Example virtual appliances disclosed herein include processor circuitry to accept a resource definition of a custom resource to be executed in a cloud computing environment. Disclosed example virtual appliances also include a lifecycle manager to manage a lifecycle of the custom resource based on a state machine. Disclosed example virtual appliances further include a database to: (i) query the lifecycle manager for a set of operations available to execute in a current lifecycle state of the custom resource; (ii) update a catalog item for the custom resource to present the set of operations available to execute in the current lifecycle state of the custom resource, the catalog item created based on the resource definition of the custom resource; and (iii) in response to selection of a first operation in the set of operations, send a message to cause the processor circuitry to execute the first operation.