diff --git a/bonfire/bonfire.py b/bonfire/bonfire.py
index d4bc0fe2..3118d460 100755
--- a/bonfire/bonfire.py
+++ b/bonfire/bonfire.py
@@ -430,6 +430,13 @@ def _validate_resource_arguments(ctx, param, value):
         type=str,
         multiple=True,
     ),
+    click.option(
+        "--frontends",
+        "-F",
+        help="Deploy frontends (default: false)",
+        type=bool,
+        default=False,
+    ),
     _local_option,
 ]
 
@@ -737,6 +744,7 @@ def _process(
     single_replicas,
     component_filter,
     local,
+    frontends,
 ):
     apps_config = _get_apps_config(source, target_env, ref_env, local_config_path)
 
@@ -753,6 +761,7 @@ def _process(
         single_replicas,
         component_filter,
         local,
+        frontends,
     )
     return processor.process()
 
@@ -782,6 +791,7 @@ def _cmd_process(
     single_replicas,
     component_filter,
     local,
+    frontends,
 ):
     """Fetch and process application templates"""
     clowd_env = _get_env_name(namespace, clowd_env)
@@ -802,6 +812,7 @@ def _cmd_process(
         single_replicas,
         component_filter,
         local,
+        frontends,
     )
     print(json.dumps(processed_templates, indent=2))
 
@@ -898,6 +909,7 @@ def _cmd_config_deploy(
     import_secrets,
     secrets_dir,
     local,
+    frontends,
 ):
     """Process app templates and deploy them to a cluster"""
     if not has_clowder():
@@ -951,6 +963,7 @@ def _err_handler(err):
             single_replicas,
             component_filter,
             local,
+            frontends,
         )
         log.debug("app configs:\n%s", json.dumps(apps_config, indent=2))
         if not apps_config["items"]:
diff --git a/bonfire/processor.py b/bonfire/processor.py
index 1d7a81b0..ac1776fe 100644
--- a/bonfire/processor.py
+++ b/bonfire/processor.py
@@ -316,6 +316,7 @@ def __init__(
         single_replicas,
         component_filter,
         local,
+        frontends,
     ):
         self.apps_config = apps_config
         self.requested_app_names = self._parse_app_names(app_names)
@@ -329,6 +330,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.single_replicas = single_replicas
         self.component_filter = component_filter
         self.local = local
+        self.frontends = frontends
 
         self._validate()
 
@@ -436,13 +438,36 @@ def _process_component(self, component_name):
         if component_name not in self.processed_components:
             log.info("processing component %s", component_name)
             new_items = self._get_component_items(component_name)
-            self.k8s_list["items"].extend(new_items)
 
-            self.processed_components.add(component_name)
+            # ignore frontends if we're not supposed to deploy them
+            frontend_found = False
+            for item in new_items:
+                kind = item.get("kind").lower()
+                ver = item.get("apiVersion").lower()
+                if kind == "frontend" and ver.startswith("cloud.redhat.com"):
+                    frontend_found = True
+                    break
 
-            if self.get_dependencies:
-                # recursively process components to add config for dependent apps to self.k8s_list
-                self._add_dependencies_to_config(component_name, new_items)
+            if frontend_found and not self.frontends:
+                log.info(
+                    "ignoring component %s, user opted to disable frontend deployments",
+                    component_name,
+                )
+                new_items = []
+
+            if new_items:
+                self.k8s_list["items"].extend(new_items)
+                self.processed_components.add(component_name)
+
+                if frontend_found and "frontend-configs" not in self.processed_components:
+                    log.info(
+                        "found a Frontend resource, auto-adding frontend-configs as dependency"
+                    )
+                    self._process_component("frontend-configs")
+
+                if self.get_dependencies:
+                    # recursively process to add config for dependent apps to self.k8s_list
+                    self._add_dependencies_to_config(component_name, new_items)
         else:
             log.debug("component %s already processed", component_name)
 
diff --git a/bonfire/utils.py b/bonfire/utils.py
index b0793b19..71a1b886 100644
--- a/bonfire/utils.py
+++ b/bonfire/utils.py
@@ -174,11 +174,15 @@ def from_config(cls, d):
 
     def fetch(self):
         if self.host == "local":
-            return self._fetch_local()
+            result = self._fetch_local()
         if self.host == "github":
-            return self._fetch_github()
+            result = self._fetch_github()
         if self.host == "gitlab":
-            return self._fetch_gitlab()
+            result = self._fetch_gitlab()
+
+        self._session.close()
+
+        return result
 
     @cached_property
     def _gl_certfile(self):