is there a way to define airbyte connectors/connections as code other than terraform and the deprecated octavia

Yes, apart from Terraform and the deprecated Octavia CLI, you can use the Airbyte API to manage your connectors and connections as code. The Airbyte API allows you to perform various operations such as creating, updating, and deleting connections. You can find more information about the Airbyte API in the [official documentation](https://reference.airbyte.com/reference/patchconnection). For example, in one of the [Github discussions](https://github.com/airbytehq/airbyte/issues/28191), a collaborator suggested using the Airbyte API instead of the Octavia CLI to propagate schema changes. Please note that while using the API, you might need to handle the unique identifiers (UUIDs) for custom definitions, as they can be different on each instance. This was highlighted in a [Github issue](https://github.com/airbytehq/airbyte/issues/14787) about managing custom connectors with Octavia. Remember to review the API documentation thoroughly to understand how to use it effectively for your specific use case.