Helm Chart Scaffolding

Seth HobsonCommunityCreated by Seth Hobson

Skill
Tool integration
Cloud and DevOps
MIT
Low risk
Has scripts

From the author

Design, organize, and manage Helm charts for templating and packaging Kubernetes applications with reusable configurations. Use when creating Helm charts, packaging Kubernetes applications, or implementing templated deployments.

— the description by Seth Hobson

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

This skill provides a structured approach to creating and maintaining Helm charts, the standard package manager for Kubernetes. It covers the essential directory structure, metadata configuration in Chart.yaml, hierarchical values management, and the implementation of reusable Go-based templates. Designed for developers and DevOps engineers, it ensures that Kubernetes applications are packaged consistently, follow best practices for versioning and dependency management, and are ready for multi-environment deployment.

What it does

Defines standard directory structures for Helm charts
Provides templates for Chart.yaml and values.yaml files
Explains how to implement Go templating for Kubernetes manifests
Guides the configuration of chart dependencies and conditions
Offers best practices for versioning, labeling, and validation
Includes troubleshooting commands for rendering and installation

When to use it

When creating new Helm charts from scratch
When packaging Kubernetes applications for distribution
When implementing templated deployments for multiple environments
When needing to manage complex application dependencies
When standardizing Kubernetes manifest management across a team

Advantages

Promotes consistency through standardized file structures
Enables reusable configurations via hierarchical values
Simplifies complex deployments with template helpers
Supports production-ready practices like semantic versioning
Provides clear paths for debugging and validation

Usage examples

“How do I initialize a new Helm chart structure?”: The agent will guide you to use the 'helm create' command and explain the purpose of the generated directories like templates/ and charts/.
“How can I make my deployment replicas configurable in values.yaml?”: The agent will show you how to define a 'replicaCount' key in values.yaml and reference it in your deployment.yaml template using '{{ .Values.replicaCount }}'.
“How do I troubleshoot a template rendering error?”: The agent will provide the 'helm template' command with the '--debug' flag to inspect the generated manifests before installation.
“What is the difference between an application chart and a library chart?”: The agent will explain that application charts are installable units, while library charts are used as dependencies to share template helpers.

Install

Download the skill as a ZIP:
https://mp-staging.autogineer.com/agent-skills/wshobson/helm-chart-scaffolding/download

Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip helm-chart-scaffolding.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by Seth Hobson

Helm Chart Scaffolding

Comprehensive guidance for creating, organizing, and managing Helm charts for packaging and deploying Kubernetes applications.

Purpose

This skill provides step-by-step instructions for building production-ready Helm charts, including chart structure, templating patterns, values management, and validation strategies.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when you need to:

Create new Helm charts from scratch
Package Kubernetes applications for distribution
Manage multi-environment deployments with Helm
Implement templating for reusable Kubernetes manifests
Set up Helm chart repositories
Follow Helm best practices and conventions

Detailed patterns and worked examples

Detailed pattern documentation lives in references/details.md. Read that file when the navigation tier above is insufficient.

Best Practices

Use semantic versioning for chart and app versions
Document all values in values.yaml with comments
Use template helpers for repeated logic
Validate charts before packaging
Pin dependency versions explicitly
Use conditions for optional resources
Follow naming conventions (lowercase, hyphens)
Include NOTES.txt with usage instructions
Add labels consistently using helpers
Test installations in all environments

Troubleshooting

Template rendering errors:

helm template my-app ./my-app --debug

Dependency issues:

helm dependency update
helm dependency list

Installation failures:

helm install my-app ./my-app --dry-run --debug
kubectl get events --sort-by='.lastTimestamp'

k8s-manifest-generator - For creating base Kubernetes manifests
gitops-workflow - For automated Helm chart deployments

Files

ATTRIBUTION.mdAdded by AutoGineer1008 B
LICENSELicence file added by AutoGineer1.0 KiB
SKILL.md2.1 KiB
assets/Chart.yaml.template801 B
assets/values.yaml.template3.1 KiB
references/chart-structure.md11.2 KiB
references/details.md9.2 KiB
scripts/validate-chart.shScript6.4 KiB

references/details.md

helm-chart-scaffolding — detailed patterns and worked examples

Helm Overview

Helm is the package manager for Kubernetes that:

Templates Kubernetes manifests for reusability
Manages application releases and rollbacks
Handles dependencies between charts
Provides version control for deployments
Simplifies configuration management across environments

Step-by-Step Workflow

1. Initialize Chart Structure

Create new chart:

helm create my-app

Standard chart structure:

my-app/
├── Chart.yaml           # Chart metadata
├── values.yaml          # Default configuration values
├── charts/              # Chart dependencies
├── templates/           # Kubernetes manifest templates
│   ├── NOTES.txt       # Post-install notes
│   ├── _helpers.tpl    # Template helpers
│   ├── deployment.yaml
│   ├── service.yaml
│   ├── ingress.yaml
│   ├── serviceaccount.yaml
│   ├── hpa.yaml
│   └── tests/
│       └── test-connection.yaml
└── .helmignore         # Files to ignore

