diff --git a/tools/airship-in-a-pod/README.md b/tools/airship-in-a-pod/README.md
index d301ff77b..768e31fbc 100644
--- a/tools/airship-in-a-pod/README.md
+++ b/tools/airship-in-a-pod/README.md
@@ -4,14 +4,14 @@ Airship in a pod is a Kubernetes pod definition which describes all of the
 components required to deploy a fully functioning Airship 2 deployment. The pod
 consists of the following "Task" containers:
 
-* `artifact-setup`: This container builds the airshipctl binary and makes it
-  available to the other containers. Also, based on the configuration provided
-  in the airship-in-a-pod manifest, airshipctl/treasuremap(based on the usecase) git repositories
-  will be downloaded and the required tag or commitId will be checked out.
+* `artifact-setup`: This container collects the airshipctl binary repo, builds
+  the airshipctl binary (and associated kustomize plugins), and makes them
+  available to the other containers
 * `infra-builder`: This container creates the various virtual networks and
   machines required for an Airship deployment
 * `runner`: The runner container is the "meat" of the pod, and executes the
-  deployment
+  deployment. It sets up a customized airshipctl config file, then uses
+  airshipctl to pull the specified manifests and execute the deployment
 
 The pod also contains the following "Support" containers:
 
@@ -43,21 +43,14 @@ the script.
 
 ### Nested Virtualisation
 
-If deployment is done on a VM, ensure that nested virtualization is enabled.
-
-### Setup shared directory
-
-Create the following directory with appropriate r+w permissions.
-
-```
-sudo mkdir /opt/.airship
-```
+If deployment is done on a VM, ensure that nested virtualisation is enabled.
 
 ### Environment variable setup
 
 If you are within a proxy environment, ensure that the following environment
 variables are defined, and NO_PROXY has the IP address which minikube uses.
-For retrieving minikube ip refer: [minikube-ip](https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/commands/ip/)
+Check the [minikube documentation](https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/commands/ip/)
+for retrieving the minikube ip.
 
 ```
 export HTTP_PROXY=http://username:password@host:port
@@ -79,110 +72,55 @@ Within the environment, with appropriate env variables set, run the following co
 sudo -E minikube start --driver=none
 
 ```
-Refer [minikube](https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/start/)for more details.
+Refer to the [minikube documentation](https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/start/) for more details.
 
 ## Usage
 
 Since Airship in a Pod is just a pod definition, deploying and using it is as
-simple as deploying and using any Kubernetes pod with kustomize tool.
+simple as deploying and using any other Kubernetes pod with `kubectl apply -f`.
+The base pod definition can be found
+[here](https://github.com/airshipit/airshipctl/tree/master/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/base)
+and deploys using the current master `airshipctl` binary and current master
+[test site](https://github.com/airshipit/airshipctl/tree/master/manifests/site/test-site).
 
-###  Pod configuration
+### Pod configuration
 
-The below section provides steps to configure site with [airshipctl](https://github.com/airshipit/airshipctl)/[treasuremap](https://github.com/airshipit/treasuremap) manifests.
-
-#### For airshipctl
-
-Within the examples/airshipctl directory, update the existing patchset.yaml
-file to reflect the airshipctl branch reference as required.
-
-filepath : airshipctl/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/airshipctl/patchset.yaml
+Further configuration can be applied to the pod definition via
+[`kustomize`](https://kustomize.io/). Options that can be configured can be
+found in the [airshipctl example](https://github.com/airshipit/airshipctl/blob/master/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/airshipctl/replacements.yaml).
+You may choose to either modify one of the examples or create your own.
 
+Once you've created the desired configuration, the kustomized pod can be deployed with the following:
 
 ```
-- op: replace
-  path: "/spec/containers/4/env/4/value"
-  value: <branch reference>
+kustomize build ${PATH_TO_KUSTOMIZATION} | kubectl apply -f -
 
