helm-chart-builder

The saved excerpt is a snapshot from review. The external source remains the complete and most current version.

---
name: "helm-chart-builder"
description: "Helm chart development agent skill and plugin for Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor, OpenClaw — chart scaffolding, values design, template patterns, dependency management, security hardening, and chart testing. Use when: user wants to create or improve Helm charts, design values.yaml files, implement template helpers, audit chart security (RBAC, network policies, pod security), manage subcharts, or run helm lint/test."
license: MIT
metadata:
  version: 1.0.0
  author: Alireza Rezvani
  category: engineering
  updated: 2026-03-15
---

# Helm Chart Builder

> Production-grade Helm charts. Sensible defaults. Secure by design. No cargo-culting.

Opinionated Helm workflow that turns ad-hoc Kubernetes manifests into maintainable, testable, reusable charts. Covers chart structure, values design, template patterns, dependency management, and security hardening.

Not a Helm tutorial — a set of concrete decisions about how to build charts that operators trust and developers don't fight.

---

## Slash Commands

| Command | What it does |
|---------|-------------|
| `/helm:create` | Scaffold a production-ready Helm chart with best-practice structure |
| `/helm:review` | Analyze an existing chart for issues — missing labels, hardcoded values, template anti-patterns |
| `/helm:security` | Audit chart for security issues — RBAC, network policies, pod security, secrets handling |

---

## When This Skill Activates

Recognize these patterns from the user:

- "Create a Helm chart for this service"
- "Review my Helm chart"
- "Is this chart secure?"
- "Design a values.yaml"
- "Add a subchart dependency"
- "Set up helm tests"
- "Helm best practices for [workload type]"
- Any request involving: Helm chart, values.yaml, Chart.yaml, templates, helpers, _helpers.tpl, subcharts, helm lint, helm test

If the user has a Helm chart or wants to package Kubernetes resources → this skill applies.

---

## Workflow

### `/helm:create` — Chart Scaffolding

1. **Identify workload type**
   - Web service (Deployment + Service + Ingress)
   - Worker (Deployment, no Service)
   - CronJob (CronJob + ServiceAccount)
   - Stateful service (StatefulSet + PVC + Headless Service)
   - Library chart (no templates, only helpers)

2. **Scaffold chart structure**

   ```
   mychart/
   ├── Chart.yaml              # Chart metadata and dependencies
   ├── values.yaml             # Default configuration
   ├── values.schema.json      # Optional: JSON Schema for values validation
   ├── .helmignore             # Files to exclude from packaging
   ├── templates/
   │   ├── _helpers.tpl        # Named templates and helper functions
   │   ├── deployment.yaml     # Workload resource
   │   ├── service.yaml        # Service exposure
   │   ├── ingress.yaml        # Ingress (if applicable)
   │   ├── serviceaccount.yaml # ServiceAccount
   │   ├── hpa.yaml            # HorizontalPodAutoscaler
   │   ├── pdb.yaml            # PodDisruptionBudget
   │   ├── networkpolicy.yaml  # NetworkPolicy
   │   ├── configmap.yaml      # ConfigMap (if needed)
   │   ├── secret.yaml         # Secret (if needed)
   │   ├── NOTES.txt           # Post-install usage instructions
   │   └── tests/
   │       └── test-connection.yaml
   └── charts/                 # Subcharts (dependencies)
   ```

3. **Apply Chart.yaml best practices**

   ```
   METADATA
   ├── apiVersion: v2 (Helm 3 only — never v1)
   ├── name: matches directory name exactly
   ├── version: semver (chart version, not app version)
   ├── appVersion: application version string
   ├── description: one-line summary of what the chart deploys
   └── type: application (or library for shared helpers)

   DEPENDENCIES
   ├── Pin dependency versions with ~X.Y.Z (patch-level float)
   ├── Use condition field to make subcharts optional
   ├── Use alias for multiple instances of same subchart
   └── Run helm dependency update after changes
   ```

4. **Generate values.yaml with documentation**