diff --git a/cmd/apprepository-controller/Dockerfile b/cmd/apprepository-controller/Dockerfile
index 23e7bf583a4..65180c0b00f 100644
--- a/cmd/apprepository-controller/Dockerfile
+++ b/cmd/apprepository-controller/Dockerfile
@@ -5,11 +5,12 @@ WORKDIR /go/src/github.com/kubeapps/kubeapps
 COPY go.mod go.sum ./
 COPY pkg pkg
 COPY cmd cmd
+ARG VERSION
 # With the trick below, Go's build cache is kept between builds.
 # https://github.com/golang/go/issues/27719#issuecomment-514747274
 RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/go/pkg/mod \
-    --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/go-build \
-    CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -installsuffix cgo ./cmd/apprepository-controller
+  --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/go-build \
+    CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -installsuffix cgo -ldflags "-X github.com/kubeapps/kubeapps/cmd/apprepository-controller/cmd.version=$VERSION" ./cmd/apprepository-controller
 
 FROM scratch
 COPY --from=builder /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt /etc/ssl/certs/
diff --git a/cmd/apprepository-controller/cmd/root.go b/cmd/apprepository-controller/cmd/root.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..530bd93dd7e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/apprepository-controller/cmd/root.go
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2021 VMware. All Rights Reserved.
+
+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.
+*/
+
+package cmd
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+
+	"github.com/kubeapps/kubeapps/cmd/apprepository-controller/server"
+	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+	"github.com/spf13/viper"
+
+	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
+	log "k8s.io/klog/v2"
+)
+
+var (
+	cfgFile   string
+	serveOpts server.Config
+	// This Version var is updated during the build
+	// see the -ldflags option in the cmd/apprepository-controller/Dockerfile
+	version = "devel"
+)
+
+// rootCmd represents the base command when called without any subcommands
+var rootCmd *cobra.Command
+
+func newRootCmd() *cobra.Command {
+	return &cobra.Command{
+		Use:   "apprepository-controller",
+		Short: "Apprepository-controller is a Kubernetes controller for managing package repositories added to Kubeapps.",
+		PreRun: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
+			log.Infof("apprepository-controller has been configured with: %#v", serveOpts)
+		},
+		RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+
+			return server.Serve(serveOpts)
+		},
+		Version: "devel",
+	}
+}
+
+// Execute adds all child commands to the root command and sets flags appropriately.
+// This is called by main.main(). It only needs to happen once to the rootCmd.
+func Execute() {
+	cobra.CheckErr(rootCmd.Execute())
+}
+
+func init() {
+	cobra.OnInitialize(initConfig)
+	rootCmd = newRootCmd()
+	rootCmd.SetVersionTemplate(version)
+	setFlags(rootCmd)
+	serveOpts.ImagePullSecretsRefs = getImagePullSecretsRefs(serveOpts.RepoSyncImagePullSecrets)
+}
+
+func setFlags(c *cobra.Command) {
+	c.Flags().StringVar(&serveOpts.Kubeconfig, "kubeconfig", "", "Path to a kubeconfig. Only required if out-of-cluster.")
+	c.Flags().StringVar(&serveOpts.MasterURL, "master", "", "The address of the Kubernetes API server. Overrides any value in kubeconfig. Only required if out-of-cluster.")
+	c.Flags().StringVar(&serveOpts.RepoSyncImage, "repo-sync-image", "docker.io/kubeapps/asset-syncer:latest", "container repo/image to use in CronJobs")
+	c.Flags().StringSliceVar(&serveOpts.RepoSyncImagePullSecrets, "repo-sync-image-pullsecrets", nil, "optional reference to secrets in the same namespace to use for pulling the image used by this pod")