 ```
 
-#### For treasuremap
+### Interacting with the Pod
 
-For treasuremap related manifests, use the patchset.yaml from
-examples/treasuremap and  update the following to reflect
-the treasuremap branch reference and the pinned airshipctl reference
-as required. The pinned airshipctl reference is the tag/commitId with
-which treasuremap is tested and found working satisfactorily. This
-could be found listed as 'AIRSHIPCTL_REF' attribute under the zuul.d
-directory of treasuremap repository.
-
-filepath : airshipctl/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/treasuremap/patchset.yaml
-
-```
-- op: replace
-  path: "/spec/containers/4/env/4/value"
-  value: <branch reference>
-
-- op: replace
-  path: "/spec/containers/4/env/6/value"
-  value: <airshipctl_ref>
-
-```
-
-For more details, please consult the examples directory.
-
-### Deploy the Pod
-
-Once patchset.yaml for either airshipctl/treasuremap is ready, run the following
-command against the running minikube cluster as shown below.
-
-For example to run AIAP with treasuremap manifests, run the following commands.
-
-```
-cd tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/{either airshipctl or treasuremap}
-kustomize build . | kubectl apply -f -
-
-```
-
-### View Pod Logs
+For a quick rundown of what a particular container is doing, simply check the logs for that container.
 
 ```
+# $CONTAINER is one of [runner infra-builder artifact-setup libvirt sushy dind nginx]
 kubectl logs airship-in-a-pod -c $CONTAINER
 ```
 
-### Interact with the Pod
+For a deeper dive, consider `exec`ing into one of the containers.
 
 ```
+# $CONTAINER is one of [runner infra-builder artifact-setup libvirt sushy dind nginx]
 kubectl exec -it airship-in-a-pod -c $CONTAINER -- bash
 ```
 
-where `$CONTAINER` is one of the containers listed above.
-
-### Inspect Cluster
-
-Once AIAP is fully installed with a target cluster (air-target-1 and air-worker-1 nodes)
-installed and running, the cluster could be monitored using the following steps.
-
-#### Log into the runner container
-
-```
-kubectl exec -it airship-in-a-pod -c runner -- bash
-```
-
-Run the .profile file using the following command to run kubectl/airshipctl commands
-as below.
-
-```
-source ~/.profile
-
-```
-
-To run kubectl commands on Target cluster, use --kubeconfig and --context params
-within kubectl as below.
-
-```
-kubectl --kubeconfig /root/.airship/kubeconfig --context target-cluster get pods -A'
-```
+#### Interacting with the Nodes
 
+If you would like to interact with the nodes used in the deployment, you should
+first prevent the runner container from exiting (check the examples/airshipctl
+replacements for the option to do this). While the runner container is alive,
+`exec` into it using the above command. The `kubectl` tool can then be used to
+interact with a cluster. Choose a context from `kubectl config get-contexts`
+and switch to it via `kubectl config use-context ${MY_CONTEXT}`.
 
 ### Output
 
@@ -194,7 +132,6 @@ Airship-in-a-pod produces the following outputs:
 
 These artifacts are placed at `ARTIFACTS_DIR` (defaults to /opt/aiap-artifacts`).
 
-
 ### Caching
 
 As it can be cumbersome and time-consuming to build and rebuild binaries and
@@ -205,7 +142,7 @@ caching:
 
 * If using a cached `airshipctl`, the `airshipctl` binary must be stored in the
   `$CACHE_DIR/airshipctl/bin/` directory, and the developer must have set
-  `USE_CACHED_ARTIFACTS` to `true`.
+  `USE_CACHED_AIRSHIPCTL` to `true`.
 * If using a cached ephemeral iso, the iso must first be contained in a tarball named `iso.tar.gz`, must be stored in the
   `$CACHE_DIR/` directory, and the developer must have set
   `USE_CACHED_ISO` to `true`.
diff --git a/tools/airship-in-a-pod/artifact-setup/Dockerfile b/tools/airship-in-a-pod/artifact-setup/Dockerfile
index b3322aaa7..66f72c3db 100644
--- a/tools/airship-in-a-pod/artifact-setup/Dockerfile
+++ b/tools/airship-in-a-pod/artifact-setup/Dockerfile
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ FROM ${BASE_IMAGE}
 SHELL ["bash", "-exc"]
 ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND noninteractive
 
-ARG USE_CACHED_ARTIFACTS="false"
-ENV USE_CACHED_ARTIFACTS=$USE_CACHED_ARTIFACTS
+ARG USE_CACHED_AIRSHIPCTL="false"
+ENV USE_CACHED_AIRSHIPCTL=$USE_CACHED_AIRSHIPCTL
 
