diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 0e2d424..e429361 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ $(GENERATED): go.mod $(CRD_TYPE_SOURCE)
 	./hack/update-codegen.sh
 
 $(GENERATED_CRDS): $(GENERATED) $(CRD_SOURCES)
-	go run sigs.k8s.io/controller-tools/cmd/controller-gen crd:crdVersions=v1 paths=./pkg/apis/... output:crd:dir=docs
+	go tool controller-gen crd:crdVersions=v1 paths=./pkg/apis/... output:crd:dir=docs
 	go run hack/crd/trim.go < docs/zalando.org_elasticsearchdatasets.yaml > docs/zalando.org_elasticsearchdatasets_trimmed.yaml
 	go run hack/crd/trim.go < docs/zalando.org_elasticsearchmetricsets.yaml > docs/zalando.org_elasticsearchmetricsets_trimmed.yaml
 	mv docs/zalando.org_elasticsearchdatasets_trimmed.yaml docs/zalando.org_elasticsearchdatasets.yaml
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index f453c80..2b7b14d 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -11,9 +11,7 @@ require (
 	k8s.io/api v0.34.0
 	k8s.io/apimachinery v0.34.0
 	k8s.io/client-go v0.34.0
-	k8s.io/code-generator v0.34.0
 	k8s.io/metrics v0.33.5
-	sigs.k8s.io/controller-tools v0.19.0
 	sigs.k8s.io/yaml v1.6.0
 )
 
@@ -69,10 +67,12 @@ require (
 	gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.4.0 // indirect
 	gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.1 // indirect
 	k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver v0.34.0 // indirect
+	k8s.io/code-generator v0.34.0 // indirect
 	k8s.io/gengo/v2 v2.0.0-20250604051438-85fd79dbfd9f // indirect
 	k8s.io/klog/v2 v2.130.1 // indirect
 	k8s.io/kube-openapi v0.0.0-20250710124328-f3f2b991d03b // indirect
 	k8s.io/utils v0.0.0-20250604170112-4c0f3b243397 // indirect
+	sigs.k8s.io/controller-tools v0.19.0 // indirect
 	sigs.k8s.io/json v0.0.0-20241014173422-cfa47c3a1cc8 // indirect
 	sigs.k8s.io/randfill v1.0.0 // indirect
 	sigs.k8s.io/structured-merge-diff/v6 v6.3.0 // indirect
@@ -80,4 +80,14 @@ require (
 
 replace k8s.io/klog => github.com/mikkeloscar/knolog v0.0.0-20190326191552-80742771eb6b
 
+tool (
+	k8s.io/code-generator
+	k8s.io/code-generator/cmd/client-gen
+	k8s.io/code-generator/cmd/deepcopy-gen
+	k8s.io/code-generator/cmd/informer-gen
+	k8s.io/code-generator/cmd/lister-gen
+	k8s.io/kube-openapi/cmd/openapi-gen
+	sigs.k8s.io/controller-tools/cmd/controller-gen
+)
+
 go 1.25.1
diff --git a/hack/tools.go b/hack/tools.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 0c02092..0000000
--- a/hack/tools.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,22 +0,0 @@
-// +build tools
-
-/*
-Copyright 2019 The Kubernetes Authors.
-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 package imports things required by build scripts, to force `go mod` to see them as dependencies
-package tools
-
-import _ "k8s.io/code-generator"
-import _ "sigs.k8s.io/controller-tools/cmd/controller-gen"
diff --git a/hack/update-codegen.sh b/hack/update-codegen.sh
index 5daf02d..a3e4df6 100755
--- a/hack/update-codegen.sh
+++ b/hack/update-codegen.sh
@@ -31,14 +31,14 @@ APIS_PKG="${GOPKG}/pkg/apis"
 GROUPS_WITH_VERSIONS="${CUSTOM_RESOURCE_NAME}:${CUSTOM_RESOURCE_VERSION}"
 
 echo "Generating deepcopy funcs"
-go run k8s.io/code-generator/cmd/deepcopy-gen \
+go tool deepcopy-gen \
   --output-file zz_generated.deepcopy.go \
   --bounding-dirs "${APIS_PKG}" \
   --go-header-file "${SCRIPT_ROOT}/hack/boilerplate.go.txt" \
   "${APIS_PKG}/${CUSTOM_RESOURCE_NAME}/${CUSTOM_RESOURCE_VERSION}"
 
 echo "Generating clientset for ${GROUPS_WITH_VERSIONS} at ${OUTPUT_PKG}/${CLIENTSET_PKG_NAME:-clientset}"
-go run k8s.io/code-generator/cmd/client-gen \
+go tool client-gen \
   --clientset-name versioned \
   --input-base "" \
   --input "${APIS_PKG}/${CUSTOM_RESOURCE_NAME}/${CUSTOM_RESOURCE_VERSION}" \
@@ -47,14 +47,14 @@ go run k8s.io/code-generator/cmd/client-gen \
   --output-dir "${OUTPUT_DIR}/clientset"
 
 echo "Generating listers for ${GROUPS_WITH_VERSIONS} at ${OUTPUT_PKG}/listers"
-go run k8s.io/code-generator/cmd/lister-gen \
+go tool lister-gen \
   --output-pkg "${OUTPUT_PKG}/listers" \
   --go-header-file "${SCRIPT_ROOT}/hack/boilerplate.go.txt" \
   --output-dir "${OUTPUT_DIR}/listers" \
   "${APIS_PKG}/${CUSTOM_RESOURCE_NAME}/${CUSTOM_RESOURCE_VERSION}"
 
 echo "Generating informers for ${GROUPS_WITH_VERSIONS} at ${OUTPUT_PKG}/informers"
-go run k8s.io/code-generator/cmd/informer-gen \
+go tool informer-gen \
   --versioned-clientset-package "${OUTPUT_PKG}/${CLIENTSET_PKG_NAME:-clientset}/${CLIENTSET_NAME_VERSIONED:-versioned}" \
   --listers-package "${OUTPUT_PKG}/listers" \
   --output-pkg "${OUTPUT_PKG}/informers" \