+	c.Flags().StringVar(&serveOpts.RepoSyncCommand, "repo-sync-cmd", "/chart-repo", "command used to sync/delete repos for repo-sync-image")
+	c.Flags().StringVar(&serveOpts.KubeappsNamespace, "namespace", "kubeapps", "Namespace to discover AppRepository resources")
+	c.Flags().BoolVar(&serveOpts.ReposPerNamespace, "repos-per-namespace", true, "Defaults to watch for repos in all namespaces. Switch to false to watch only the configured namespace.")
+	c.Flags().StringVar(&serveOpts.DBURL, "database-url", "localhost", "Database URL")
+	c.Flags().StringVar(&serveOpts.DBUser, "database-user", "root", "Database user")
+	c.Flags().StringVar(&serveOpts.DBName, "database-name", "charts", "Database name")
+	c.Flags().StringVar(&serveOpts.DBSecretName, "database-secret-name", "kubeapps-db", "Kubernetes secret name for database credentials")
+	c.Flags().StringVar(&serveOpts.DBSecretKey, "database-secret-key", "postgresql-root-password", "Kubernetes secret key used for database credentials")
+	c.Flags().StringVar(&serveOpts.UserAgentComment, "user-agent-comment", "", "UserAgent comment used during outbound requests")
+	c.Flags().StringVar(&serveOpts.Crontab, "crontab", "*/10 * * * *", "CronTab to specify schedule")
+	// TTLSecondsAfterFinished specifies the number of seconds a sync job should live after finishing.
+	// The support for this is currently beta in K8s (v1.21), older versions require a feature gate being set to enable it.
+	// See https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/workloads/controllers/job/#clean-up-finished-jobs-automatically
+	c.Flags().StringVar(&serveOpts.TTLSecondsAfterFinished, "ttl-lifetime-afterfinished-job", "3600", "Lifetime limit after which the resource Jobs are deleted expressed in seconds by default is 3600 (1h) ")
+
+}
+
+// initConfig reads in config file and ENV variables if set.
+func initConfig() {
+	if cfgFile != "" {
+		// Use config file from the flag.
+		viper.SetConfigFile(cfgFile)
+	} else {
+		// Find home directory.
+		home, err := os.UserHomeDir()
+		cobra.CheckErr(err)
+
+		// Search config in home directory with name ".kubeops" (without extension).
+		viper.AddConfigPath(home)
+		viper.SetConfigType("yaml")
+		viper.SetConfigName(".kubeops")
+	}
+
+	viper.AutomaticEnv() // read in environment variables that match
+
+	// If a config file is found, read it in.
+	if err := viper.ReadInConfig(); err == nil {
+		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "Using config file:", viper.ConfigFileUsed())
+	}
+}
+
+// getImagePullSecretsRefs gets the []string of Secrets names from the
+// StringSliceVar flag list passed in the repoSyncImagePullSecrets arg
+func getImagePullSecretsRefs(imagePullSecretsRefsArr []string) []corev1.LocalObjectReference {
+	var imagePullSecretsRefs []corev1.LocalObjectReference
+
+	// getting and appending a []LocalObjectReference for each ImagePullSecret passed
+	for _, imagePullSecretName := range imagePullSecretsRefsArr {
+		imagePullSecretsRefs = append(imagePullSecretsRefs, corev1.LocalObjectReference{Name: imagePullSecretName})
+	}
+	return imagePullSecretsRefs
+}
diff --git a/cmd/apprepository-controller/main_test.go b/cmd/apprepository-controller/cmd/root_test.go
similarity index 70%
rename from cmd/apprepository-controller/main_test.go
rename to cmd/apprepository-controller/cmd/root_test.go
index c43111241c7..11b3321498e 100644
--- a/cmd/apprepository-controller/main_test.go
+++ b/cmd/apprepository-controller/cmd/root_test.go
@@ -1,10 +1,29 @@
-package main
+/*
+Copyright 2021 VMware. All Rights Reserved.
+
+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.
+*/
+
+package cmd
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"strings"
+
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/google/go-cmp/cmp"
+	"github.com/kubeapps/kubeapps/cmd/apprepository-controller/server"
 	v1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 )
 
