diff --git a/vars/waitForAdapters.groovy b/vars/waitForAdapters.groovy
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab5f22b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vars/waitForAdapters.groovy
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+def call(Map config) {
+
+    def defaultConfig = [
+        volthaNamespace: "voltha",
+        adaptersToWait: 2,
+    ]
+
+    if (!config) {
+        config = [:]
+    }
+
+    def cfg = defaultConfig + config
+
+    println "Wait for adapters to be registered"
+
+    // guarantee that at least the specified number of adapters are registered with VOLTHA before proceeding
+     sh """
+        set +x
+        _TAG="voltha-voltha-api" bash -c "while true; do kubectl port-forward --address 0.0.0.0 -n ${cfg.volthaNamespace} svc/voltha-voltha-api 55555:55555; done"&
+       """
+
+    sh """
+        set +x
+        adapters=\$(voltctl adapter list -q | wc -l)
+        while [[ \$adapters -lt ${cfg.adaptersToWait} ]]; do
+          sleep 5
+          adapters=\$(voltctl adapter list -q | wc -l)
+        done
+        ps aux | grep port-forw | grep -v grep | awk '{print \$2}' | xargs --no-run-if-empty kill -9 || true
+    """
+
+        // NOTE that we need to wait for LastCommunication to be equal or shorter that 5s
+        // as that means the core can talk to the adapters
+        // if voltctl can't read LastCommunication we skip this check
+        def done = false;
+
+        while (!done) {
+          sleep 1
+          def adapters = ""
+          try {
+            adapters = sh (
+              script: 'voltctl adapter list --format "{{gosince .LastCommunication}}"',
+              returnStdout: true,
+            ).trim()
+          } catch (err) {
+            // in some older versions of voltctl the command results in
+            // ERROR: Unexpected error while attempting to format results as table : template: output:1: function "gosince" not defined
+            // if that's the case we won't be able to check the timestamp so it's useless to wait
+            println("voltctl can't parse LastCommunication, skip waiting")
+            done = true
+            break
+          }
+
+          def waitingOn = adapters.split( '\n' ).find{since ->
+            since = since.replaceAll('s','') //remove seconds from the string
+
+            // it has to be a single digit
+            if (since.length() > 1) {
+                return true
+            }
+            if ((since as Integer) > 5) {
+                return true
+            }
+            return false
+          }
+          done = (waitingOn == null || waitingOn.length() == 0)
+        }
+
+        sh """
+          set +x
+          ps aux | grep port-forw | grep -v grep | awk '{print \$2}' | xargs --no-run-if-empty kill -9 || true
+        """
+}