diff --git a/pkg/utils/k8sutil.go b/pkg/utils/k8sutil.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..962681d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/utils/k8sutil.go
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+package utils
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+
+	logf "sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/log"
+)
+
+var ForceRunModeEnv = "OSDK_FORCE_RUN_MODE"
+
+type RunModeType string
+
+const (
+	LocalRunMode   RunModeType = "local"
+	ClusterRunMode RunModeType = "cluster"
+)
+
+var log = logf.Log.WithName("k8sutil")
+
+// ErrNoNamespace indicates that a namespace could not be found for the current
+// environment
+var ErrNoNamespace = fmt.Errorf("namespace not found for current environment")
+
+// ErrRunLocal indicates that the operator is set to run in local mode (this error
+// is returned by functions that only work on operators running in cluster mode)
+var ErrRunLocal = fmt.Errorf("operator run mode forced to local")
+
+// GetOperatorNamespace returns the namespace the operator should be running in.
+func GetOperatorNamespace() (string, error) {
+	if isRunModeLocal() {
+		return "", ErrRunLocal
+	}
+	nsBytes, err := os.ReadFile("/var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/namespace")
+	if err != nil {
+		if os.IsNotExist(err) {
+			return "", ErrNoNamespace
+		}
+		return "", err
+	}
+	ns := strings.TrimSpace(string(nsBytes))
+	log.V(1).Info("Found namespace", "Namespace", ns)
+	return ns, nil
+}
+
+func isRunModeLocal() bool {
+	return os.Getenv(ForceRunModeEnv) == string(LocalRunMode)
+}
diff --git a/version/version.go b/version/version.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e2cd6fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/version/version.go
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+package version
+
+var (
+	OperatorVersion    = "1.5.0"
+	OperatorSDKVersion = "1.23.0"
+)