operator/api/v1/opensearch_types.go
@@ -173,6 +173,7 @@ type BootstrapConfig struct {
 	Jvm          string                      `json:"jvm,omitempty"`
 	// Extra items to add to the opensearch.yml, defaults to General.AdditionalConfig
 	AdditionalConfig map[string]string `json:"additionalConfig,omitempty"`
+	Annotations      map[string]string `json:"annotations,omitempty"`
 	PluginsList      []string          `json:"pluginsList,omitempty"`
 	Keystore         []KeystoreValue   `json:"keystore,omitempty"`
 }
diff --git a/opensearch-operator/api/v1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go b/opensearch-operator/api/v1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
index 6594972f7..9ec864174 100644
--- a/opensearch-operator/api/v1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
+++ b/opensearch-operator/api/v1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
@@ -295,6 +295,13 @@ func (in *BootstrapConfig) DeepCopyInto(out *BootstrapConfig) {
 			(*out)[key] = val
 		}
 	}
+	if in.Annotations != nil {
+		in, out := &in.Annotations, &out.Annotations
+		*out = make(map[string]string, len(*in))
+		for key, val := range *in {
+			(*out)[key] = val
+		}
+	}
 	if in.PluginsList != nil {
 		in, out := &in.PluginsList, &out.PluginsList
 		*out = make([]string, len(*in))
diff --git a/opensearch-operator/config/crd/bases/opensearch.opster.io_opensearchclusters.yaml b/opensearch-operator/config/crd/bases/opensearch.opster.io_opensearchclusters.yaml
index 13385cd89..4adb48004 100644
--- a/opensearch-operator/config/crd/bases/opensearch.opster.io_opensearchclusters.yaml
+++ b/opensearch-operator/config/crd/bases/opensearch.opster.io_opensearchclusters.yaml
@@ -987,6 +987,10 @@ spec:
                             x-kubernetes-list-type: atomic
                         type: object
                     type: object
+                  annotations:
+                    additionalProperties:
+                      type: string
+                    type: object
                   jvm:
                     type: string
                   keystore:
diff --git a/opensearch-operator/opensearch-gateway/services/os_client.go b/opensearch-operator/opensearch-gateway/services/os_client.go
index 2ec30c5d8..57f8cc230 100644
--- a/opensearch-operator/opensearch-gateway/services/os_client.go
+++ b/opensearch-operator/opensearch-gateway/services/os_client.go
@@ -100,6 +100,8 @@ func NewOsClusterClientFromConfig(config opensearch.Config) (*OsClusterClient, e
 	client, err := opensearch.NewClient(config)
 	if err == nil {
 		service.client = client
+	} else {
+		return nil, err
 	}
 	pingReq := opensearchapi.PingRequest{}
 	pingRes, err := pingReq.Do(context.Background(), client)
diff --git a/opensearch-operator/pkg/builders/cluster.go b/opensearch-operator/pkg/builders/cluster.go
index 4b1992cd7..d7098c6bf 100644
--- a/opensearch-operator/pkg/builders/cluster.go
+++ b/opensearch-operator/pkg/builders/cluster.go
@@ -990,9 +990,10 @@ func NewBootstrapPod(
 	mainCommand := helpers.BuildMainCommand("./bin/opensearch-plugin", pluginslist, true, startUpCommand)
 	pod := &corev1.Pod{
 		ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
-			Name:      BootstrapPodName(cr),
-			Namespace: cr.Namespace,
-			Labels:    labels,
+			Name:        BootstrapPodName(cr),
+			Namespace:   cr.Namespace,
+			Labels:      labels,
+			Annotations: cr.Spec.Bootstrap.Annotations,
 		},
 		Spec: corev1.PodSpec{
 			Containers: []corev1.Container{
diff --git a/opensearch-operator/pkg/builders/cluster_test.go b/opensearch-operator/pkg/builders/cluster_test.go
index d92243ded..61e532049 100644
--- a/opensearch-operator/pkg/builders/cluster_test.go
+++ b/opensearch-operator/pkg/builders/cluster_test.go
@@ -466,6 +466,19 @@ var _ = Describe("Builders", func() {
 			}))
 		})
 
+		It("should apply bootstrap pod annotations", func() {
+			clusterObject := ClusterDescWithVersion("2.2.1")
+			expectedAnnotations := map[string]string{
+				"custom-annotation":  "custom-value",
+				"another-annotation": "another-value",
+			}
+			clusterObject.Spec.Bootstrap.Annotations = expectedAnnotations
+
+			result := NewBootstrapPod(&clusterObject, nil, nil)
+
+			Expect(result.ObjectMeta.Annotations).To(Equal(expectedAnnotations))
+		})
+
 		It("should overwrite the General.AdditionalConfig with Bootstrap.AdditionalConfig when set", func() {
 			mockKey1 := "server.basePath"
 			mockKey2 := "server.rewriteBasePath"