kubernetes-helm-deployments

Kubernetes Helm Deployments Skill Guide

This skill provides production standards, directory layouts, templating practices, and release management rules for building enterprise-grade Kubernetes Helm charts.

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1. Helm Chart Directory Layout & Architecture

Always follow the standard Helm v3 Chart layout:

my-app/
├── Chart.yaml             # Chart metadata, versioning, and dependencies
├── values.yaml            # Default configuration values
├── values.schema.json     # JSON Schema for values validation
├── README.md              # Documentation for chart consumers
├── templates/
│   ├── _helpers.tpl       # Named templates and reusable template helpers
│   ├── deployment.yaml    # Kubernetes Deployment manifest
│   ├── service.yaml       # Kubernetes Service manifest
│   ├── ingress.yaml       # Kubernetes Ingress manifest
│   ├── hpa.yaml           # HorizontalPodAutoscaler manifest
│   ├── configmap.yaml     # ConfigMap for application configuration
│   └── NOTES.txt          # Post-installation status output
└── tests/
    └── test-connection.yaml # Helm test pod definition

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2. Chart Metadata & Validation (Chart.yaml & values.schema.json)

A. Chart Metadata (Chart.yaml)

apiVersion: v2
name: my-app
description: Production microservice deployment chart for my-app
type: application
version: 1.4.0
appVersion: "2.18.1"
maintainers:
  - name: Platform Engineering
    email: [email protected]
dependencies:
  - name: postgresql
    version: 12.5.2
    repository: https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
    condition: postgresql.enabled

B. Values Schema Validation (values.schema.json)

Enforce strong typing on input variables to prevent invalid deployments:

{
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
  "type": "object",
  "required": ["replicaCount", "image", "service"],
  "properties": {
    "replicaCount": {
      "type": "integer",
      "minimum": 1,
      "maximum": 50
    },
    "image": {
      "type": "object",
      "required": ["repository", "tag", "pullPolicy"],
      "properties": {
        "repository": { "type": "string" },
        "tag": { "type": "string" },
        "pullPolicy": {
          "type": "string",
          "enum": ["Always", "Never", "IfNotPresent"]
        }
      }
    },
    "resources": {
      "type": "object",
      "required": ["limits", "requests"]
    }
  }
}