// Module included in the following assemblies:
//
// * hosted_control_planes/hcp-prepare/hcp-distribute-workloads.adoc

:_mod-docs-content-type: CONCEPT
[id="hcp-priority-classes_{context}"]
= Priority classes

Four built-in priority classes influence the priority and preemption of the hosted cluster pods. You can create the pods in the management cluster in the following order from highest to lowest:

* `hypershift-operator`: HyperShift Operator pods.
* `hypershift-etcd`: Pods for etcd.
* `hypershift-api-critical`: Pods that are required for API calls and resource admission to succeed. These pods include pods such as `kube-apiserver`, aggregated API servers, and web hooks.
* `hypershift-control-plane`: Pods in the control plane that are not API-critical but still need elevated priority, such as the cluster version Operator.