diff --git a/pkg/devfile/handler.go b/pkg/devfile/handler.go
index e4c394fd40a..544181e15d3 100644
--- a/pkg/devfile/handler.go
+++ b/pkg/devfile/handler.go
@@ -34,6 +34,35 @@ func DevfileSamplesHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	w.Write(sampleIndex)
 }
 
+// parseDevfileWithFallback attempts to parse the devfile with full parent/plugin
+// resolution (flattened). If that fails (e.g. the parent registry is unreachable or
+// the OCI pull times out), it retries without flattening. The unflattened parse
+// still provides all locally-defined components and commands, which is sufficient
+// for the outer-loop resource generation the console backend performs.
+func parseDevfileWithFallback(devfileContentBytes []byte, httpTimeout *int) (parser.DevfileObj, error) {
+	devfileObj, _, err := devfile.ParseDevfileAndValidate(parser.ParserArgs{
+		Data:        devfileContentBytes,
+		HTTPTimeout: httpTimeout,
+	})
+	if err == nil {
+		return devfileObj, nil
+	}
+
+	klog.Warningf("Flattened devfile parse failed, retrying without parent resolution: %v", err)
+
+	flattenedDevfile := false
+	devfileObj, _, err = devfile.ParseDevfileAndValidate(parser.ParserArgs{
+		Data:             devfileContentBytes,
+		HTTPTimeout:      httpTimeout,
+		FlattenedDevfile: &flattenedDevfile,
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return parser.DevfileObj{}, err
+	}
+
+	return devfileObj, nil
+}
+
 func DevfileHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	var (
 		data       DevfileForm
@@ -48,11 +77,10 @@ func DevfileHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		return
 	}
 
-	// Get devfile content and parse it using a library call in the future
 	devfileContentBytes := []byte(data.Devfile.DevfileContent)
-	//reduce the http request and response timeouts on the devfile library parser to 10s
 	httpTimeout := 10
-	devfileObj, _, err = devfile.ParseDevfileAndValidate(parser.ParserArgs{Data: devfileContentBytes, HTTPTimeout: &httpTimeout})
+
+	devfileObj, err = parseDevfileWithFallback(devfileContentBytes, &httpTimeout)
 	if err != nil {
 		errMsg := "Failed to parse devfile:"
 		if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "schemaVersion not present in devfile") {
diff --git a/pkg/devfile/handler_test.go b/pkg/devfile/handler_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ca20ca2eea3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/devfile/handler_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+package devfile
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+const validDevfileNoParent = `
+schemaVersion: 2.2.0
+metadata:
+  name: test-app
+  attributes:
+    alpha.dockerimage-port: 8080
+components:
+  - name: image-build
+    image:
+      imageName: test-image:latest
+      dockerfile:
+        uri: Dockerfile
+        buildContext: .
+  - name: kubernetes-deploy
+    kubernetes:
+      inlined: |
+        kind: Deployment
+        apiVersion: apps/v1
+        metadata:
+          name: my-deploy
+        spec:
+          replicas: 1
+          selector:
+            matchLabels:
+              app: test-app
+          template:
+            metadata:
+              labels:
+                app: test-app
+            spec:
+              containers:
+                - name: my-container
+                  image: test-image:latest
+commands:
+  - id: build-image
+    apply:
+      component: image-build
+  - id: deployk8s
+    apply:
+      component: kubernetes-deploy
+  - id: deploy
+    composite:
+      commands:
+        - build-image
+        - deployk8s
+      group:
+        kind: deploy
+        isDefault: true
+`
+
+const devfileWithBadRegistry = `
+schemaVersion: 2.2.0
+metadata:
+  name: test
+parent:
+  id: nonexistent-stack
+  registryUrl: 'https://does-not-exist.invalid'
+components:
+  - name: image-build
+    image:
+      imageName: test:latest
+      dockerfile:
+        uri: Dockerfile
+        buildContext: .
+  - name: kubernetes-deploy
+    kubernetes:
+      inlined: |
+        kind: Deployment
+        apiVersion: apps/v1
+        metadata:
+          name: test-deploy
+        spec:
+          replicas: 1
+          selector:
+            matchLabels:
+              app: test
+          template:
+            metadata:
+              labels:
+                app: test
+            spec:
+              containers:
+                - name: test
+                  image: test:latest
+commands:
+  - id: build-image
+    apply:
+      component: image-build
+  - id: deployk8s
+    apply:
+      component: kubernetes-deploy
+  - id: deploy
+    composite:
+      commands:
+        - build-image
+        - deployk8s
+      group:
+        kind: deploy
+        isDefault: true
+`
+
+func TestParseDevfileWithFallback(t *testing.T) {
+	httpTimeout := 10
+
+	t.Run("devfile without parent parses on first attempt", func(t *testing.T) {
+		devfileObj, err := parseDevfileWithFallback([]byte(validDevfileNoParent), &httpTimeout)
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+
+		components, err := GetDeployComponents(devfileObj)
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.Contains(t, components, "image-build")
+		assert.Contains(t, components, "kubernetes-deploy")
+	})
+
+	t.Run("devfile with unreachable parent falls back to unflattened parse", func(t *testing.T) {
+		devfileObj, err := parseDevfileWithFallback([]byte(devfileWithBadRegistry), &httpTimeout)
+		assert.NoError(t, err, "fallback to unflattened parse should succeed")
+
+		components, err := GetDeployComponents(devfileObj)
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.Contains(t, components, "image-build")
+		assert.Contains(t, components, "kubernetes-deploy")
+	})
+
+	t.Run("completely invalid devfile fails both attempts", func(t *testing.T) {
+		_, err := parseDevfileWithFallback([]byte("not valid yaml: ["), &httpTimeout)
+		assert.Error(t, err)
+	})
+}