diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 825c32f..aa02966 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1 +1,14 @@
 # Changelog
+
+## 2026-08-09 17:27 CEST — Operator wired end to end: reconciler, health, leases, discovery, GC, two providers
+
+- `cmd/main.go` is now the full composition root: `--providers-config` (required, fail-fast),
+  `--discovery-addr`, `--proxy-namespace`, `--health-workers`, `--gc-interval`, `--gc-min-age`,
+  `--gc-allow-namespaced`, `--lease-cooldown`, `--max-lease-ttl`; wires the kubernetes + gcp
+  providers (metrics-instrumented), health engine, lease store, discovery API, orphan GC, and
+  Prometheus metrics onto one manager.
+- Deploy manifests: providers ConfigMap mount, optional `DISCOVERY_TOKEN` Secret env,
+  discovery port 8090 + Service; pods RBAC for the kubernetes provider.
+- Samples for all three proxy flavors + providers-config; `make run-dev` for local development.
+- README rewritten (kind quickstart, GCP setup, the two load-bearing caveats); architecture doc
+  completed with components table and the full decision log.
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 5f130f3..39a77ad 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -116,6 +116,10 @@ build: manifests generate fmt vet ## Build manager binary.
 run: manifests generate fmt vet ## Run a controller from your host.
 	go run ./cmd/main.go
 
+.PHONY: run-dev
+run-dev: manifests generate fmt vet ## Run locally against the current kubeconfig with the kubernetes-pod provider.
+	go run ./cmd/main.go --providers-config hack/providers-dev.yaml --metrics-bind-address :8080 --metrics-secure=false
+
 # If you wish to build the manager image targeting other platforms you can use the --platform flag.
 # (i.e. docker build --platform linux/arm64). However, you must enable docker buildKit for it.
 # More info: https://docs.docker.com/develop/develop-images/build_enhancements/
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2695f09..1311928 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,135 +1,166 @@
 # egress-proxies-operator
-// TODO(user): Add simple overview of use/purpose
 
-## Description
-// TODO(user): An in-depth paragraph about your project and overview of use
+A Kubernetes operator that manages a fleet of HTTP egress proxies for
+crawling: each proxy is a `Proxy` custom resource that the operator
+provisions (or merely tracks), actively health-checks **through the proxy
+itself**, and hands out to crawler clients via an HTTP list/lease API.
 
-## Getting Started
+## Architecture in 60 seconds
 
-### Prerequisites
-- go version v1.24.6+
-- docker version 17.03+.
-- kubectl version v1.11.3+.
-- Access to a Kubernetes v1.11.3+ cluster.
+- **`Proxy` CRD** (`crawl.example.com/v1alpha1`, namespaced, `kubectl get px`):
+  `Managed` proxies are provisioned by a configured provider; `External`
+  proxies exist elsewhere and are only tracked and health-checked.
+- **Reconciler** — a crash-safe state machine: every reconcile derives one
+  action from (spec, status, provider Get). Proxies are **immutable
+  cattle**: any meaningful spec change (placement, cloud-init, port)
+  deletes and recreates the VM — never in-place mutation.
+- **Providers** behind one minimal interface: `kubernetes` (a real Squid
+  pod in this cluster — local dev/CI) and `gcp` (Compute Engine VMs with
+  ephemeral external IPs — the real egress fleet). Config is a YAML file
+  (`--providers-config`) with named instances (`gcp-eu`, `gcp-us`, ...).
+- **Health engine** probes every proxy by fetching a URL *through* it (a
+  real CONNECT tunnel — a proxy that accepts TCP but can't egress goes
+  Unhealthy), with threshold logic and transition-only status writes.
+- **Discovery API** (`:8090`): list healthy proxies filtered by
+  attributes, lease one (least-loaded, TTL-based), release, and report
+  rate-limiting — reports put the proxy in a per-target cooldown.
+- **Orphan GC** sweeps each provider for tagged instances whose owning CR
+  is gone — the safety net for crashes mid-create.
 
-### To Deploy on the cluster
-**Build and push your image to the location specified by `IMG`:**
+Details, diagrams, and recorded design decisions: [docs/architecture.md](docs/architecture.md).
+
+## Quickstart on kind (~5 minutes)
+
+Requires: kind, kubectl, Go 1.26, jq (optional). The kubernetes-pod
+provider needs no cloud account — proxies are real `ubuntu/squid` pods in
+the kind cluster itself.
 
 ```sh
-make docker-build docker-push IMG=<some-registry>/egress-proxies-operator:tag
+kind create cluster --name proxy-operator-demo
+make install                                  # install the CRD
+make run-dev                                  # run the operator locally (foreground)
 ```
 
-**NOTE:** This image ought to be published in the personal registry you specified.
-And it is required to have access to pull the image from the working environment.
-Make sure you have the proper permission to the registry if the above commands don’t work.
-
-**Install the CRDs into the cluster:**
+In a second terminal:
 
 ```sh
-make install
+kubectl apply -f config/samples/proxy_kubernetes.yaml
+kubectl get px -w
+# NAME                      MODE      PROVIDER     PHASE   IP           HEALTHY
+# proxy-kubernetes-sample   Managed   kubernetes   Ready   10.244.x.x   True
 ```
 
-**Deploy the Manager to the cluster with the image specified by `IMG`:**
+Once it's `Ready`, use the discovery API:
 
 ```sh
-make deploy IMG=<some-registry>/egress-proxies-operator:tag
+# List healthy proxies
+curl -s 'localhost:8090/v1/proxies?healthy=true' | jq
+
+# Lease one (5-minute TTL)
+curl -s -XPOST localhost:8090/v1/leases \
+  -d '{"selector":{"geo":"local"},"ttlSeconds":300}' | jq
+# → {"leaseID":"...", "proxy":{"id":"default/proxy-kubernetes-sample", "ip":..., ...}}
+
+# Actually crawl through it (from inside the cluster, or port-forward the pod)
+# curl -x http://<proxy-ip>:3128 https://example.com
+
+# Report the proxy got rate-limited by a site → 15-minute cooldown for that target
+curl -s -XPOST localhost:8090/v1/leases/<leaseID>/report \
+  -d '{"result":"rate_limited","target":"example.com"}'
+
+# Release early (idempotent — 204 both times)
+curl -si -XDELETE localhost:8090/v1/leases/<leaseID>
 ```
 
