diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 6eec10e28e..b96ea7e2b4 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2,9 +2,8 @@ all: test local-build
 
 # Image URL to use all building/pushing image targets
 REPO		?= scylladb/scylla-operator
-TAG			?= $(shell git describe --tags --always --abbrev=0)
+TAG			?= $(shell ./version.sh)
 IMG			?= $(REPO):$(TAG)
-NIGHTLY_IMG	?= $(REPO):nightly
 # Produce CRDs that work back to Kubernetes 1.11 (no version conversion)
 CRD_OPTIONS ?= "crd:trivialVersions=true"
 
@@ -47,11 +46,12 @@ cert-manager:
 
 # Deploy controller in the configured Kubernetes cluster in ~/.kube/config
 deploy: manifests cert-manager
-	cd config/operator/operator && kustomize edit set image controller=${IMG}
-	kustomize build config/operator/default | kubectl apply -f -
+	kubectl apply -f examples/common/operator.yaml
 
 # Generate manifests e.g. CRD, RBAC etc.
 manifests:
+	cd config/operator/operator && kustomize edit set image controller=${IMG}
+
 	controller-gen $(CRD_OPTIONS) paths="$(PKG)" output:crd:dir=config/operator/crd/bases \
 	rbac:roleName=manager-role output:rbac:artifacts:config=config/operator/rbac \
 	webhook output:webhook:artifacts:config=config/operator/webhook
@@ -96,4 +96,4 @@ release:
 
 nightly:
 	goreleaser --snapshot --rm-dist --config=.goreleaser-nightly.yml
-	docker push ${NIGHTLY_IMG}
+	docker push ${IMG}
diff --git a/config/operator/operator/kustomization.yaml b/config/operator/operator/kustomization.yaml
index 464bf95734..9f82258a84 100644
--- a/config/operator/operator/kustomization.yaml
+++ b/config/operator/operator/kustomization.yaml
@@ -5,4 +5,4 @@ kind: Kustomization
 images:
 - name: controller
   newName: scylladb/scylla-operator
-  newTag: v0.3.0
+  newTag: nightly
diff --git a/examples/common/operator.yaml b/examples/common/operator.yaml
index edf8cc3106..c99091b8b4 100644
--- a/examples/common/operator.yaml
+++ b/examples/common/operator.yaml
@@ -1832,7 +1832,7 @@ spec:
           valueFrom:
             fieldRef:
               fieldPath: metadata.namespace
-        image: scylladb/scylla-operator:v0.3.0
+        image: scylladb/scylla-operator:nightly
         imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
         name: manager
         ports:
diff --git a/version.sh b/version.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..7f5f6374be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/version.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# This file is open source software, licensed to you under the terms
+# of the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License").  See the NOTICE file
+# distributed with this work for additional information regarding copyright
+# ownership.  You may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+#
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+# software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+# "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+# KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+# specific language governing permissions and limitations
+# under the License.
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+BRANCH=$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)
+if [[ "$BRANCH" != "master" ]]; then
+  echo $(git describe --tags --always --abbrev=0)
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+echo 'nightly'
\ No newline at end of file