Helm Charts Repository

This repository contains Helm charts for deploying applications to Kubernetes.

📊 CI/CD Status

Available Charts

• cert-manager - Certificate management for Kubernetes
• ingress-nginx - NGINX Ingress Controller
• kube-prometheus-stack - Prometheus monitoring stack
• n8n - Workflow automation platform

CI/CD Pipeline

The repository uses GitHub Actions for continuous integration with reusable workflows:

Reusable Workflows

1. Setup Environment (.github/workflows/setup-environment.yml)

   • Installs Helm and chart-testing tools
   • Adds required Helm repositories
   • Configurable parameters for version, tools, and git fetch depth

2. Validate Chart (.github/workflows/validate-chart.yml)

   • Validates individual charts
   • Performs linting and template testing
   • Handles dependencies and custom values files

3. Test Charts with CT (.github/workflows/test-charts-ct.yml)

   • Advanced testing using chart-testing (ct) tool
   • Supports lint, install, or both test types
   • Configurable via ct.yaml

Main CI Workflow Jobs

1. Setup - Sets up the environment using reusable workflow
2. Validate Charts - Basic chart structure validation
3. Lint and Test Charts - Individual chart validation using reusable workflow
4. Chart Testing - Advanced testing using reusable workflow

What Gets Tested

• ✅ Chart.yaml structure validation
• ✅ Helm chart linting
• ✅ Template rendering with default values
• ✅ Template rendering with custom values files
• ✅ Dependency management
• ✅ Chart-testing (ct) validation

Trigger Conditions

The CI runs on:

• Push to main or master branches
• Pull requests to main or master branches
• Only when files in helm/** are modified

Local Development

For detailed development setup instructions, see DEVELOPMENT.md.

Prerequisites

• Helm 3.18.4+
• chart-testing (ct) tool
• kubectl (for testing)
• pre-commit (for code quality)

Setup

# Clone the repository
git clone <repository-url>
cd charts

# Install chart-testing
# Install Go first (see above)
go install github.com/helm/chart-testing/v3/ct@latest

# Add to PATH if not already there
if ! grep -q "$HOME/go/bin" ~/.bashrc; then
    echo 'export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/go/bin' >> ~/.bashrc
    source ~/.bashrc
fi

# Verify installation
ct version
# Add required Helm repositories
helm repo add jetstack https://charts.jetstack.io
helm repo add ingress-nginx https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx
helm repo add prometheus-community https://prometheus-community.github.io/helm-charts
helm repo add grafana https://grafana.github.io/helm-charts
helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
helm repo update

Testing Charts

# Test a specific chart
cd charts/cert-manager
helm lint .
helm template test-release . --debug --dry-run

# Test all charts with ct
ct lint --all --config .github/ct.yaml
ct install --all --config .github/ct.yaml

Chart Structure

Each chart follows the standard Helm chart structure:

helm/chart-name/
├── Chart.yaml          # Chart metadata
├── values.yaml         # Default values
├── templates/          # Kubernetes templates
├── charts/            # Dependencies (if any)
└── Chart.lock         # Locked dependencies

Best Practices

Chart Development

1. Always validate locally before pushing
2. Update dependencies when adding new ones
3. Test with multiple values files if they exist
4. Follow Helm best practices for chart structure

CI/CD Best Practices

1. Reusable workflows - Common tasks are modularized
2. Conditional execution - Jobs only run when needed
3. Clear error messages - Easy to understand failures
4. Matrix testing - Test each chart individually
5. Graceful failures - Don't fail the entire pipeline for one chart
6. DRY principle - No code duplication across workflows

Using Reusable Workflows

You can call these workflows from other repositories or workflows:

jobs:
  setup:
    uses: ./.github/workflows/setup-environment.yml
    with:
      helm-version: '3.14.0'
      install-ct: true

  validate:
    uses: ./.github/workflows/validate-chart.yml
    with:
      chart-name: my-chart
      chart-path: helm/my-chart

  test:
    uses: ./.github/workflows/test-charts-ct.yml
    with:
      config-file: .github/ct.yaml
      test-type: both

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. Chart.lock missing - Run helm dependency update
2. Template validation fails - Check values files and templates
3. Dependencies not found - Verify Chart.yaml dependencies
4. ct command not found - Install chart-testing tool

Debug Commands

# Check chart structure
helm lint .

# Validate templates
helm template test-release . --debug --dry-run

# Check dependencies
helm dependency list
helm dependency update

# Test with ct
ct lint --config .github/ct.yaml
ct install --config .github/ct.yaml

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Test locally with the commands above
5. Push and create a pull request

The CI pipeline will automatically test your changes.

Support

For issues and questions related to specific charts, please refer to the individual chart documentation in their respective directories.

For CI/CD issues, check the GitHub Actions logs and ensure all prerequisites are met.