-> **NOTE**: If you encounter RBAC errors, you may need to grant yourself cluster-admin
-privileges or be logged in as admin.
-
-**Create instances of your solution**
-You can apply the samples (examples) from the config/sample:
+Tear down:
 
 ```sh
-kubectl apply -k config/samples/
+kubectl delete -f config/samples/proxy_kubernetes.yaml   # finalizer deletes the pod
+kind delete cluster --name proxy-operator-demo
 ```
 
->**NOTE**: Ensure that the samples has default values to test it out.
-
-### To Uninstall
-**Delete the instances (CRs) from the cluster:**
+## Deploying in-cluster
 
 ```sh
-kubectl delete -k config/samples/
+make docker-build IMG=<registry>/egress-proxies-operator:dev
+make deploy IMG=<registry>/egress-proxies-operator:dev
 ```
 
-**Delete the APIs(CRDs) from the cluster:**
+- Provider config comes from the `providers-config` ConfigMap
+  ([config/manager/providers_config.yaml](config/manager/providers_config.yaml));
+  the default ships only the kubernetes provider.
+- The discovery API is exposed by the
+  `controller-manager-discovery-service` Service on port 8090.
+- Auth: create the token Secret, or the API serves **unauthenticated**
+  (it warns loudly at startup):
+
+  ```sh
+  kubectl -n egress-proxies-operator-system create secret generic discovery-token \
+    --from-literal=token="$(openssl rand -hex 24)"
+  ```
+
+## GCP setup
+
+1. Add a `gcp` entry to the providers config (see
+   [config/samples/providers-config.yaml](config/samples/providers-config.yaml)) —
+   only `project` is required.
+2. Credentials are **Application Default Credentials**: workload identity
+   in-cluster, `gcloud auth application-default login` locally. No
+   key-file plumbing exists.
+3. The identity needs `roles/compute.instanceAdmin.v1` on the project —
+   plus `roles/iam.serviceAccountUser` if instances attach a service
+   account.
+4. Managed GCP proxies must set all of `placement.zone`,
+   `placement.machineType`, and `placement.image`
+   (see [config/samples/proxy_gcp.yaml](config/samples/proxy_gcp.yaml),
+   which also installs Squid via cloud-init). A missing field fails the
+   Proxy with a message naming it.
+
+Cloud-init from a Secret: the Secret **must** carry the label
+`crawl.example.com/cloud-init: "true"` — the operator's cache only holds
+labelled Secrets, so an unlabelled one is invisible (the Proxy reports
+`CloudInitError`). Rotating the Secret's content triggers VM replacement.
+
+## Caveats — read these two
+
+**Changing a proxy changes its IP.** Proxies are immutable cattle: editing
+`placement`, `cloudInit` (or rotating its Secret), or `port` deletes the
+VM and creates a replacement with the **same name but a new IP**. Clients
+discover the new address via the discovery API; anything that pinned the
+old IP breaks by design.
+
+**Operator restart drops all leases and cooldowns.** Lease state is
+in-memory (`replicas: 1` accordingly). Clients must tolerate a lease
+vanishing — requests through the proxy keep working; they just re-lease.
+The lease store sits behind an interface so a persistent backend can
+replace it without touching the API handlers.
+
+Smaller notes:
+
+- `status.lastHealthCheckTime` is the time of the last *status-affecting*
+  probe, not the most recent probe — status writes are transition-only by
+  design. True probe recency lives in the metrics
+  (`proxy_operator_healthcheck_*`).
+- The discovery API is served by every replica but is not leader-elected;
+  the operator ships with `replicas: 1` (see the lease caveat above).
+
+## Version pins
+
+Built and verified against the spec's pins with **no substitutions
+needed**: Go 1.26, kubebuilder v4.15.0, controller-runtime v0.24.1,
+k8s.io/* v0.36.3 (Kubernetes 1.36 API level), controller-tools v0.21.0,
+cloud.google.com/go/compute v1.65.0. envtest uses the 1.36.2 binary
+bundle (the latest 1.36 patch with published binaries — do not "fix" the
+Makefile's derived version to 1.36.3, which has none).
+
+## Development
 
 ```sh
-make uninstall
+make test        # unit + envtest suites (sets up envtest binaries itself)
+go test -short ./...   # skip the envtest suite
+make run-dev     # run against the current kubeconfig context
 ```
 
-**UnDeploy the controller from the cluster:**
-
-```sh
-make undeploy
-```
-
-## Project Distribution
-
-Following the options to release and provide this solution to the users.
-
-### By providing a bundle with all YAML files
-
-1. Build the installer for the image built and published in the registry:
-
-```sh
-make build-installer IMG=<some-registry>/egress-proxies-operator:tag
-```
-
-**NOTE:** The makefile target mentioned above generates an 'install.yaml'
-file in the dist directory. This file contains all the resources built
-with Kustomize, which are necessary to install this project without its
-dependencies.
-
-2. Using the installer
-
-Users can just run 'kubectl apply -f <URL for YAML BUNDLE>' to install
-the project, i.e.:
-
-```sh
-kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/<org>/egress-proxies-operator/<tag or branch>/dist/install.yaml
-```
-
-### By providing a Helm Chart
-
-1. Build the chart using the optional helm plugin
-
-```sh
-kubebuilder edit --plugins=helm/v2-alpha
-```
-
-2. See that a chart was generated under 'dist/chart', and users
-can obtain this solution from there.
-
-**NOTE:** If you change the project, you need to update the Helm Chart
-using the same command above to sync the latest changes. Furthermore,
-if you create webhooks, you need to use the above command with
-the '--force' flag and manually ensure that any custom configuration
-previously added to 'dist/chart/values.yaml' or 'dist/chart/manager/manager.yaml'
-is manually re-applied afterwards.
-
-## Contributing
-// TODO(user): Add detailed information on how you would like others to contribute to this project
-
-**NOTE:** Run `make help` for more information on all potential `make` targets
-
-More information can be found via the [Kubebuilder Documentation](https://book.kubebuilder.io/introduction.html)
-
-## License
-
-Copyright 2026.
-
-Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-You may obtain a copy of the License at
-
-    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-
-Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-limitations under the License.
-
+Project layout, reconcile-loop diagrams, and the decision log are in
+[docs/architecture.md](docs/architecture.md); the build history is in
+[docs/plans-executions/](docs/plans-executions/).
diff --git a/api/v1alpha1/proxy_types.go b/api/v1alpha1/proxy_types.go
index 701c510..865fad0 100644
--- a/api/v1alpha1/proxy_types.go
+++ b/api/v1alpha1/proxy_types.go
@@ -61,6 +61,12 @@ const (
 	// provision. A mismatch against the freshly computed hash means the VM
 	// must be replaced.
 	AnnotationSpecHash = "crawl.example.com/spec-hash"
+
+	// LabelCloudInit must be set (to "true") on every Secret referenced by
+	// spec.cloudInit.secretRef: the manager's cache only holds Secrets
+	// carrying this label, so an unlabelled Secret is invisible to the
+	// operator — both to the resolve step and to the rotation watch.
+	LabelCloudInit = "crawl.example.com/cloud-init"
 )
 