2. Configure Chart.yaml

Chart metadata defines the package:

apiVersion: v2
name: my-app
description: A Helm chart for My Application
type: application
version: 1.0.0 # Chart version
appVersion: "2.1.0" # Application version

# Keywords for chart discovery
keywords:
  - web
  - api
  - backend

# Maintainer information
maintainers:
  - name: DevOps Team
    email: [email protected]
    url: https://github.com/example/my-app

# Source code repository
sources:
  - https://github.com/example/my-app

# Homepage
home: https://example.com

# Chart icon
icon: https://example.com/icon.png

# Dependencies
dependencies:
  - name: postgresql
    version: "12.0.0"
    repository: "https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami"
    condition: postgresql.enabled
  - name: redis
    version: "17.0.0"
    repository: "https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami"
    condition: redis.enabled

Reference: See assets/Chart.yaml.template for complete example

3. Design values.yaml Structure

Organize values hierarchically:

# Image configuration
image:
  repository: myapp
  tag: "1.0.0"
  pullPolicy: IfNotPresent

# Number of replicas
replicaCount: 3

# Service configuration
service:
  type: ClusterIP
  port: 80
  targetPort: 8080

# Ingress configuration
ingress:
  enabled: false
  className: nginx
  hosts:
    - host: app.example.com
      paths:
        - path: /
          pathType: Prefix

# Resources
resources:
  requests:
    memory: "256Mi"
    cpu: "250m"
  limits:
    memory: "512Mi"
    cpu: "500m"

# Autoscaling
autoscaling:
  enabled: false
  minReplicas: 2
  maxReplicas: 10
  targetCPUUtilizationPercentage: 80

# Environment variables
env:
  - name: LOG_LEVEL
    value: "info"

# ConfigMap data
configMap:
  data:
    APP_MODE: production

# Dependencies
postgresql:
  enabled: true
  auth:
    database: myapp
    username: myapp

redis:
  enabled: false

Reference: See assets/values.yaml.template for complete structure

4. Create Template Files

Use Go templating with Helm functions:

templates/deployment.yaml:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: {{ include "my-app.fullname" . }}
  labels:
    {{- include "my-app.labels" . | nindent 4 }}
spec:
  {{- if not .Values.autoscaling.enabled }}
  replicas: {{ .Values.replicaCount }}
  {{- end }}
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      {{- include "my-app.selectorLabels" . | nindent 6 }}
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        {{- include "my-app.selectorLabels" . | nindent 8 }}
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: {{ .Chart.Name }}
        image: "{{ .Values.image.repository }}:{{ .Values.image.tag | default .Chart.AppVersion }}"
        imagePullPolicy: {{ .Values.image.pullPolicy }}
        ports:
        - name: http
          containerPort: {{ .Values.service.targetPort }}
        resources:
          {{- toYaml .Values.resources | nindent 12 }}
        env:
          {{- toYaml .Values.env | nindent 12 }}

5. Create Template Helpers

templates/_helpers.tpl:

{{/*
Expand the name of the chart.
*/}}
{{- define "my-app.name" -}}
{{- default .Chart.Name .Values.nameOverride | trunc 63 | trimSuffix "-" }}
{{- end }}

{{/*
Create a default fully qualified app name.
*/}}
{{- define "my-app.fullname" -}}
{{- if .Values.fullnameOverride }}
{{- .Values.fullnameOverride | trunc 63 | trimSuffix "-" }}
{{- else }}
{{- $name := default .Chart.Name .Values.nameOverride }}
{{- if contains $name .Release.Name }}
{{- .Release.Name | trunc 63 | trimSuffix "-" }}
{{- else }}
{{- printf "%s-%s" .Release.Name $name | trunc 63 | trimSuffix "-" }}
{{- end }}
{{- end }}
{{- end }}

{{/*
Common labels
*/}}
{{- define "my-app.labels" -}}
helm.sh/chart: {{ include "my-app.chart" . }}
{{ include "my-app.selectorLabels" . }}
{{- if .Chart.AppVersion }}
app.kubernetes.io/version: {{ .Chart.AppVersion | quote }}
{{- end }}
app.kubernetes.io/managed-by: {{ .Release.Service }}
{{- end }}

{{/*
Selector labels
*/}}
{{- define "my-app.selectorLabels" -}}
app.kubernetes.io/name: {{ include "my-app.name" . }}
app.kubernetes.io/instance: {{ .Release.Name }}
{{- end }}

6. Manage Dependencies

Add dependencies in Chart.yaml:

dependencies:
  - name: postgresql
    version: "12.0.0"
    repository: "https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami"
    condition: postgresql.enabled

Update dependencies:

helm dependency update
helm dependency build

Override dependency values:

# values.yaml
postgresql:
  enabled: true
  auth:
    database: myapp
    username: myapp
    password: changeme
  primary:
    persistence:
      enabled: true
      size: 10Gi

7. Test and Validate

Validation commands:

# Lint the chart
helm lint my-app/

# Dry-run installation
helm install my-app ./my-app --dry-run --debug

# Template rendering
helm template my-app ./my-app

# Template with values
helm template my-app ./my-app -f values-prod.yaml

# Show computed values
helm show values ./my-app

Validation script:

#!/bin/bash
set -e

echo "Linting chart..."
helm lint .

echo "Testing template rendering..."
helm template test-release . --dry-run

echo "Checking for required values..."
helm template test-release . --validate

echo "All validations passed!"

