name	helm
description	Kubernetes Helm chart development with values.yaml, templates, and subchart patterns. Triggers on helm, chart, kubernetes, values.yaml.
triggers	helm, chart, kubernetes, k8s, values\.yaml, \.tpl

Build Kubernetes Helm charts with proper values structure, template helpers, and subchart organization. Follow Bitnami-style conventions for consistency. **CRITICAL: Use OctoCode to research external chart capabilities before implementing workarounds.**

MCPSearch({ query: "select:mcp__plugin_devtools_octocode__githubSearchCode" })

// Research external chart values
mcp__octocode__githubGetFileContent({
  owner: "bitnami",
  repo: "charts",
  path: "bitnami/postgresql/values.yaml",
  matchString: "primary",
  mainResearchGoal: "Understand Bitnami chart patterns",
  researchGoal: "Find PostgreSQL configuration options",
  reasoning: "Need to configure external chart correctly"
})

**Chart structure:**

my-chart/
├── Chart.yaml          # Chart metadata
├── values.yaml         # Default configuration
├── templates/
│   ├── _helpers.tpl    # Template helpers
│   ├── deployment.yaml
│   ├── service.yaml
│   └── configmap.yaml
└── charts/             # Subcharts (optional)

Values annotation (required for readme-generator):

# -- (string) Image repository
image:
  # -- (string) Image registry
  registry: docker.io
  # -- (string) Image name
  repository: my-app
  # -- (string) Image tag
  tag: latest

# -- (int) Number of replicas
replicaCount: 1

# -- (bool) Enable debug mode
debug: false

Template helper:

{{/* Generate labels */}}
{{- define "mychart.labels" -}}
app.kubernetes.io/name: {{ include "mychart.name" . }}
app.kubernetes.io/instance: {{ .Release.Name }}
{{- end }}

**Banned:** - Hardcoded values in templates — use `.Values` - Changing label selectors after deployment - Secrets in values.yaml — use `existingSecret` pattern - Missing `# -- (type)` annotations - Template files over 200 lines

Required:

Every values field: # -- (type) description annotation
Standard Kubernetes labels (app.kubernetes.io/*)
Support both inline and existingSecret for secrets
Init containers for service dependencies

Naming: Charts=kebab-case, Templates=<resource>.yaml, Values=camelCase

**Always research external chart capabilities before workarounds:**

Find the upstream chart repository
Read the chart's values.yaml
Check chart documentation
Use OctoCode to search templates

mcp__octocode__githubGetFileContent({
  owner: "grafana",
  repo: "helm-charts",
  path: "charts/grafana/values.yaml",
  matchString: "rbac",
  mainResearchGoal: "Find Grafana RBAC options",
  researchGoal: "Check if namespace-scoped RBAC is supported",
  reasoning: "Avoid custom workaround if chart supports it natively"
})

```bash helm lint ./my-chart # Lint chart helm template my-chart ./my-chart --debug # Render templates helm dependency update ./my-chart # Update dependencies helm install my-release ./my-chart # Install ``` - [ ] All values have `# -- (type)` annotations - [ ] Uses `.Values` references (no hardcoding) - [ ] Standard Kubernetes labels - [ ] `existingSecret` pattern for secrets - [ ] `helm lint` passes with 0 warnings - [ ] External charts researched before workarounds

helm

Install Skill

SKILL.md