installation instructions

Signed-off-by: Ankita Thomas <ankithom@redhat.com>

Author: ankitathomas

.claude/commands/operator.md

@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@ You have access to comprehensive documentation in `olmv1.md` which covers all ol
 2. **Use the documented workflows** in the "Recommended Workflows" section
 3. **Reference specific error scenarios** from the documentation when troubleshooting
 
+## Initial setup
+Before helping the user, ensure that the `kubectl-operator` plugin is installed and has the `olmv1` subcommand. This can be verified by running `kubectl operator olmv1`, which should not fail.
+If this fails with an `unknown command` error, ensure that kubectl-operator is installed correctly following the steps in the `Installing from source` section on the `README.md` at the root level of the `kubectl-operator` repository.
+
 ## Available Commands
 
 The kubectl operator plugin has two main command sets:

README.md

@@ -19,3 +19,49 @@ The `kubectl operator` plugin is distributed via [`krew`](https://krew.sigs.k8s.
 ```console
 kubectl krew install operator
 ```
+
+# Installing from source
+
+Prerequisites:
+- [go 1.23.4+](https://go.dev/dl/)
+- `GOPATH` environment variable must be set.
+
+To build the latest version from the repository, run `make install`. This should install the kubectl-operator plugin to the `$GOPATH`/bin directory. 
+
+To enable `kubectl` to discover the plugin, ensure that the '$GOPATH'/bin directory is either part of the '$PATH' environment variable, or that the newly installed `kubectl-operator` is moved to a directory in the `$PATH`.
+
+You should see that the plugin has successfully installed:
+```bash
+$ kubectl operator
+
+Manage operators in a cluster from the command line.
+
+kubectl operator helps you manage operator installations in your
+cluster. It can install and uninstall operator catalogs, list
+operators available for installation, and install and uninstall
+operators from the installed catalogs.
+
+Usage:
+  operator [command]
+
+Available Commands:
+  catalog        Manage operator catalogs
+  completion     Generate the autocompletion script for the specified shell
+  describe       Describe an operator
+  help           Help about any command
+  install        Install an operator
+  list           List installed operators
+  list-available List operators available to be installed
+  list-operands  List operands of an installed operator
+  olmv1          Manage OLMv1 extensions and catalogs
+  uninstall      Uninstall an operator and operands
+  upgrade        Upgrade an operator
+  version        Print version information
+
+Flags:
+  -h, --help               help for operator
+  -n, --namespace string   If present, namespace scope for this CLI request
+      --timeout duration   The amount of time to wait before giving up on an operation. (default 1m0s)
+
+Use "operator [command] --help" for more information about a command.
+```