Reference: See scripts/validate-chart.sh

8. Package and Distribute

Package the chart:

helm package my-app/
# Creates: my-app-1.0.0.tgz

Create chart repository:

# Create index
helm repo index .

# Upload to repository
# AWS S3 example
aws s3 sync . s3://my-helm-charts/ --exclude "*" --include "*.tgz" --include "index.yaml"

Use the chart:

helm repo add my-repo https://charts.example.com
helm repo update
helm install my-app my-repo/my-app

9. Multi-Environment Configuration

Environment-specific values files:

my-app/
├── values.yaml          # Defaults
├── values-dev.yaml      # Development
├── values-staging.yaml  # Staging
└── values-prod.yaml     # Production

values-prod.yaml:

replicaCount: 5

image:
  tag: "2.1.0"

resources:
  requests:
    memory: "512Mi"
    cpu: "500m"
  limits:
    memory: "1Gi"
    cpu: "1000m"

autoscaling:
  enabled: true
  minReplicas: 3
  maxReplicas: 20

ingress:
  enabled: true
  hosts:
    - host: app.example.com
      paths:
        - path: /
          pathType: Prefix

postgresql:
  enabled: true
  primary:
    persistence:
      size: 100Gi

Install with environment:

helm install my-app ./my-app -f values-prod.yaml --namespace production

10. Implement Hooks and Tests

Pre-install hook:

# templates/pre-install-job.yaml
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: Job
metadata:
  name: {{ include "my-app.fullname" . }}-db-setup
  annotations:
    "helm.sh/hook": pre-install
    "helm.sh/hook-weight": "-5"
    "helm.sh/hook-delete-policy": hook-succeeded
spec:
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: db-setup
        image: postgres:15
        command: ["psql", "-c", "CREATE DATABASE myapp"]
      restartPolicy: Never

Test connection:

# templates/tests/test-connection.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: "{{ include "my-app.fullname" . }}-test-connection"
  annotations:
    "helm.sh/hook": test
spec:
  containers:
  - name: wget
    image: busybox
    command: ['wget']
    args: ['{{ include "my-app.fullname" . }}:{{ .Values.service.port }}']
  restartPolicy: Never

Run tests:

helm test my-app

Common Patterns

Pattern 1: Conditional Resources

{{- if .Values.ingress.enabled }}
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: {{ include "my-app.fullname" . }}
spec:
  # ...
{{- end }}

Pattern 2: Iterating Over Lists

env:
{{- range .Values.env }}
- name: {{ .name }}
  value: {{ .value | quote }}
{{- end }}

Pattern 3: Including Files

data:
  config.yaml: |
    {{- .Files.Get "config/application.yaml" | nindent 4 }}

Pattern 4: Global Values

global:
  imageRegistry: docker.io
  imagePullSecrets:
    - name: regcred

# Use in templates:
image: {{ .Values.global.imageRegistry }}/{{ .Values.image.repository }}

Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Needs: Needs a command-line tool

Security

What our scanner noticed· Low risk

Scripts that your agent may run

This skill includes scripts that your agent may run. Read them before you use it.

A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.

Attribution and licence

Created by

Seth Hobson

Publisher

Seth Hobson (Community)

Source

wshobson/agents · plugins/kubernetes-operations/skills/helm-chart-scaffolding · commit 4bde316

Licence

MIT License (redistribution allowed)

LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)

Synced

2026-11-08

AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by Seth Hobson.

Download ZIP

The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download helm-chart-scaffolding.zip

From the author

AutoGineer summary

What it does

When to use it

Advantages

Usage examples

Install

Documentation by Seth Hobson

Helm Chart Scaffolding

Purpose

When to Use This Skill

Detailed patterns and worked examples

Best Practices

Troubleshooting

Related Skills

Files

references/details.md

helm-chart-scaffolding — detailed patterns and worked examples

Helm Overview

Step-by-Step Workflow

1. Initialize Chart Structure

2. Configure Chart.yaml

3. Design values.yaml Structure

4. Create Template Files

5. Create Template Helpers

6. Manage Dependencies

7. Test and Validate

8. Package and Distribute

9. Multi-Environment Configuration

10. Implement Hooks and Tests

Common Patterns

Pattern 1: Conditional Resources

Pattern 2: Iterating Over Lists

Pattern 3: Including Files

Pattern 4: Global Values

Requirements and compatibility

Security

Attribution and licence

Related skills

Shipping And Launch

Quantized Export

Deployment Pipeline Design

Gitops Workflow

Spark Environment Setup

Cloud Infrastructure Deployment Engineer

Download ZIP