 ARG AIRSHIPCTL_REPO_URL=https://opendev.org/airship/airshipctl
 ENV AIRSHIPCTL_REPO_URL=$AIRSHIPCTL_REPO_URL
diff --git a/tools/airship-in-a-pod/artifact-setup/assets/entrypoint.sh b/tools/airship-in-a-pod/artifact-setup/assets/entrypoint.sh
index 50d9d4217..c8527304b 100755
--- a/tools/airship-in-a-pod/artifact-setup/assets/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/tools/airship-in-a-pod/artifact-setup/assets/entrypoint.sh
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ function cloneRepo() {
   git checkout FETCH_HEAD
 }
 
-if [[ "$USE_CACHED_ARTIFACTS" = "true" ]]
+if [[ "$USE_CACHED_AIRSHIPCTL" = "true" ]]
 then
   printf "Using cached airshipctl\n"
   cp -r "$CACHE_DIR/*" "$ARTIFACTS_DIR"
diff --git a/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/airshipctl/kustomization.yaml b/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/airshipctl/kustomization.yaml
index 090672448..408ebe6e0 100644
--- a/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/airshipctl/kustomization.yaml
+++ b/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/airshipctl/kustomization.yaml
@@ -20,4 +20,4 @@ patchesJson6902:
     version: v1 # apiVersion
     kind: Pod
     name: airship-in-a-pod
-  path: patchset.yaml
+  path: replacements.yaml
diff --git a/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/airshipctl/patchset.yaml b/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/airshipctl/patchset.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index 493ec12a9..000000000
--- a/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/airshipctl/patchset.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,46 +0,0 @@
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# 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.
-
-# This is the location from which to clone the airshipctl binary repo
-- op: replace
-  path: "/spec/containers/4/env/3/value"
-  value: https://opendev.org/airship/airshipctl
-
-# This is the ref to checkout for the airshipctl binary repo
-- op: replace
-  path: "/spec/containers/4/env/4/value"
-  value: master
-
-# This is the location from which to clone the manifest documents repo
-- op: replace
-  path: "/spec/containers/6/env/3/value"
-  value: https://opendev.org/airship/airshipctl
-
-# This is the branch or sha to checkout for the manifest documents repo
-- op: replace
-  path: "/spec/containers/6/env/4/value"
-  value: master
-
-# This is the ref to checkout for the manifest documents repo
-# Note that this will take precedence over the branch if specified above
-- op: replace
-  path: "/spec/containers/6/env/5/value"
-  value:
-
-# for local testing
-#- op: add
-#  path: "/spec/containers/4/imagePullPolicy"
-#  value: Never
-#
-#- op: add
-#  path: "/spec/containers/6/imagePullPolicy"
-#  value: Never
diff --git a/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/airshipctl/replacements.yaml b/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/airshipctl/replacements.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..018f04733
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/airshipctl/replacements.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# 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.
+
+# This is the location from which to clone the airshipctl binary repo
+- op: replace
+  path: "/spec/containers/4/env/3/value"
+  value: https://opendev.org/airship/airshipctl
+
+# This is the ref to checkout for the airshipctl binary repo
+- op: replace
+  path: "/spec/containers/4/env/4/value"
+  value: master
+
+# This is the location from which to clone the manifest documents repo
+- op: replace
+  path: "/spec/containers/6/env/3/value"
+  value: https://opendev.org/airship/airshipctl
+
+# This is the branch or sha to checkout for the manifest documents repo
+- op: replace
+  path: "/spec/containers/6/env/4/value"
+  value: master
+
+# This is the ref to checkout for the manifest documents repo
+# Note that this will take precedence over the branch if specified above
+- op: replace
+  path: "/spec/containers/6/env/5/value"
+  value:
+
+# The following relate to authorization for pulling the manifest repository
+# This is the type of authorization to use. Currently supported types are
+# [none http-basic ssh-pass]
+- op: replace
+  path: "/spec/containers/6/env/10/value"
+  value: none
+# The username to use when using the https protocol (basic-auth)
+- op: replace
+  path: "/spec/containers/6/env/11/value"
+  value: none
+# The password to use when using the https protocol (basic-auth)
+- op: replace
+  path: "/spec/containers/6/env/12/value"
+  value: none
+# The password to use when using the git protocol (ssh-key)
+- op: replace
+  path: "/spec/containers/6/env/13/value"
+  value:
+
+# This is the location on the host machine of the artifacts directory. Note
+# that it should be the same across containers
+- op: replace
+  path: "/spec/containers/4/env/2/value"
+  value: /opt/aiap-artifacts
+- op: replace
+  path: "/spec/containers/5/env/1/value"
+  value: /opt/aiap-artifacts
+- op: replace
+  path: "/spec/containers/6/env/1/value"
+  value: /opt/aiap-artifacts
+
+# This is the location on the host machine of the cache directory. Note that it
+# should be the same across containers
+- op: replace
+  path: "/spec/containers/4/env/0/value"
+  value: /opt/aiap-cache
+- op: replace
+  path: "/spec/containers/5/env/0/value"
+  value: /opt/aiap-cache
+- op: replace
+  path: "/spec/containers/6/env/0/value"
+  value: /opt/aiap-cache
+# Set true to use a cached airshipctl binary
+- op: replace
+  path: "/spec/containers/4/env/1/value"
+  value: "false"
+# Set true to use a cached ephemeral iso
+- op: replace
+  path: "/spec/containers/6/env/2/value"
+  value: "false"
+
+# Uncomment the following to keep the runner container alive. This can be
+# useful for debugging purposes.
+# - op: replace
+#   path: "/spec/containers/6/command"
+#   value: ["bash", "-cex", "/entrypoint || sleep infinity"]
diff --git a/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/base/airship-in-a-pod.yaml b/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/base/airship-in-a-pod.yaml
index 2ce589eda..1fad04d93 100644
--- a/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/base/airship-in-a-pod.yaml
+++ b/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/base/airship-in-a-pod.yaml
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ spec:
     env:
       - name: CACHE_DIR
         value: /opt/aiap-cache
-      - name: USE_CACHED_ARTIFACTS
+      - name: USE_CACHED_AIRSHIPCTL
         value: "false"
       - name: ARTIFACTS_DIR
         value: /opt/aiap-artifacts
@@ -348,16 +348,12 @@ spec:
         value:
       - name: AIRSHIP_CONFIG_MANIFEST_REPO_AUTH_TYPE
         value: "none"
-      - name: AIRSHIP_CONFIG_MANIFEST_REPO_AUTH_KEY_PASSWORD
-        value: ""
-      - name: AIRSHIP_CONFIG_MANIFEST_REPO_AUTH_KEY_PATH
+      - name: AIRSHIP_CONFIG_MANIFEST_REPO_AUTH_USERNAME
         value: ""
       - name: AIRSHIP_CONFIG_MANIFEST_REPO_AUTH_HTTP_PASSWORD
         value: ""
       - name: AIRSHIP_CONFIG_MANIFEST_REPO_AUTH_SSH_PASSWORD
         value: ""
-      - name: AIRSHIP_CONFIG_MANIFEST_REPO_AUTH_USERNAME
-        value: ""
 