@@ -12,15 +31,15 @@ func TestParseFlagsCorrect(t *testing.T) {
 	var tests = []struct {
 		name string
 		args []string
-		conf Config
+		conf server.Config
 	}{
 		{
 			"no arguments returns default flag values",
 			[]string{},
-			Config{
+			server.Config{
 				Kubeconfig:               "",
 				MasterURL:                "",
-				RepoSyncImage:            "quay.io/helmpack/chart-repo:latest",
+				RepoSyncImage:            "docker.io/kubeapps/asset-syncer:latest",
 				RepoSyncImagePullSecrets: nil,
 				RepoSyncCommand:          "/chart-repo",
 				KubeappsNamespace:        "kubeapps",
@@ -33,7 +52,6 @@ func TestParseFlagsCorrect(t *testing.T) {
 				UserAgentComment:         "",
 				Crontab:                  "*/10 * * * *",
 				TTLSecondsAfterFinished:  "3600",
-				Args:                     []string{},
 			},
 		},
 		{
@@ -42,10 +60,10 @@ func TestParseFlagsCorrect(t *testing.T) {
 				"--repo-sync-image-pullsecrets=s1, s2",
 				"--repo-sync-image-pullsecrets= s3",
 			},
-			Config{
+			server.Config{
 				Kubeconfig:               "",
 				MasterURL:                "",
-				RepoSyncImage:            "quay.io/helmpack/chart-repo:latest",
+				RepoSyncImage:            "docker.io/kubeapps/asset-syncer:latest",
 				RepoSyncImagePullSecrets: []string{"s1", " s2", " s3"},
 				ImagePullSecretsRefs:     []v1.LocalObjectReference{{Name: "s1"}, {Name: " s2"}, {Name: " s3"}},
 				RepoSyncCommand:          "/chart-repo",
@@ -59,7 +77,6 @@ func TestParseFlagsCorrect(t *testing.T) {
 				UserAgentComment:         "",
 				Crontab:                  "*/10 * * * *",
 				TTLSecondsAfterFinished:  "3600",
-				Args:                     []string{},
 			},
 		},
 		{
@@ -81,7 +98,7 @@ func TestParseFlagsCorrect(t *testing.T) {
 				"--user-agent-comment", "foo11",
 				"--crontab", "foo12",
 			},
-			Config{
+			server.Config{
 				Kubeconfig:               "foo01",
 				MasterURL:                "foo02",
 				RepoSyncImage:            "foo03",
@@ -98,23 +115,21 @@ func TestParseFlagsCorrect(t *testing.T) {
 				UserAgentComment:         "foo11",
 				Crontab:                  "foo12",
 				TTLSecondsAfterFinished:  "3600",
-				Args:                     []string{},
 			},
 		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range tests {
-		t.Run(strings.Join(tt.args, " "), func(t *testing.T) {
-			conf, output, err := parseFlags("program", tt.args)
-			conf.ImagePullSecretsRefs = getImagePullSecretsRefs(conf.RepoSyncImagePullSecrets)
-
-			if err != nil {
-				t.Errorf("err got:\n%v\nwant nil", err)
-			}
-			if output != "" {
-				t.Errorf("output got:\n%q\nwant empty", output)
-			}
-			if got, want := *conf, tt.conf; !cmp.Equal(want, got) {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			cmd := newRootCmd()
+			b := bytes.NewBufferString("")
+			cmd.SetOut(b)
+			cmd.SetErr(b)
+			setFlags(cmd)
+			cmd.SetArgs(tt.args)
+			cmd.Execute()
+			serveOpts.ImagePullSecretsRefs = getImagePullSecretsRefs(serveOpts.RepoSyncImagePullSecrets)
+			if got, want := serveOpts, tt.conf; !cmp.Equal(want, got) {
 				t.Errorf("mismatch (-want +got):\n%s", cmp.Diff(want, got))
 			}
 		})
@@ -140,12 +155,15 @@ func TestParseFlagsError(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range tests {
-		t.Run(strings.Join(tt.args, " "), func(t *testing.T) {
-			conf, _, err := parseFlags("prog", tt.args)
-			if conf != nil {
-				t.Errorf("conf got %v, want nil", conf)
-			}
-			if strings.Index(err.Error(), tt.errstr) < 0 {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			cmd := newRootCmd()
+			b := bytes.NewBufferString("")
+			cmd.SetOut(b)
+			cmd.SetErr(b)
+			setFlags(cmd)
+			cmd.SetArgs(tt.args)
+			err := cmd.Execute()
+			if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), tt.errstr) {
 				t.Errorf("err got %q, want to find %q", err.Error(), tt.errstr)
 			}
 		})
diff --git a/cmd/apprepository-controller/hack/custom-boilerplate.go.txt b/cmd/apprepository-controller/hack/custom-boilerplate.go.txt
index c329d8c0e25..ba8ae7dfd93 100644
--- a/cmd/apprepository-controller/hack/custom-boilerplate.go.txt
+++ b/cmd/apprepository-controller/hack/custom-boilerplate.go.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-Copyright YEAR Bitnami.
+Copyright 2021 VMware. All Rights Reserved.
 
 Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -13,4 +13,3 @@ 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.
 */
-
diff --git a/cmd/apprepository-controller/main.go b/cmd/apprepository-controller/main.go
index 200b2a829f1..7ee8ef589a7 100644
--- a/cmd/apprepository-controller/main.go
+++ b/cmd/apprepository-controller/main.go
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-Copyright 2017 Bitnami.
+Copyright 2021 VMware. All Rights Reserved.
 
 Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -16,159 +16,8 @@ limitations under the License.
 
 package main
 
-import (
-	"bytes"
-	"os"
-
-	clientset "github.com/kubeapps/kubeapps/cmd/apprepository-controller/pkg/client/clientset/versioned"
-	informers "github.com/kubeapps/kubeapps/cmd/apprepository-controller/pkg/client/informers/externalversions"
-	"github.com/kubeapps/kubeapps/cmd/apprepository-controller/pkg/signals"
-	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
-	kubeinformers "k8s.io/client-go/informers"
-	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
-	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd" // Uncomment the following line to load the gcp plugin (only required to authenticate against GKE clusters).
-
-	// _ "k8s.io/client-go/plugin/pkg/client/auth/gcp"
-	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
-	flag "github.com/spf13/pflag"
-)
-
-// Config contains all the flags passed through the command line
-// besides, it contains the []LocalObjectReference for the PullSecrets
-// so they can be shared across the jobs
-type Config struct {
-	MasterURL                string
-	Kubeconfig               string
-	RepoSyncImage            string
-	RepoSyncImagePullSecrets []string
-	ImagePullSecretsRefs     []corev1.LocalObjectReference
-	RepoSyncCommand          string
-	KubeappsNamespace        string
-	DBURL                    string
-	DBUser                   string
-	DBName                   string
-	DBSecretName             string
-	DBSecretKey              string
-	UserAgentComment         string
-	Crontab                  string
-	TTLSecondsAfterFinished  string
-	ReposPerNamespace        bool
-
-	// Args are the positional (non-flag) command-line arguments.
-	Args []string
-}
-
-// parseFlags parses the command-line arguments provided to the program.
-// Typically os.Args[0] is provided as 'programName' and os.args[1:] as 'args'.
-func parseFlags(progname string, args []string) (config *Config, output string, err error) {
-	flagSet := flag.NewFlagSet(progname, flag.ContinueOnError)
-	var buf bytes.Buffer
-	flagSet.SetOutput(&buf)
-
-	var conf Config
-
-	flagSet.StringVar(&conf.Kubeconfig, "kubeconfig", "", "Path to a kubeconfig. Only required if out-of-cluster.")
-	flagSet.StringVar(&conf.MasterURL, "master", "", "The address of the Kubernetes API server. Overrides any value in kubeconfig. Only required if out-of-cluster.")
-	flagSet.StringVar(&conf.RepoSyncImage, "repo-sync-image", "quay.io/helmpack/chart-repo:latest", "container repo/image to use in CronJobs")
-	flagSet.StringSliceVar(&conf.RepoSyncImagePullSecrets, "repo-sync-image-pullsecrets", nil, "optional reference to secrets in the same namespace to use for pulling the image used by this pod")
-	flagSet.StringVar(&conf.RepoSyncCommand, "repo-sync-cmd", "/chart-repo", "command used to sync/delete repos for repo-sync-image")
-	flagSet.StringVar(&conf.KubeappsNamespace, "namespace", "kubeapps", "Namespace to discover AppRepository resources")
-	flagSet.BoolVar(&conf.ReposPerNamespace, "repos-per-namespace", true, "Defaults to watch for repos in all namespaces. Switch to false to watch only the configured namespace.")
-	flagSet.StringVar(&conf.DBURL, "database-url", "localhost", "Database URL")
-	flagSet.StringVar(&conf.DBUser, "database-user", "root", "Database user")
-	flagSet.StringVar(&conf.DBName, "database-name", "charts", "Database name")
-	flagSet.StringVar(&conf.DBSecretName, "database-secret-name", "kubeapps-db", "Kubernetes secret name for database credentials")
-	flagSet.StringVar(&conf.DBSecretKey, "database-secret-key", "postgresql-root-password", "Kubernetes secret key used for database credentials")
-	flagSet.StringVar(&conf.UserAgentComment, "user-agent-comment", "", "UserAgent comment used during outbound requests")
-	flagSet.StringVar(&conf.Crontab, "crontab", "*/10 * * * *", "CronTab to specify schedule")
-	// TTLSecondsAfterFinished specifies the number of seconds a sync job should live after finishing.
-	// The support for this is currently alpha in K8s itself, requiring a feature gate being set to enable
-	// it. See https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/workloads/controllers/job/#clean-up-finished-jobs-automatically
-	flagSet.StringVar(&conf.TTLSecondsAfterFinished, "ttl-lifetime-afterfinished-job", "3600", "Lifetime limit after which the resource Jobs are deleted expressed in seconds by default is 3600 (1h) ")
-
-	err = flagSet.Parse(args)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, buf.String(), err
-	}
-	conf.Args = flagSet.Args()
-	return &conf, buf.String(), nil
-}
+import "github.com/kubeapps/kubeapps/cmd/apprepository-controller/cmd"
 
