diff --git a/apps/base/cephrgw-system/deployment.yaml b/apps/base/cephrgw-system/deployment.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0a27938
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/base/cephrgw-system/deployment.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+---
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Deployment
+metadata:
+  name: cephrgw-operator
+  namespace: cephrgw-system
+  labels:
+    app.kubernetes.io/name: cephrgw-operator
+  annotations:
+    # Restart the operator when the credentials Secret rotates.
+    reloader.stakater.com/auto: "true"
+spec:
+  replicas: 1
+  selector:
+    matchLabels:
+      app.kubernetes.io/name: cephrgw-operator
+  template:
+    metadata:
+      labels:
+        app.kubernetes.io/name: cephrgw-operator
+    spec:
+      serviceAccountName: cephrgw-operator
+      securityContext:
+        runAsNonRoot: true
+      containers:
+        - name: operator
+          image: git.unkin.net/unkin/cephrgw-operator:v0.1.0
+          args:
+            - --metrics-bind-address=:8080
+            - --health-probe-bind-address=:8081
+            - --leader-elect
+          envFrom:
+            # Provides CEPH_DASHBOARD_URL/USERNAME/PASSWORD and, optionally,
+            # CEPH_RGW_ENDPOINT / CEPH_DASHBOARD_CA. Create this Secret per
+            # docs/ceph-setup.md; it is intentionally not managed in GitOps.
+            - secretRef:
+                name: cephrgw-credentials
+          ports:
+            - containerPort: 8080
+              name: metrics
+            - containerPort: 8081
+              name: health
+          readinessProbe:
+            httpGet:
+              path: /readyz
+              port: 8081
+            initialDelaySeconds: 5
+            periodSeconds: 10
+          livenessProbe:
+            httpGet:
+              path: /healthz
+              port: 8081
+            initialDelaySeconds: 15
+            periodSeconds: 20
+          securityContext:
+            allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
+            readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
+            capabilities:
+              drop: ["ALL"]
+          resources:
+            requests:
+              cpu: 50m
+              memory: 64Mi
+            limits:
+              cpu: 500m
+              memory: 256Mi
diff --git a/apps/base/cephrgw-system/kustomization.yaml b/apps/base/cephrgw-system/kustomization.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c3558d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/base/cephrgw-system/kustomization.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+---
+apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
+kind: Kustomization
+
+resources:
+  - namespace.yaml
+  # CRDs are pulled from the cephrgw-operator repo at the matching tag rather
+  # than vendored here, so they never drift from the operator.
+  - https://git.unkin.net/unkin/cephrgw-operator/raw/tag/v0.1.0/config/crd/install.yaml
+  - rbac.yaml
+  - deployment.yaml
diff --git a/apps/base/cephrgw-system/namespace.yaml b/apps/base/cephrgw-system/namespace.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1ad6666
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/base/cephrgw-system/namespace.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Namespace
+metadata:
+  name: cephrgw-system
diff --git a/apps/base/cephrgw-system/rbac.yaml b/apps/base/cephrgw-system/rbac.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aad1349
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/base/cephrgw-system/rbac.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: ServiceAccount
+metadata:
+  name: cephrgw-operator
+  namespace: cephrgw-system
+---
+apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
+kind: ClusterRole
+metadata:
+  name: cephrgw-operator
+rules:
+  - apiGroups: ["ceph.unkin.net"]
+    resources: ["*"]
+    verbs: ["*"]
+  # The operator delivers RGW access/secret keys into Secrets.
+  - apiGroups: [""]
+    resources: ["secrets"]
+    verbs: ["get", "list", "watch", "create", "update", "patch", "delete"]
+  - apiGroups: [""]
+    resources: ["events"]
+    verbs: ["create", "patch"]
+  - apiGroups: ["coordination.k8s.io"]
+    resources: ["leases"]
+    verbs: ["get", "list", "watch", "create", "update", "patch", "delete"]
+---
+apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
+kind: ClusterRoleBinding
+metadata:
+  name: cephrgw-operator
+subjects:
+  - kind: ServiceAccount
+    name: cephrgw-operator
+    namespace: cephrgw-system
+roleRef:
+  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
+  kind: ClusterRole
+  name: cephrgw-operator
diff --git a/apps/overlays/au-syd1/cephrgw-system/kustomization.yaml b/apps/overlays/au-syd1/cephrgw-system/kustomization.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..861c6ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/overlays/au-syd1/cephrgw-system/kustomization.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
+kind: Kustomization
+
+resources:
+  - ../../../base/cephrgw-system
diff --git a/argocd/applicationsets/platform.yaml b/argocd/applicationsets/platform.yaml
index 3e99f87..71b298d 100644
--- a/argocd/applicationsets/platform.yaml
+++ b/argocd/applicationsets/platform.yaml
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ spec:
       - path: apps/overlays/*/cattle-system
       - path: apps/overlays/*/cert-manager
       - path: apps/overlays/*/certificates
+      - path: apps/overlays/*/cephrgw-system
       - path: apps/overlays/*/cnpg-system
       - path: apps/overlays/*/consul
       - path: apps/overlays/*/elastic-system