Condition-Based Deletion

onDelete:, onCreate:, and onReconcile: blocks support when: and or: conditions at the block level. When conditions are declared, the entire block is skipped unless they pass.

This is distinct from per-resource conditions (also when:/or: but on individual resource entries). Block-level conditions gate everything in the block at once.

YAML

onDelete:
  when:
    - field: .status.phase
      equals: Ready
  jobs:
    - name: "{{ .metadata.name }}-drain"
  deployments:
    - name: "{{ .metadata.name }}"

The when: block is evaluated before any resource in onDelete: runs. If the condition is false, the entire block is skipped and the finalizer is removed immediately.

Condition semantics

when: uses AND semantics — all conditions must pass.

or: uses OR semantics — at least one condition must pass.

Both can be combined: the block runs when when: passes or any or: condition passes.

onDelete:
  when:
    - field: .status.phase
      equals: Ready
  or:
    - field: .status.phase
      equals: Degraded
  jobs:
    - name: "{{ .metadata.name }}-drain"

Ordered deletion with per-group conditions

When ordered: true, each group in groups: is also a full HookTemplates block and can carry its own when:/or:. A group whose conditions are not met is skipped; the sequence continues with the next group.

onDelete:
  ordered: true
  timeout: 10m
  groups:
    # Always runs - no conditions
    - jobs:
        - name: "{{ .metadata.name }}-drain"

    # Only runs if the drain job left data behind
    - deployments:
        - name: "{{ .metadata.name }}"
      when:
        - field: .status.drainState
          equals: partial

    # Always runs — final cleanup
    - secrets:
        - name: "{{ .metadata.name }}-credentials"

Block-level vs per-resource conditions

Both levels can be used together. A resource whose block condition passes but whose own condition fails is still skipped.

When to use

Use block-level conditions when the decision applies to the whole lifecycle event — “skip cleanup entirely if the CR never finished provisioning”, or “skip onCreate if this is a read-only replica”. Use per-resource conditions when individual resources have independent eligibility.