 func main() {
-	conf, output, err := parseFlags(os.Args[0], os.Args[1:])
-
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Fatal("error parsing command-line arguments: ", err)
-		log.Fatal(output)
-		log.Exit(1)
-	}
-
-	log.WithFields(log.Fields{
-		"kubeconfig":                     conf.Kubeconfig,
-		"master":                         conf.MasterURL,
-		"repo-sync-image":                conf.RepoSyncImage,
-		"repo-sync-image-pullsecrets":    conf.RepoSyncImagePullSecrets,
-		"repo-sync-cmd":                  conf.RepoSyncCommand,
-		"namespace":                      conf.KubeappsNamespace,
-		"repos-per-namespace":            conf.ReposPerNamespace,
-		"database-url":                   conf.DBURL,
-		"database-user":                  conf.DBUser,
-		"database-name":                  conf.DBName,
-		"database-secret-name":           conf.DBSecretName,
-		"database-secret-key":            conf.DBSecretKey,
-		"user-agent-comment":             conf.UserAgentComment,
-		"crontab":                        conf.Crontab,
-		"ttl-lifetime-afterfinished-job": conf.TTLSecondsAfterFinished,
-	}).Info("apprepository-controller configured with these args:")
-
-	// set up signals so we handle the first shutdown signal gracefully
-	stopCh := signals.SetupSignalHandler()
-
-	cfg, err := clientcmd.BuildConfigFromFlags(conf.MasterURL, conf.Kubeconfig)
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Fatalf("Error building kubeconfig: %s", err.Error())
-	}
-
-	kubeClient, err := kubernetes.NewForConfig(cfg)
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Fatalf("Error building kubernetes clientset: %s", err.Error())
-	}
-
-	apprepoClient, err := clientset.NewForConfig(cfg)
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Fatalf("Error building apprepo clientset: %s", err.Error())
-	}
-
-	// We're interested in being informed about cronjobs in kubeapps namespace only, currently.
-	kubeInformerFactory := kubeinformers.NewSharedInformerFactoryWithOptions(kubeClient, 0, kubeinformers.WithNamespace(conf.KubeappsNamespace))
-	// Enable app repo scanning to be manually set to scan the kubeapps repo only. See #1923.
-	var apprepoInformerFactory informers.SharedInformerFactory
-	if conf.ReposPerNamespace {
-		apprepoInformerFactory = informers.NewSharedInformerFactory(apprepoClient, 0)
-	} else {
-		apprepoInformerFactory = informers.NewFilteredSharedInformerFactory(apprepoClient, 0, conf.KubeappsNamespace, nil)
-	}
-
-	conf.ImagePullSecretsRefs = getImagePullSecretsRefs(conf.RepoSyncImagePullSecrets)
-
-	controller := NewController(kubeClient, apprepoClient, kubeInformerFactory, apprepoInformerFactory, conf)
-
-	go kubeInformerFactory.Start(stopCh)
-	go apprepoInformerFactory.Start(stopCh)
-
-	if err = controller.Run(2, stopCh); err != nil {
-		log.Fatalf("Error running controller: %s", err.Error())
-	}
-}
-
-// getImagePullSecretsRefs gets the []string of Secrets names from the
-// StringSliceVar flag list passed in the repoSyncImagePullSecrets arg
-func getImagePullSecretsRefs(imagePullSecretsRefsArr []string) []corev1.LocalObjectReference {
-	var imagePullSecretsRefs []corev1.LocalObjectReference
-
-	// getting and appending a []LocalObjectReference for each ImagePullSecret passed
-	for _, imagePullSecretName := range imagePullSecretsRefsArr {
-		imagePullSecretsRefs = append(imagePullSecretsRefs, corev1.LocalObjectReference{Name: imagePullSecretName})
-	}
-	return imagePullSecretsRefs
+	cmd.Execute()
 }
diff --git a/cmd/apprepository-controller/pkg/apis/apprepository/v1alpha1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go b/cmd/apprepository-controller/pkg/apis/apprepository/v1alpha1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
index d75dc193a67..079e0bbaf70 100644
--- a/cmd/apprepository-controller/pkg/apis/apprepository/v1alpha1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
+++ b/cmd/apprepository-controller/pkg/apis/apprepository/v1alpha1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+//go:build !ignore_autogenerated
 // +build !ignore_autogenerated
 
