diff --git a/.ci-operator.yaml b/.ci-operator.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2476e0325e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.ci-operator.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+build_root_image:
+  name: release
+  namespace: openshift
+  tag: rhel-8-release-golang-1.16-openshift-4.8