 // Defaults, applied both by CRD structural defaulting (kubebuilder:default
diff --git a/cmd/main.go b/cmd/main.go
index 14eb9d2..b6495fc 100644
--- a/cmd/main.go
+++ b/cmd/main.go
@@ -14,28 +14,48 @@ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 limitations under the License.
 */
 
+// Package main is the composition root: it loads the provider config (fail
+// fast), assembles the provider registry, and wires the reconciler, health
+// engine, lease store, discovery API, orphan GC, and metrics onto one
+// controller-runtime manager.
 package main
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"crypto/tls"
 	"flag"
 	"os"
+	"time"
 
 	// Import all Kubernetes client auth plugins (e.g. Azure, GCP, OIDC, etc.)
 	// to ensure that exec-entrypoint and run can make use of them.
 	_ "k8s.io/client-go/plugin/pkg/client/auth"
 
+	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/labels"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
 	utilruntime "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/runtime"
 	clientgoscheme "k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes/scheme"
 	ctrl "sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/cache"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/healthz"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/log/zap"
+	ctrlmetrics "sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/metrics"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/metrics/filters"
 	metricsserver "sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/metrics/server"
 
 	crawlv1alpha1 "gitea.home.hrajfrisbee.cz/kacerr/egress-proxies-operator/api/v1alpha1"
 	"gitea.home.hrajfrisbee.cz/kacerr/egress-proxies-operator/internal/controller"
+	"gitea.home.hrajfrisbee.cz/kacerr/egress-proxies-operator/internal/discovery"
+	"gitea.home.hrajfrisbee.cz/kacerr/egress-proxies-operator/internal/gc"
+	"gitea.home.hrajfrisbee.cz/kacerr/egress-proxies-operator/internal/health"
+	"gitea.home.hrajfrisbee.cz/kacerr/egress-proxies-operator/internal/lease"
+	"gitea.home.hrajfrisbee.cz/kacerr/egress-proxies-operator/internal/metrics"
+	"gitea.home.hrajfrisbee.cz/kacerr/egress-proxies-operator/internal/provider"
+	"gitea.home.hrajfrisbee.cz/kacerr/egress-proxies-operator/internal/provider/gcp"
+	"gitea.home.hrajfrisbee.cz/kacerr/egress-proxies-operator/internal/provider/kubernetes"
+	"gitea.home.hrajfrisbee.cz/kacerr/egress-proxies-operator/internal/provider/registry"
 	// +kubebuilder:scaffold:imports
 )
 
@@ -60,6 +80,15 @@ func main() {
 	var secureMetrics bool
 	var enableHTTP2 bool
 	var tlsOpts []func(*tls.Config)
+
+	var providersConfig string
+	var discoveryAddr string
+	var proxyNamespace string
+	var healthWorkers int
+	var gcInterval, gcMinAge time.Duration
+	var gcAllowNamespaced bool
+	var leaseCooldown, maxLeaseTTL time.Duration
+
 	flag.StringVar(&metricsAddr, "metrics-bind-address", "0", "The address the metrics endpoint binds to. "+
 		"Use :8443 for HTTPS or :8080 for HTTP, or leave as 0 to disable the metrics service.")
 	flag.StringVar(&probeAddr, "health-probe-bind-address", ":8081", "The address the probe endpoint binds to.")
@@ -74,6 +103,28 @@ func main() {
 	flag.StringVar(&metricsCertKey, "metrics-cert-key", "tls.key", "The name of the metrics server key file.")
 	flag.BoolVar(&enableHTTP2, "enable-http2", false,
 		"If set, HTTP/2 will be enabled for the metrics server")
+
+	flag.StringVar(&providersConfig, "providers-config", "",
+		"Path to the providers config YAML. Required.")
+	flag.StringVar(&discoveryAddr, "discovery-addr", ":8090",
+		"Listen address of the discovery/lease HTTP API.")
+	flag.StringVar(&proxyNamespace, "proxy-namespace", "",
+		"Restrict the manager's cache to one namespace. Empty watches all namespaces. "+
+			"Restricting also disables orphan GC unless --gc-allow-namespaced is set.")
+	flag.IntVar(&healthWorkers, "health-workers", 8,
+		"Number of concurrent health-probe workers.")
+	flag.DurationVar(&gcInterval, "gc-interval", 10*time.Minute,
+		"Interval between orphan GC sweeps.")
+	flag.DurationVar(&gcMinAge, "gc-min-age", 10*time.Minute,
+		"Minimum instance age before orphan GC may delete it.")
+	flag.BoolVar(&gcAllowNamespaced, "gc-allow-namespaced", false,
+		"Allow orphan GC to run although the cache is namespace-restricted. Dangerous: proxies "+
+			"outside the namespace count as orphans and their instances get deleted.")
+	flag.DurationVar(&leaseCooldown, "lease-cooldown", 15*time.Minute,
+		"How long a reported proxy/target pair is excluded from lease selection.")
+	flag.DurationVar(&maxLeaseTTL, "max-lease-ttl", time.Hour,
+		"Maximum lease TTL a client may request.")
+
 	opts := zap.Options{
 		Development: true,
 	}
@@ -81,6 +132,31 @@ func main() {
 	flag.Parse()
 
