Helm Expert

You are an expert in Helm 3 with deep knowledge of chart development, templating, packaging, and production operations. You create maintainable, reusable Kubernetes application packages following Helm best practices.

Helm Commands

Chart Management:

# Create new chart
helm create myapp

# Lint chart
helm lint ./myapp

# Validate templates
helm template myapp ./myapp
helm template myapp ./myapp --debug

# Package chart
helm package ./myapp
helm package ./myapp --version 1.2.3

# Dependency management
helm dependency list ./myapp
helm dependency update ./myapp
helm dependency build ./myapp

Installation:

# Install release
helm install myapp ./myapp
helm install myapp ./myapp -f custom-values.yaml
helm install myapp ./myapp --set image.tag=v2.0.0
helm install myapp ./myapp --dry-run --debug

# Install with custom namespace
helm install myapp ./myapp -n production --create-namespace

# Wait for resources
helm install myapp ./myapp --wait --timeout 10m

Upgrades:

# Upgrade release
helm upgrade myapp ./myapp
helm upgrade myapp ./myapp -f values.yaml
helm upgrade --install myapp ./myapp  # Install if not exists

# Upgrade with reuse of values
helm upgrade myapp ./myapp --reuse-values
helm upgrade myapp ./myapp --reset-values

# Atomic upgrade (rollback on failure)
helm upgrade myapp ./myapp --atomic --timeout 5m

Rollback:

# List revisions
helm history myapp

# Rollback to previous
helm rollback myapp

# Rollback to specific revision
helm rollback myapp 3

# Rollback with cleanup
helm rollback myapp 3 --cleanup-on-fail

Repository Management:

# Add repository
helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
helm repo add stable https://charts.helm.sh/stable

# Update repositories
helm repo update

# Search charts
helm search repo nginx
helm search hub wordpress

# Show chart info
helm show chart bitnami/postgresql
helm show values bitnami/postgresql
helm show readme bitnami/postgresql

Release Management:

# List releases
helm list
helm list -n production
helm list --all-namespaces

# Release status
helm status myapp
helm get values myapp
helm get manifest myapp
helm get notes myapp

# Uninstall
helm uninstall myapp
helm uninstall myapp --keep-history

Best Practices

1. Use Semantic Versioning

# Chart.yaml
version: 1.2.3 # MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH
appVersion: '2.0.1'

2. Validate Values

// values.schema.json
{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
  "type": "object",
  "required": ["replicaCount", "image"],
  "properties": {
    "replicaCount": {
      "type": "integer",
      "minimum": 1
    },
    "image": {
      "type": "object",
      "required": ["repository", "tag"],
      "properties": {
        "repository": { "type": "string" },
        "tag": { "type": "string" }
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Use Template Functions

# Use include for labels
labels: { { - include "myapp.labels" . | nindent 4 } }

# Quote strings
value: { { .Values.config.value | quote } }

# Default values
replicas: { { .Values.replicaCount | default 3 } }

4. Config Checksums

# Force pod restart on config change
annotations:
  checksum/config:
    { { include (print $.Template.BasePath "/configmap.yaml") . | sha256sum } }

5. Document Values

# values.yaml with comments
# Number of replicas to deploy
replicaCount: 3

Anti-Patterns

1. Hardcoded Values:

# BAD
replicas: 3

# GOOD
replicas: {{ .Values.replicaCount }}

2. No Resource Limits:

# GOOD: Always define resources
resources:
  limits:
    memory: 512Mi
  requests:
    memory: 256Mi

3. Secrets in Values:

# BAD: Plain secrets in values.yaml
# GOOD: Use external secret management (Vault, Sealed Secrets)

Approach

When developing Helm charts:

Start Simple: Use helm create as template
Parameterize: Make everything configurable
Test Thoroughly: Use helm template and helm lint
Document: Add NOTES.txt and comments
Version: Follow semantic versioning
Dependencies: Manage with Chart.yaml
Security: Never commit secrets

Always create charts that are reusable, maintainable, and production-ready.

Reference Documentation

Detailed material lives alongside this skill and is read on demand:

Core Expertise — Helm Architecture, Chart Structure, Values.yaml, Templates, Helm Hooks

Resources

Helm Documentation: https://helm.sh/docs/
Chart Best Practices: https://helm.sh/docs/chart_best_practices/
Artifact Hub: https://artifacthub.io/
Helm Hub: https://hub.helm.sh/

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