diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 2224e01c..696b38e0 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -84,3 +84,6 @@ tags
 .vscode/*
 .history
 # End of https://www.gitignore.io/api/go,vim,emacs,visualstudiocode
+
+catalog/
+catalog.Dockerfile
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 658cff22..e56aed68 100755
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -42,11 +42,22 @@ IMAGE_TAG = v$(VERSION)
 endif
 export IMAGE_TAG
 
-CHANNELS = stable
+CHANNELS ?= stable
 export CHANNELS
-DEFAULT_CHANNEL = stable
+DEFAULT_CHANNEL ?= stable
 export DEFAULT_CHANNEL
 
+# Validate DEFAULT_CHANNEL is in CHANNELS
+# When CHANNELS contains comma-separated values (e.g., "stable,beta"), we need to convert
+# commas to spaces for filter to match. We use a variable for the comma because Make treats
+# commas as function argument delimiters, causing $(subst ,, ,$(CHANNELS)) to misparse.
+comma := ,
+ifneq (,$(DEFAULT_CHANNEL))
+  ifeq (,$(filter $(DEFAULT_CHANNEL),$(subst $(comma), ,$(CHANNELS))))
+    $(error DEFAULT_CHANNEL "$(DEFAULT_CHANNEL)" must be present in CHANNELS "$(CHANNELS)")
+  endif
+endif
+
 # VERSION defines the project version for the bundle.
 # Update this value when you upgrade the version of your project.
 # To re-generate a bundle for another specific version without changing the standard setup, you can:
@@ -55,6 +66,7 @@ export DEFAULT_CHANNEL
 CI_VERSION := 9.9.9-dummy
 VERSION ?= $(DEFAULT_VERSION)
 PREVIOUS_VERSION ?= $(DEFAULT_VERSION)
+SKIP_RANGE_LOWER ?=
 export VERSION
 
 # CHANNELS define the bundle channels used in the bundle.
@@ -423,14 +435,29 @@ CATALOG_DIR := catalog
 CATALOG_DOCKERFILE := ${CATALOG_DIR}.Dockerfile
 CATALOG_INDEX := $(CATALOG_DIR)/index.yaml
 
+# Add olm.channel entries for each channel in CHANNELS.
+# For development version (0.0.1), omit replaces and skipRange to avoid OLM catalog validation errors.
 .PHONY: add_channel_entry_for_the_bundle
 add_channel_entry_for_the_bundle:
-	@echo "---" >> ${CATALOG_INDEX}
-	@echo "schema: olm.channel" >> ${CATALOG_INDEX}
-	@echo "package: ${OPERATOR_NAME}" >> ${CATALOG_INDEX}
-	@echo "name: ${CHANNELS}" >> ${CATALOG_INDEX}
-	@echo "entries:" >> ${CATALOG_INDEX}
-	@echo "  - name: ${OPERATOR_NAME}.v${VERSION}" >> ${CATALOG_INDEX}
+	@for channel in $(shell echo ${CHANNELS} | tr ',' ' '); do \
+		echo "---" >> ${CATALOG_INDEX}; \
+		echo "schema: olm.channel" >> ${CATALOG_INDEX}; \
+		echo "package: ${OPERATOR_NAME}" >> ${CATALOG_INDEX}; \
+		echo "name: $$channel" >> ${CATALOG_INDEX}; \
+		echo "entries:" >> ${CATALOG_INDEX}; \
+		echo "  - name: ${OPERATOR_NAME}.v${VERSION}" >> ${CATALOG_INDEX}; \
+		\
+		if [ -n "${PREVIOUS_VERSION}" ] && [ "${VERSION}" != "${DEFAULT_VERSION}" ] && [ "${PREVIOUS_VERSION}" != "${DEFAULT_VERSION}" ]; then \
+			echo "    replaces: ${OPERATOR_NAME}.v${PREVIOUS_VERSION}" >> ${CATALOG_INDEX}; \
+		fi; \
+		if [ -n "${SKIP_RANGE_LOWER}" ] && [ "${VERSION}" != "${DEFAULT_VERSION}" ] && [ "${VERSION}" != "${SKIP_RANGE_LOWER}" ]; then \
+			if ! printf '%s\n' "${SKIP_RANGE_LOWER}" "${VERSION}" | sort -V -C 2>/dev/null; then \
+				echo "Error: VERSION (${VERSION}) must be greater than SKIP_RANGE_LOWER (${SKIP_RANGE_LOWER})"; \
+				exit 1; \
+			fi; \
+			echo "    skipRange: '>=${SKIP_RANGE_LOWER} <${VERSION}'" >> ${CATALOG_INDEX}; \
+		fi; \
+	done
 
 .PHONY: build-tools
 build-tools: ## Download & build all the tools locally if necessary.
@@ -446,7 +473,7 @@ catalog-build: opm ## Build a file-based catalog image.
 	@mkdir -p ${CATALOG_DIR}
 	$(OPM) generate dockerfile ${CATALOG_DIR}
 	$(OPM) init ${OPERATOR_NAME} \
-		--default-channel=${CHANNELS} \
+		--default-channel=${DEFAULT_CHANNEL} \
 		--description=./README.md \
 		--icon=${BLUE_ICON_PATH} \
 		--output yaml \