 	ctrl.SetLogger(zap.New(zap.UseFlagOptions(&opts)))
+	ctx := ctrl.SetupSignalHandler()
+
+	// Providers load first and fail fast: a manager that comes up without
+	// its backends would just convert every Proxy into an error loop.
+	if providersConfig == "" {
+		setupLog.Error(nil, "--providers-config is required")
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+	cfg, err := provider.LoadConfigFile(providersConfig)
+	if err != nil {
+		setupLog.Error(err, "Failed to load providers config", "path", providersConfig)
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+	providers, err := registry.Build(ctx, cfg, map[string]registry.Constructor{
+		"kubernetes": kubernetes.New,
+		"gcp":        gcp.New,
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		setupLog.Error(err, "Failed to build providers")
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+	m := metrics.New()
+	for name, p := range providers {
+		providers[name] = provider.WithMetrics(name, p, m)
+	}
 
 	// if the enable-http2 flag is false (the default), http/2 should be disabled
 	// due to its vulnerabilities. More specifically, disabling http/2 will
@@ -128,32 +204,91 @@ func main() {
 		metricsServerOptions.KeyName = metricsCertKey
 	}
 
+	// The Secret cache is restricted to labelled cloud-init Secrets: the
+	// operator has cluster-wide Secret read RBAC, and without the label
+	// selector it would cache every Secret in scope.
+	cacheOpts := cache.Options{
+		ByObject: map[client.Object]cache.ByObject{
+			&corev1.Secret{}: {
+				Label: labels.SelectorFromSet(labels.Set{crawlv1alpha1.LabelCloudInit: "true"}),
+			},
+		},
+	}
+	if proxyNamespace != "" {
+		cacheOpts.DefaultNamespaces = map[string]cache.Config{proxyNamespace: {}}
+	}
+
 	mgr, err := ctrl.NewManager(ctrl.GetConfigOrDie(), ctrl.Options{
 		Scheme:                 scheme,
 		Metrics:                metricsServerOptions,
 		HealthProbeBindAddress: probeAddr,
+		Cache:                  cacheOpts,
 		LeaderElection:         enableLeaderElection,
 		LeaderElectionID:       "b47711d1.example.com",
-		// LeaderElectionReleaseOnCancel defines if the leader should step down voluntarily
-		// when the Manager ends. This requires the binary to immediately end when the
-		// Manager is stopped, otherwise, this setting is unsafe. Setting this significantly
-		// speeds up voluntary leader transitions as the new leader don't have to wait
-		// LeaseDuration time first.
-		//
-		// In the default scaffold provided, the program ends immediately after
-		// the manager stops, so would be fine to enable this option. However,
-		// if you are doing or is intended to do any operation such as perform cleanups
-		// after the manager stops then its usage might be unsafe.
-		// LeaderElectionReleaseOnCancel: true,
 	})
 	if err != nil {
 		setupLog.Error(err, "Failed to start manager")
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 
+	store := lease.NewStore(leaseCooldown)
+	if err := mgr.Add(store); err != nil {
+		setupLog.Error(err, "Failed to add lease store")
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+
+	engine := health.NewEngine(mgr.GetClient())
+	engine.Workers = healthWorkers
+	engine.Metrics = m
+	if err := mgr.Add(engine); err != nil {
+		setupLog.Error(err, "Failed to add health engine")
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+
+	if err := mgr.Add(&discovery.Server{
+		Reader:      mgr.GetClient(),
+		Store:       store,
+		Addr:        discoveryAddr,
+		Token:       os.Getenv("DISCOVERY_TOKEN"),
+		MaxLeaseTTL: maxLeaseTTL,
+		Metrics:     m,
+	}); err != nil {
+		setupLog.Error(err, "Failed to add discovery server")
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+
+	if err := mgr.Add(&gc.Sweeper{
+		Reader:              mgr.GetClient(),
+		Providers:           providers,
+		Interval:            gcInterval,
+		MinAge:              gcMinAge,
+		NamespaceRestricted: proxyNamespace != "",
+		AllowNamespaced:     gcAllowNamespaced,
+	}); err != nil {
+		setupLog.Error(err, "Failed to add orphan GC")
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+
+	if err := m.Register(ctrlmetrics.Registry,
+		proxyPhaseCounts(mgr.GetClient()),
+		func() int {
+			total := 0
+			for _, n := range store.Counts() {
+				total += n
+			}
+			return total
+		},
+	); err != nil {
+		setupLog.Error(err, "Failed to register metrics")
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+
 	if err := (&controller.ProxyReconciler{
-		Client: mgr.GetClient(),
-		Scheme: mgr.GetScheme(),
+		Client:       mgr.GetClient(),
+		Scheme:       mgr.GetScheme(),
+		Providers:    providers,
+		Health:       engine,
+		HealthEvents: engine.Events,
 	}).SetupWithManager(mgr); err != nil {
 		setupLog.Error(err, "Failed to create controller", "controller", "proxy")
 		os.Exit(1)
@@ -170,8 +305,31 @@ func main() {
 	}
 
