> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://cockroachlabs.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Override Deployment Templates with the CockroachDB Operator

export const InternalLink = ({version, path = "", children, ...props}) => {
  let detectedVersion = version || "stable";
  if (typeof window !== 'undefined' && !version) {
    const match = window.location.pathname.match(/\/docs\/([^/]+)/);
    if (match) {
      detectedVersion = match[1];
    }
  }
  const normalizedPath = path.startsWith("/") ? path.slice(1) : path;
  return <a href={`/docs/${detectedVersion}/${normalizedPath}`} {...props}>
      {children}
    </a>;
};

export const version = "v25.4";

The CockroachDB operator provides abstractions that simplify cluster deployment and node initialization:

* A default pod specification is used for the CockroachDB Kubernetes pod.
* The `values.yaml` configuration maps to a subset of `cockroach start` flags when CockroachDB is initialized.

This page describes configuration options that allow advanced users to manually override pod template metadata and `cockroach start` flags as needed for deployment.

<Note>
  The CockroachDB operator is in <InternalLink path="cockroachdb-feature-availability">Preview</InternalLink>.
</Note>

<Danger>
  This page describes advanced configurations that override the supported default templates used by the CockroachDB operator. Cockroach Labs strongly recommends testing these configurations in a non-production environment first.
</Danger>

## Override the default pod

The `cockroachdb.crdbCluster.podTemplate` field allows you to override the default pod metadata and specification configured by the CockroachDB operator. The values in this field are merged with the default pod specification, where settings in `podTemplate` override any values in the default.

The `podTemplate` field includes a `containers` field that specifies the container name and image that the template is applied to. By default, this resolves to the `cockroachdb` container name and can be excluded from modifications to the CockroachDB pod template YAML. If needed, you can provide specific images for the `containers` and `initContainers`. For example, the following `podTemplate` configuration specifies a custom init container:

```yaml theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-mocha","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}}
cockroachdb:
  crdbCluster:
    podTemplate:
      # metadata captures the pod metadata for CockroachDB pods.
      metadata: {}
      # spec captures the pod specification for CockroachDB pods.
      spec:
        # initContainers captures the list of init containers for CockroachDB pods.
        initContainers:
          - name : cockroachdb-init
            image: us-docker.pkg.dev/releases-prod/self-hosted/init-container@sha256:example1234567890abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
```

## Override the default `cockroach start` flags

The `cockroachdb.crdbCluster.startFlags` field allows you to customize the <InternalLink path="cockroach-start#flags">`cockroach start` flags</InternalLink> used when initializing the CockroachDB cluster.

Within this field, you can specify flags to upsert and flags to omit:

* Upserted flags are added to the `cockroach start` command, their values overriding any matching flags in the command.
* Omitted flags are removed from the `cockroach start` command if they were present.

```yaml theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-mocha","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}}
cockroachdb:
  crdbCluster:
    startFlags:
      # upsert captures a set of flags that are given higher precedence in the start command.
      upsert:
        - "--cache=30%"
      # omit defines a set of flags which will be omitted from the start command.
      omit:
        - "--max-sql-memory"
```