     volumeMounts:
       - name: cache
diff --git a/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/treasuremap/kustomization.yaml b/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/treasuremap/kustomization.yaml
index 090672448..408ebe6e0 100644
--- a/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/treasuremap/kustomization.yaml
+++ b/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/treasuremap/kustomization.yaml
@@ -20,4 +20,4 @@ patchesJson6902:
     version: v1 # apiVersion
     kind: Pod
     name: airship-in-a-pod
-  path: patchset.yaml
+  path: replacements.yaml
diff --git a/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/treasuremap/patchset.yaml b/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/treasuremap/replacements.yaml
similarity index 76%
rename from tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/treasuremap/patchset.yaml
rename to tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/treasuremap/replacements.yaml
index 651fab9db..cceb7400c 100644
--- a/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/treasuremap/patchset.yaml
+++ b/tools/airship-in-a-pod/examples/treasuremap/replacements.yaml
@@ -29,18 +29,3 @@
 - op: replace
   path: "/spec/containers/6/env/4/value"
   value: 63c1faf718fd3341fc5bd975e575e3cf41647206
-
-# This is the ref to checkout for the manifest documents repo
-# Note that this will take precedence over the branch if specified above
-- op: replace
-  path: "/spec/containers/6/env/5/value"
-  value:
-
-# for local testing
-#- op: add
-#  path: "/spec/containers/4/imagePullPolicy"
-#  value: Never
-#
-#- op: add
-#  path: "/spec/containers/6/imagePullPolicy"
-#  value: Never