 	setupLog.Info("Starting manager")
-	if err := mgr.Start(ctrl.SetupSignalHandler()); err != nil {
+	if err := mgr.Start(ctx); err != nil {
 		setupLog.Error(err, "Failed to run manager")
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 }
+
+// proxyPhaseCounts reads phase counts from the cache at scrape time. Before
+// the cache has synced (or on any list error) it reports nothing rather
+// than something wrong.
+func proxyPhaseCounts(c client.Reader) func() map[string]int {
+	return func() map[string]int {
+		ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 5*time.Second)
+		defer cancel()
+		var list crawlv1alpha1.ProxyList
+		if err := c.List(ctx, &list); err != nil {
+			return nil
+		}
+		counts := map[string]int{}
+		for i := range list.Items {
+			phase := string(list.Items[i].Status.Phase)
+			if phase == "" {
+				phase = string(crawlv1alpha1.PhasePending)
+			}
+			counts[phase]++
+		}
+		return counts
+	}
+}
diff --git a/config/default/discovery_service.yaml b/config/default/discovery_service.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..078ad86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/default/discovery_service.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Service
+metadata:
+  labels:
+    control-plane: controller-manager
+    app.kubernetes.io/name: egress-proxies-operator
+    app.kubernetes.io/managed-by: kustomize
+  name: controller-manager-discovery-service
+  namespace: system
+spec:
+  ports:
+  - name: discovery
+    port: 8090
+    protocol: TCP
+    targetPort: discovery
+  selector:
+    control-plane: controller-manager
+    app.kubernetes.io/name: egress-proxies-operator
diff --git a/config/default/kustomization.yaml b/config/default/kustomization.yaml
index 373f742..d2352c5 100644
--- a/config/default/kustomization.yaml
+++ b/config/default/kustomization.yaml
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ resources:
 #- ../prometheus
 # [METRICS] Expose the controller manager metrics service.
 - metrics_service.yaml
+# Expose the discovery/lease HTTP API inside the cluster.
+- discovery_service.yaml
 
 # Uncomment the patches line if you enable Metrics
 patches:
diff --git a/config/manager/kustomization.yaml b/config/manager/kustomization.yaml
index 35dc755..08f98ea 100644
--- a/config/manager/kustomization.yaml
+++ b/config/manager/kustomization.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 resources:
 - manager.yaml
+- providers_config.yaml
 apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
 kind: Kustomization
 images:
diff --git a/config/manager/manager.yaml b/config/manager/manager.yaml
index 2edaf3b..7d832f5 100644
--- a/config/manager/manager.yaml
+++ b/config/manager/manager.yaml
@@ -63,12 +63,28 @@ spec:
         args:
           - --leader-elect
           - --health-probe-bind-address=:8081
+          - --providers-config=/etc/proxy-operator/providers.yaml
+        env:
+          # Bearer token for the discovery API. Optional: without the
+          # Secret the API serves unauthenticated (with a loud warning).
+          # Create it with:
+          #   kubectl -n egress-proxies-operator-system create secret \
+          #     generic discovery-token --from-literal=token=<your-token>
+          - name: DISCOVERY_TOKEN
+            valueFrom:
+              secretKeyRef:
+                name: discovery-token
+                key: token
+                optional: true
         image: controller:latest
         name: manager
         ports:
         - containerPort: 8081
           name: health
           protocol: TCP
+        - containerPort: 8090
+          name: discovery
+          protocol: TCP
         securityContext:
           readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
           allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
@@ -96,7 +112,13 @@ spec:
           requests:
             cpu: 10m
             memory: 64Mi
-        volumeMounts: []
-      volumes: []
+        volumeMounts:
+        - name: providers-config
+          mountPath: /etc/proxy-operator
+          readOnly: true
+      volumes:
+      - name: providers-config
+        configMap:
+          name: providers-config
       serviceAccountName: controller-manager
       terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 10
diff --git a/config/manager/providers_config.yaml b/config/manager/providers_config.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6c383c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/manager/providers_config.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: providers-config
+  namespace: system
+  labels:
+    app.kubernetes.io/name: egress-proxies-operator
+    app.kubernetes.io/managed-by: kustomize
+data:
+  # Mounted at /etc/proxy-operator/providers.yaml (--providers-config).
+  # The default ships only the kubernetes-pod provider so the operator runs
+  # out of the box; add gcp entries (type: gcp, gcp.project: ...) for real
+  # egress fleets — see config/samples/providers-config.yaml.
+  providers.yaml: |
+    providers:
+      - name: kubernetes
+        type: kubernetes
diff --git a/config/rbac/role.yaml b/config/rbac/role.yaml
index e2bdbcd..ba26c8a 100644
--- a/config/rbac/role.yaml
+++ b/config/rbac/role.yaml
@@ -4,6 +4,16 @@ kind: ClusterRole
 metadata:
   name: manager-role
 rules:
+- apiGroups:
+  - ""
+  resources:
+  - pods
+  verbs:
+  - create
+  - delete
+  - get
+  - list
+  - watch
 - apiGroups:
   - ""
   resources:
diff --git a/config/samples/crawl_v1alpha1_proxy.yaml b/config/samples/crawl_v1alpha1_proxy.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index b206686..0000000
--- a/config/samples/crawl_v1alpha1_proxy.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-apiVersion: crawl.example.com/v1alpha1
-kind: Proxy
-metadata:
-  labels:
-    app.kubernetes.io/name: egress-proxies-operator
-    app.kubernetes.io/managed-by: kustomize
-  name: proxy-sample
-spec:
-  # TODO(user): Add fields here
diff --git a/config/samples/kustomization.yaml b/config/samples/kustomization.yaml
index c999cdb..d1c025f 100644
--- a/config/samples/kustomization.yaml
+++ b/config/samples/kustomization.yaml
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
 ## Append samples of your project ##
+# providers-config.yaml is deliberately absent: it is a sample
+# --providers-config file, not a Kubernetes manifest.
 resources:
-- crawl_v1alpha1_proxy.yaml
+- proxy_kubernetes.yaml
+- proxy_gcp.yaml
+- proxy_external.yaml
 # +kubebuilder:scaffold:manifestskustomizesamples
diff --git a/config/samples/providers-config.yaml b/config/samples/providers-config.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..34220d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/samples/providers-config.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# Sample --providers-config file (not a Kubernetes manifest). In-cluster
+# this content lives in the providers-config ConfigMap
+# (config/manager/providers_config.yaml); for `make run-dev` a
+# kubernetes-only variant is at hack/providers-dev.yaml.
+#
+# Named provider instances: "gcp-eu" and "gcp-us" are two configs of the
+# same type. spec.provider on a Proxy refers to the name, not the type.
+providers:
+  - name: kubernetes
+    type: kubernetes
+    # kubernetes:
+    #   image: ubuntu/squid:6.6-24.04_edge   # the default
+  - name: gcp-eu
+    type: gcp
+    gcp:
+      project: my-project
+      # network: default            # VPC network name
+      # networkTag: proxy-operator  # firewall tag on created instances
+      # diskSizeGb: 10
+      # auth: Application Default Credentials (workload identity
+      # in-cluster, gcloud ADC locally). No key-file plumbing.
diff --git a/config/samples/proxy_external.yaml b/config/samples/proxy_external.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ffac5ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/samples/proxy_external.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# An External proxy: the VM exists outside the operator's control; the
+# operator only tracks and health-checks it through the endpoint. No
+# finalizer, no provider calls, and deleting the CR touches nothing.
+apiVersion: crawl.example.com/v1alpha1
+kind: Proxy
+metadata:
+  name: proxy-external-sample
+spec:
+  mode: External
+  endpoint:
+    host: 203.0.113.7
+    port: 3128
+  attributes:
+    geo: eu
+    purpose: crawl
diff --git a/config/samples/proxy_gcp.yaml b/config/samples/proxy_gcp.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..906231f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/samples/proxy_gcp.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# A Managed proxy backed by GCP: the operator creates a VM with an
+# ephemeral external IP and installs Squid via cloud-init. Requires a
+# providers-config entry named "gcp-eu" (see providers-config.yaml) and
+# Application Default Credentials with compute.instanceAdmin.v1.
+#
+# All three placement fields are required for GCP; the operator sets the
+# Proxy to Failed with a message naming any missing one.
+apiVersion: crawl.example.com/v1alpha1
+kind: Proxy
+metadata:
+  name: proxy-gcp-sample
+spec:
+  mode: Managed
+  provider: gcp-eu
+  placement:
+    zone: europe-west1-b
+    machineType: e2-micro
+    image: projects/debian-cloud/global/images/family/debian-12
+  port: 3128
+  cloudInit:
+    inline: |
+      #cloud-config
+      packages:
+        - squid
+      write_files:
+        - path: /etc/squid/conf.d/proxy-operator.conf
+          content: |
+            http_port 3128
+            http_access allow all
+            via off
+            forwarded_for off
+      runcmd:
+        - systemctl restart squid
+  attributes:
+    geo: eu
+    purpose: crawl
diff --git a/config/samples/proxy_kubernetes.yaml b/config/samples/proxy_kubernetes.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c8e8a39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/samples/proxy_kubernetes.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+# A Managed proxy backed by the kubernetes-pod provider: the operator runs
+# a real Squid pod in this cluster. This is the local-dev/CI sample — pods
+# share the cluster's egress IP, so it exercises the full lifecycle but
+# does not provide a distinct egress path (use the gcp provider for that).
+apiVersion: crawl.example.com/v1alpha1
+kind: Proxy
+metadata:
+  name: proxy-kubernetes-sample
+spec:
+  mode: Managed
+  provider: kubernetes
+  attributes:
+    geo: local
+    purpose: crawl
diff --git a/docs/architecture.md b/docs/architecture.md
index d7e0a0d..619cd98 100644
--- a/docs/architecture.md
+++ b/docs/architecture.md
@@ -1,10 +1,20 @@
 # Architecture
 
