pantheon-ai/helm-generator

Comprehensive toolkit for generating best practice Helm charts and resources following current standards and conventions. Use this skill when creating new Helm charts, implementing Helm templates, or building Helm projects from scratch.

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Helm Template Functions Reference

Name: pantheon-ai/helm-generator
Author: pantheon-ai

Comprehensive guide to Helm template functions with practical examples.

Essential Template Functions

1. required - Enforce Required Values

Fails template rendering if a value is not provided.

# Syntax
{{ required "error message" .Values.some.value }}

# Example
image: {{ required "image.repository is required!" .Values.image.repository }}
tag: {{ required "image.tag is required!" .Values.image.tag }}

When to use:

Critical configuration values that must be set
Values without sensible defaults
Production deployments where safety is paramount

2. default - Provide Fallback Values

Provides a default value if the value is empty or undefined.

# Syntax
{{ .Values.some.value | default "default-value" }}

# Examples
replicas: {{ .Values.replicaCount | default 1 }}
image:
  tag: {{ .Values.image.tag | default .Chart.AppVersion }}
  pullPolicy: {{ .Values.image.pullPolicy | default "IfNotPresent" }}

# Computed defaults
serviceName: {{ .Values.service.name | default (printf "%s-svc" (include "mychart.fullname" .)) }}

When to use:

Optional configuration values
Values with sensible defaults
Fallback to computed values

3. quote - Safely Quote Strings

Wraps a value in double quotes, escaping special characters.

# Syntax
{{ .Values.some.value | quote }}

# Examples
env:
  - name: DATABASE_URL
    value: {{ .Values.database.url | quote }}
  - name: API_KEY
    value: {{ .Values.api.key | quote }}

# With pipeline
image: {{ .Values.image.repository | default "nginx" | quote }}

When to use:

String values in environment variables
Configuration values that might contain special characters
YAML string fields that need guaranteed quoting

4. include - Include Templates with Pipeline Support

Includes a named template and allows piping the result to other functions.

# Syntax
{{ include "template-name" context }}

# Examples
metadata:
  labels:
    {{- include "mychart.labels" . | nindent 4 }}

# With modifications
annotations:
  checksum: {{ include "mychart.config" . | sha256sum }}

When to use:

Including helpers or named templates
When you need to pipe template output to other functions
Prefer include over template for better composability

5. template - Include Templates (No Pipeline)

Includes a named template (cannot be piped).

# Syntax
{{ template "template-name" context }}

# Example
metadata:
  labels:
    {{ template "mychart.labels" . }}

When to use:

Simple template inclusion without modification
Legacy templates (prefer include for new code)

6. toYaml - Convert to YAML

Converts an object to YAML format.

# Syntax
{{ .Values.some.object | toYaml }}

# Examples
{{- with .Values.resources }}
resources:
  {{- toYaml . | nindent 2 }}
{{- end }}

{{- with .Values.nodeSelector }}
nodeSelector:
  {{- toYaml . | nindent 2 }}
{{- end }}

When to use:

Complex nested objects from values.yaml
Resource specifications (limits, requests)
Selector, affinity, and toleration definitions

7. fromYaml - Parse YAML String

Parses a YAML string into an object.

# Syntax
{{ .Values.yamlString | fromYaml }}

# Example
{{- $config := .Values.configYaml | fromYaml }}
{{- if $config.enabled }}
# Use $config values
{{- end }}

When to use:

Parsing YAML strings from values
Dynamic configuration loading

8. tpl - Render String as Template

Evaluates a string as a Go template.

# Syntax
{{ tpl .Values.templateString . }}

# Example values.yaml
config:
  message: "Release: {{ .Release.Name }}"

# Template
data:
  message: {{ tpl .Values.config.message . }}

When to use:

Dynamic template strings in values.yaml
User-provided template content
Advanced configuration patterns

9. nindent / indent - Control Indentation

Adds newline and indentation, or just indentation.

