diff --git a/bundle/manifests/resource.nvidia.com_computedomains.yaml b/bundle/manifests/resource.nvidia.com_computedomains.yaml
index 5a28ae17c..0811b3ce2 100644
--- a/bundle/manifests/resource.nvidia.com_computedomains.yaml
+++ b/bundle/manifests/resource.nvidia.com_computedomains.yaml
@@ -66,12 +66,13 @@ spec:
                 - resourceClaimTemplate
                 type: object
               numNodes:
+                default: 0
                 description: |-
                   Intended number of IMEX daemons (i.e., individual compute nodes) in the
                   ComputeDomain. Must be zero or greater.
 
                   With `featureGates.IMEXDaemonsWithDNSNames=true` (the default), this is
-                  recommended to be set to zero. Workload must implement and consult its
+                  recommended to be set to zero (default). Workload must implement and consult its
                   own source of truth for the number of workers online before trying to
                   share GPU memory (and hence triggering IMEX interaction). When non-zero,
                   `numNodes` is used only for automatically updating the global
@@ -91,10 +92,10 @@ spec:
 
                   The `numNodes` parameter is deprecated and will be removed in the next
                   API version.
+                minimum: 0
                 type: integer
             required:
             - channel
-            - numNodes
             type: object
             x-kubernetes-validations:
             - message: A computeDomain.spec is immutable
diff --git a/deployments/gpu-operator/crds/resource.nvidia.com_computedomains.yaml b/deployments/gpu-operator/crds/resource.nvidia.com_computedomains.yaml
index 5a28ae17c..0811b3ce2 100644
--- a/deployments/gpu-operator/crds/resource.nvidia.com_computedomains.yaml
+++ b/deployments/gpu-operator/crds/resource.nvidia.com_computedomains.yaml
@@ -66,12 +66,13 @@ spec:
                 - resourceClaimTemplate
                 type: object
               numNodes:
+                default: 0
                 description: |-
                   Intended number of IMEX daemons (i.e., individual compute nodes) in the
                   ComputeDomain. Must be zero or greater.
 
                   With `featureGates.IMEXDaemonsWithDNSNames=true` (the default), this is
-                  recommended to be set to zero. Workload must implement and consult its
+                  recommended to be set to zero (default). Workload must implement and consult its
                   own source of truth for the number of workers online before trying to
                   share GPU memory (and hence triggering IMEX interaction). When non-zero,
                   `numNodes` is used only for automatically updating the global
@@ -91,10 +92,10 @@ spec:
 
                   The `numNodes` parameter is deprecated and will be removed in the next
                   API version.
+                minimum: 0
                 type: integer
             required:
             - channel
-            - numNodes
             type: object
             x-kubernetes-validations:
             - message: A computeDomain.spec is immutable