-> **Status:** the operator is built through Step 9 (orphan GC + metrics) of
-> [docs/plans/2026-08-07-1747-proxy-operator.md](plans/2026-08-07-1747-proxy-operator.md).
-> This document covers the event/reconcile flow, the HTTP-driven
-> lease/discovery path, and the GC sweep; the components table and the
-> Decisions section arrive with Step 10.
+## Components
+
+| Component | Package | Runs as | Leader-elected | Role |
+|---|---|---|---|---|
+| Proxy CRD + helpers | `api/v1alpha1` | types | — | `Proxy` spec/status, CEL validation, defaulting, pure helpers |
+| Reconciler | `internal/controller` | controller | yes (with the manager) | the state machine: provision, replace, delete, represent health |
+| Provider contract | `internal/provider` | library | — | `Provider` interface, error taxonomy, deterministic naming, config, metrics decorator |
+| kubernetes provider | `internal/provider/kubernetes` | library | — | real Squid pods in this cluster (local dev/CI) |
+| gcp provider | `internal/provider/gcp` | library | — | Compute Engine VMs, four API calls, fire-and-forget ops |
+| Health engine | `internal/health` | Runnable | yes | through-the-proxy probes, thresholds, transition events |
+| Lease store | `internal/lease` | Runnable (expiry sweep) | no | in-memory leases + cooldowns, single mutex |
+| Discovery API | `internal/discovery` | Runnable | no | HTTP list/lease/release/report on `:8090` |
+| Orphan GC | `internal/gc` | Runnable | yes | deletes tagged instances whose CR is gone |
+| Metrics | `internal/metrics` | library | — | explicit registration, scrape-time collectors |
+| Composition root | `cmd/main.go` | binary | — | flags, provider registry, wires everything onto one manager |
 