 /*
diff --git a/cmd/apprepository-controller/pkg/signals/signal_posix.go b/cmd/apprepository-controller/pkg/signals/signal_posix.go
index 07685590873..d180faf3b04 100644
--- a/cmd/apprepository-controller/pkg/signals/signal_posix.go
+++ b/cmd/apprepository-controller/pkg/signals/signal_posix.go
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+//go:build !windows
 // +build !windows
 
 /*
diff --git a/cmd/apprepository-controller/controller.go b/cmd/apprepository-controller/server/controller.go
similarity index 99%
rename from cmd/apprepository-controller/controller.go
rename to cmd/apprepository-controller/server/controller.go
index 10120202b09..3da2aab56f0 100644
--- a/cmd/apprepository-controller/controller.go
+++ b/cmd/apprepository-controller/server/controller.go
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-Copyright 2017 Bitnami.
+Copyright 2021 VMware. All Rights Reserved.
 
 Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 limitations under the License.
 */
 
-package main
+package server
 
 import (
 	"context"
diff --git a/cmd/apprepository-controller/controller_test.go b/cmd/apprepository-controller/server/controller_test.go
similarity index 98%
rename from cmd/apprepository-controller/controller_test.go
rename to cmd/apprepository-controller/server/controller_test.go
index d6e6f0adee5..824037d6962 100644
--- a/cmd/apprepository-controller/controller_test.go
+++ b/cmd/apprepository-controller/server/controller_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,20 @@
-package main
+/*
+Copyright 2021 VMware. All Rights Reserved.
+
+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.
+*/
+
+package server
 
 import (
 	"testing"
diff --git a/cmd/apprepository-controller/server/server.go b/cmd/apprepository-controller/server/server.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a53579330c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/apprepository-controller/server/server.go
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2021 VMware. All Rights Reserved.
+
+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.
+*/
+
+package server
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+
+	clientset "github.com/kubeapps/kubeapps/cmd/apprepository-controller/pkg/client/clientset/versioned"
+	informers "github.com/kubeapps/kubeapps/cmd/apprepository-controller/pkg/client/informers/externalversions"
+	"github.com/kubeapps/kubeapps/cmd/apprepository-controller/pkg/signals"
+	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
+	kubeinformers "k8s.io/client-go/informers"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd" // Uncomment the following line to load the gcp plugin (only required to authenticate against GKE clusters).
+)
+
+type Config struct {
+	MasterURL                string
+	Kubeconfig               string
+	RepoSyncImage            string
+	RepoSyncImagePullSecrets []string
+	ImagePullSecretsRefs     []corev1.LocalObjectReference
