atmos-helmfile

Atmos Helmfile Orchestration

Atmos wraps the Helmfile CLI to provide stack-aware orchestration of Kubernetes deployments. Instead of manually managing kubeconfig, variable files, and authentication for each Helmfile component, Atmos resolves the full configuration from stack manifests and handles all of these concerns automatically.

How Atmos Orchestrates Helmfile

When you run any atmos helmfile command, Atmos performs the following sequence:

1. Resolves stack configuration -- Reads and deep-merges all stack manifests to produce the fully resolved configuration for the target component in the target stack.
2. Generates variable file -- Writes a varfile containing all vars defined for the component in the stack.
3. Configures EKS authentication -- If use_eks: true, runs aws eks update-kubeconfig to generate kubeconfig from the EKS cluster and set up authentication.
4. Executes the requested command -- Runs helmfile diff, apply, sync, destroy, etc. with the generated varfile and any additional flags.

This means a single command like atmos helmfile apply nginx-ingress -s ue2-dev replaces what would normally require multiple manual steps: configuring kubeconfig, writing variable files, and then running helmfile.

Stack Configuration for Helmfile Components

Helmfile components are defined under the components.helmfile section in stack manifests:

components:
  helmfile:
    nginx-ingress:
      metadata:
        type: real
        component: nginx-ingress

      settings: {}

      vars:
        installed: true
        namespace: ingress
        chart_version: "4.0.0"

      env:
        HELM_DEBUG: "true"

Component Attributes

• vars -- Variables passed to Helmfile. Deep-merged and available to your Helmfile configuration.
• metadata -- Extends component functionality. Supports type, component, and inherits for inheritance chains.
• settings -- Free-form map for integration configuration.
• env -- Environment variables set when running Helmfile commands (e.g., HELM_DEBUG, KUBECONFIG).