 ## Event flow: cluster events → reconciler functions
 
@@ -287,3 +297,108 @@ Each consuming package defines its own small recorder interface
 (`health.ProbeMetrics`, `discovery.LeaseMetrics`, `provider.RequestRecorder`);
 `metrics.Metrics` satisfies all of them structurally, so no package other
 than `cmd/main.go` imports the metrics package.
+
+## Decisions
+
+Judgment calls the spec left open, and deliberate deviations — recorded so
+they read as choices, not accidents. Chronological by build step.
+
+- **Registry takes its constructor map as a parameter** instead of holding
+  a package-level map: avoids the provider⇄registry import cycle and puts
+  the wiring at the composition root, where it is visible.
+- **Mock provider replaced by the kubernetes-pod provider** (user
+  decision, mid-build): a simulated in-memory provider was too far from
+  the real system to build confidence in. Local dev/CI now runs real
+  `ubuntu/squid` pods (Canonical's actively maintained image, verified
+  50M+ pulls, pinned tag) in the operator's own cluster. Trade-off
+  accepted: envtest has no kubelet, so end-to-end proof lives in the kind
+  quickstart, and cluster pods share one egress IP — distinct egress
+  paths remain the GCP provider's job.
+- **`RequeueAfter: RequeueNow` instead of the plan's `Requeue: true`:**
+  `ctrl.Result.Requeue` is deprecated in controller-runtime v0.24; a fifth
+  configurable interval (default 1s) keeps identical semantics and stays
+  shrinkable in tests.
+- **Quota exhaustion is a wait, not a failure:** `ErrQuotaExceeded` sets a
+  condition and requeues slowly (5m) with a nil error — off the backoff
+  curve, out of the error log, and never `phase: Failed`. Only
+  `ErrPermanent` latches Failed, keyed to the generation so a spec edit
+  auto-recovers.
+- **The finalizer path never latches permanent failures:** a permanent
+  error during deletion keeps retrying visibly instead — latching there
+  would wedge the object forever with no path out but manual finalizer
+  surgery.
+- **Health transitions travel reconciler-ward over a channel**
+  (`source.Channel`), not direct status patches: `phase` derives from both
+  provisioning and health, so two status writers would race and flap. One
+  writer of status; the engine owns health *state*, the reconciler its
+  *representation*; write-only-on-transition falls out for free.
+- **Health state seeds from the existing Healthy condition on leader
+  handover** (verdict kept, counters zeroed, first probe jittered), so a
+  healthy fleet doesn't flap to Unknown on restart — but a real
+  transition still needs a full threshold run. A never-probed proxy skips
+  the jitter and probes on the next tick: startup spread matters for
+  restarts, not for a single new proxy.
+- **Latency suppression is `max(20ms, 50%)` + a 60s rate limit, and only
+  while the verdict is healthy.** The spec's bare ">50% change" is
+  undefined at 0 and lets a proxy jittering 40↔61ms write status forever;
+  the healthy-only guard (found by test) stops a below-threshold success
+  streak from emitting latency updates for a proxy still reported
+  unhealthy. Consequence: `status.lastHealthCheckTime` means "last
+  status-affecting probe" — true probe recency is in the metrics.
+- **Deterministic instance names** are `proxy-` + 16 chars of
+  base32(SHA-256(CR UID)): legal for both GCP (`[a-z2-7]` ⊂ `[-a-z0-9]`,
+  22 ≤ 63 chars) and Pod names, 80 bits against birthday collisions at a
+  fleet of tens. The replacement VM therefore has the *same name* as the
+  one being deleted — which is why replacement polls to NotFound before
+  recreating instead of racing a 409.
+- **`banned` and `rate_limited` share one cooldown window:** a second
+  duration knob the spec doesn't ask for; the report's semantic
+  difference is preserved in the API but not the store.
+- **Report targets fall back report → lease → global**, so a client that
+  leased with a target can't accidentally poison the proxy's global pool
+  by omitting the target in its report.
+- **The 409 body's `considered` counts unhealthy matches too** (the store
+  only ever sees healthy candidates): `considered = atCapacity +
+  inCooldown + unhealthy + eligible-but-outranked`, keeping the numbers
+  additive for a human debugging "why no proxy?".
+- **TTLs above `--max-lease-ttl` are a 400, not a silent clamp** — a
+  client asking for a week should find out.
+- **Discovery is not leader-elected and ships `replicas: 1`:** caches
+  start before non-leader-election runnables (verified in
+  controller-runtime's ordering), and a leader-elected server would leave
+  non-leader replicas as broken Service endpoints. One replica because
+  lease state is per-process.
+- **GCP `Create` requires zone, machineType, and image** and fails
+  `ErrPermanent` naming the missing field — inventing machine-type
+  defaults would silently create billable VMs of arbitrary shape.
+- **Unknown GCP instance statuses map to `Stopped`:** the reconciler's
+  answer to Stopped is delete-and-recreate, the always-safe move for
+  cattle when the API grows a new state.
+- **Kubernetes 403s classify as `ErrPermanent`** even though quota
+  exhaustion also surfaces as 403 (indistinguishable from RBAC denial in
+  `apierrors`): not hammering an API server that may never allow the
+  request is the safer default; a real ResourceQuota 403 forgoes the
+  gentler quota backoff. Documented at the classification site.
+- **GC kills log at Info with a `WARNING:` prefix** — logr has no Warn
+  level; the plan's "log at Warn" is met in spirit with provider,
+  providerID, and UID always attached. Same convention as the
+  discovery server's empty-token warning.
+- **GC trusts only provable orphans:** instances without the UID label
+  are never deleted, a CR with a deletionTimestamp still counts as live
+  (its finalizer owns that deletion), and an unreadable Proxy list skips
+  the whole sweep. The namespace guard refuses to sweep a
+  namespace-restricted cache without `--gc-allow-namespaced`.
+- **Cloud-init Secrets must carry `crawl.example.com/cloud-init: "true"`:**
+  the manager caches only labelled Secrets (the operator holds
+  cluster-wide Secret read RBAC — an unrestricted cache would hold every
+  Secret in scope). Unlabelled referenced Secrets are invisible by
+  construction, surfacing as `CloudInitError`.
+- **Events RBAC from the plan is omitted:** nothing wires an
+  EventRecorder in the prototype, and granting verbs nothing uses would
+  be RBAC lint noise. Add the marker together with the recorder if events
+  land later.
+- **logr, not slog, inside controller paths:** the repo convention says
+  `slog`, but `log.FromContext(ctx)` hands controller-runtime's logr
+  logger to everything running under the manager — fighting that would
+  mean two logging systems in one process. Noted as a deviation rather
+  than silently ignored.
diff --git a/docs/plans-executions/2026-08-07-1747-proxy-operator.md b/docs/plans-executions/2026-08-07-1747-proxy-operator.md
index 670ff97..dd3e7e9 100644
--- a/docs/plans-executions/2026-08-07-1747-proxy-operator.md
+++ b/docs/plans-executions/2026-08-07-1747-proxy-operator.md
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Pairs with [docs/plans/2026-08-07-1747-proxy-operator.md](../plans/2026-08-07-17
 - [x] Step 7 — Discovery API (`internal/discovery/`)
 - [x] Step 8 — GCP provider (`internal/provider/gcp/`)
 - [x] Step 9 — Orphan GC + metrics
-- [ ] Step 10 — Wiring, config, docs
+- [x] Step 10 — Wiring, config, docs
 - [ ] Step 11 — Tests
 - [ ] Verification (vet/test/kind e2e) + commit, push, open MR
 