+	RepoSyncCommand          string
+	KubeappsNamespace        string
+	DBURL                    string
+	DBUser                   string
+	DBName                   string
+	DBSecretName             string
+	DBSecretKey              string
+	UserAgentComment         string
+	Crontab                  string
+	TTLSecondsAfterFinished  string
+	ReposPerNamespace        bool
+}
+
+func Serve(serveOpts Config) error {
+	cfg, err := clientcmd.BuildConfigFromFlags(serveOpts.MasterURL, serveOpts.Kubeconfig)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("Error building kubeconfig: %s", err.Error())
+	}
+
+	kubeClient, err := kubernetes.NewForConfig(cfg)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("Error building kubernetes clientset: %s", err.Error())
+	}
+
+	apprepoClient, err := clientset.NewForConfig(cfg)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("Error building apprepo clientset: %s", err.Error())
+	}
+
+	// set up signals so we handle the first shutdown signal gracefully
+	stopCh := signals.SetupSignalHandler()
+
+	// We're interested in being informed about cronjobs in kubeapps namespace only, currently.
+	kubeInformerFactory := kubeinformers.NewSharedInformerFactoryWithOptions(kubeClient, 0, kubeinformers.WithNamespace(serveOpts.KubeappsNamespace))
+	// Enable app repo scanning to be manually set to scan the kubeapps repo only. See #1923.
+	var apprepoInformerFactory informers.SharedInformerFactory
+	if serveOpts.ReposPerNamespace {
+		apprepoInformerFactory = informers.NewSharedInformerFactory(apprepoClient, 0)
+	} else {
+		apprepoInformerFactory = informers.NewFilteredSharedInformerFactory(apprepoClient, 0, serveOpts.KubeappsNamespace, nil)
+	}
+
+	controller := NewController(kubeClient, apprepoClient, kubeInformerFactory, apprepoInformerFactory, &serveOpts)
+
+	go kubeInformerFactory.Start(stopCh)
+	go apprepoInformerFactory.Start(stopCh)
+
+	if err = controller.Run(2, stopCh); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("Error running controller: %s", err.Error())
+	}
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/docs/developer/apprepository-controller.md b/docs/developer/apprepository-controller.md
index 098db05aaef..8a47b30d685 100644
--- a/docs/developer/apprepository-controller.md
+++ b/docs/developer/apprepository-controller.md
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ kubectl -n kubeapps scale deployment kubeapps-internal-apprepository-controller
 You can now execute the `apprepository-controller` binary on the developer host with:
 
 ```bash
-./apprepository-controller --repo-sync-image=quay.io/helmpack/chart-repo:myver --kubeconfig ~/.kube/config
+./apprepository-controller --repo-sync-image=docker.io/kubeapps/asset-syncer:myver --kubeconfig ~/.kube/config
 ```
 
 Performing application repository actions in the Kubeapps dashboard will now trigger operations in the `apprepository-controller` binary running locally on your development host.