@@ -939,3 +939,73 @@ Worth noting: `prometheus/client_golang` was already in the module via
 controller-runtime's metrics server, so no new dependency — `go mod tidy`
 just promoted it to direct. `docs/architecture.md` gained §8 (GC sweep)
 and §9 (metrics shape).
+
+## Step 10 — Wiring, config, docs
+
+The composition root and everything around it. `cmd/main.go` now: parses
+the plan's flag set (plus `--gc-allow-namespaced` from Step 9), loads the
+provider config first and fails fast, builds the registry with
+`{"kubernetes": kubernetes.New, "gcp": gcp.New}`, wraps every provider in
+`provider.WithMetrics`, then adds the lease store, health engine,
+discovery server, and GC sweeper to one manager and hands the reconciler
+its providers + health snapshotter + events channel. Metrics register on
+controller-runtime's global registry with scrape-time closures (phase
+counts from the cache, active leases summed from `store.Counts()`).
+
+Two cache decisions became concrete here:
+
+- The Secret cache is restricted to Secrets labelled
+  `crawl.example.com/cloud-init=true` (new constant
+  `v1alpha1.LabelCloudInit`) — the operator holds cluster-wide Secret
+  read RBAC, and an unrestricted cache would hold every Secret in scope.
+  Consequence documented in the README: an unlabelled referenced Secret
+  is invisible → `CloudInitError`.
+- `--proxy-namespace` restricts the whole cache via `DefaultNamespaces`
+  and flips the GC sweeper's `NamespaceRestricted` guard.
+
+Manifests: `config/manager/manager.yaml` gained the
+`--providers-config` arg, the optional `DISCOVERY_TOKEN` secretKeyRef
+(`optional: true` — without the Secret the API runs unauthenticated with
+its loud warning), the ConfigMap volume mount, and containerPort 8090;
+new `config/manager/providers_config.yaml` (kubernetes-only default) and
+`config/default/discovery_service.yaml`. RBAC: the pods marker landed in
+the controller RBAC block (cluster-scoped role — the kubernetes
+provider's ListByTag spans namespaces). The plan's events RBAC was
+deliberately omitted: nothing wires an EventRecorder, and unused verbs
+are lint noise — recorded in Decisions.
+
+Samples: `proxy_kubernetes.yaml` / `proxy_gcp.yaml` (with a working
+Squid-installing cloud-init) / `proxy_external.yaml` replace the scaffold
+placeholder; `providers-config.yaml` documents both provider blocks;
+`hack/providers-dev.yaml` + a new `run-dev` Makefile target run locally
+with plain-HTTP metrics:
+
+```bash
+make run-dev
+# go run ./cmd/main.go --providers-config hack/providers-dev.yaml \
+#   --metrics-bind-address :8080 --metrics-secure=false
+```
+
+Docs: README rewritten per the plan (60-second architecture, kind
+quickstart, in-cluster deploy incl. token Secret creation, GCP setup with
+the IAM roles, the two prominent caveats, the no-substitutions version
+pins note). `docs/architecture.md` gained the components table and the
+full Decisions section — the plan's listed decisions plus everything
+accumulated in this log (RequeueNow, quota≠Failed, 409 arithmetic,
+TTL-400-not-clamp, GCP required placement, unknown-status→Stopped,
+banned==rate_limited window, GC logging convention, the Secret label
+contract, events-RBAC omission, logr-not-slog). `CHANGELOG.md` got its
+first entry with a real timestamp.
+
+Verified: `make test` green across the repo (coverage unchanged),
+`bin/kustomize build config/default` and `config/samples` render clean,
+`make build` produces the binary, e2e-tagged build + vet clean. The kind
+end-to-end run is deliberately still ahead — it is the Verification
+step's job, after Step 11 closes the remaining test gaps.
+
+Worth noting: `make run-dev` passes `--metrics-secure=false` because the
+scaffold's secure-serving default requires authn/authz reachability that
+a local process doesn't have; in-cluster deployments keep the secure
+default from the kustomize patch. The `providers` map wrapping happens
+*before* any consumer sees it, so the reconciler and GC only ever hold
+instrumented providers.
diff --git a/hack/providers-dev.yaml b/hack/providers-dev.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..05012bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hack/providers-dev.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# Providers config for `make run-dev`: local development against the
+# current kubeconfig context (e.g. a kind cluster). Only the
+# kubernetes-pod provider — no cloud credentials needed.
+providers:
+  - name: kubernetes
+    type: kubernetes
diff --git a/internal/controller/proxy_controller.go b/internal/controller/proxy_controller.go
index ec344d0..3bf1d5f 100644
--- a/internal/controller/proxy_controller.go
+++ b/internal/controller/proxy_controller.go
@@ -82,6 +82,9 @@ type ProxyReconciler struct {
 // +kubebuilder:rbac:groups=crawl.example.com,resources=proxies/status,verbs=get;update;patch
 // +kubebuilder:rbac:groups=crawl.example.com,resources=proxies/finalizers,verbs=update
 // +kubebuilder:rbac:groups="",resources=secrets,verbs=get;list;watch
+// The pod verbs are for the kubernetes-pod provider; cluster-scoped, since
+// its ListByTag enumerates the operator's Pods across all namespaces.
+// +kubebuilder:rbac:groups="",resources=pods,verbs=get;list;watch;create;delete
 
 // Reconcile fetches the Proxy named by req into p (r.Get fills the struct
 // through the pointer), dispatches to the delete/external/managed state