# nindent - newline + indent
metadata:
  labels:
    {{- include "mychart.labels" . | nindent 4 }}

# indent - just indent (no newline)
data:
  config: |
    {{ .Values.config | indent 4 }}

When to use:

nindent for YAML blocks after keys
indent for multi-line string content

10. printf - Format Strings

Formats a string using Go's fmt.Sprintf syntax.

# Syntax
{{ printf "format" arg1 arg2 }}

# Examples
name: {{ printf "%s-%s" .Release.Name .Chart.Name }}
label: {{ printf "app.kubernetes.io/name: %s" .Chart.Name }}

When to use:

Constructing names or identifiers
String formatting and concatenation

Logical Functions

if / else / else if - Conditionals

{{- if .Values.ingress.enabled }}
# Ingress resource
{{- end }}

{{- if eq .Values.service.type "LoadBalancer" }}
# LoadBalancer config
{{- else if eq .Values.service.type "NodePort" }}
# NodePort config
{{- else }}
# Default config
{{- end }}

and / or / not - Boolean Logic

{{- if and .Values.enabled (not .Values.debug) }}
# Enabled and not debug
{{- end }}

{{- if or .Values.useSSL .Values.production }}
# SSL or production
{{- end }}

with - Scope Context

{{- with .Values.nodeSelector }}
nodeSelector:
  {{- toYaml . | nindent 2 }}
{{- end }}

Note: Inside with, . refers to the scoped value. Use $ for root context.

Comparison Functions

eq - Equal: {{ if eq .Values.env "prod" }}
ne - Not equal: {{ if ne .Values.replicas 1 }}
lt - Less than: {{ if lt .Values.replicas 3 }}
le - Less or equal: {{ if le .Values.replicas 5 }}
gt - Greater than: {{ if gt .Values.replicas 1 }}
ge - Greater or equal: {{ if ge .Values.replicas 3 }}

String Functions (Sprig)

Basic String Operations

# upper / lower
name: {{ .Values.name | upper }}
label: {{ .Values.env | lower }}

# trim / trimSuffix / trimPrefix
name: {{ .Values.name | trim }}
name: {{ .Values.name | trimSuffix "-" }}

# trunc - truncate to length
name: {{ .Values.longName | trunc 63 | trimSuffix "-" }}

# replace
chart: {{ .Chart.Name | replace "." "-" }}

# contains
{{- if contains "prod" .Values.environment }}
# Production settings
{{- end }}

String Testing

# hasPrefix / hasSuffix
{{- if hasPrefix "prod-" .Values.name }}

# empty - test if value is empty
{{- if not (empty .Values.optional) }}

List Functions (Sprig)

list - Create Lists

{{- $myList := list "item1" "item2" "item3" }}

append / prepend

{{- $list := list "a" "b" }}
{{- $list = append $list "c" }}
{{- $list = prepend $list "z" }}

first / rest / last / initial

first: {{ first .Values.items }}
last: {{ last .Values.items }}

has - Check Membership

{{- if has "production" .Values.environments }}

Dict/Map Functions (Sprig)

dict - Create Dictionary

{{- $myDict := dict "key1" "value1" "key2" "value2" }}
{{- include "mychart.helper" $myDict }}

set / unset

{{- $_ := set .Values "newKey" "newValue" }}
{{- $_ := unset .Values "oldKey" }}

hasKey

{{- if hasKey .Values "optional" }}

merge - Merge Dictionaries

{{- $merged := merge .Values.override .Values.defaults }}

Type Functions

typeOf / kindOf

{{- $type := typeOf .Values.someValue }}

int / int64 / float64 / toString

port: {{ .Values.port | int }}
cpu: {{ .Values.cpu | toString }}

Crypto Functions

sha256sum - SHA-256 Hash

annotations:
  checksum/config: {{ include (print $.Template.BasePath "/configmap.yaml") . | sha256sum }}

b64enc / b64dec - Base64

data:
  password: {{ .Values.password | b64enc }}

Date Functions

now - Current Time

annotations:
  timestamp: {{ now | date "2006-01-02T15:04:05Z07:00" }}

date - Format Date

date: {{ now | date "2006-01-02" }}

Regex Functions

regexMatch / regexFind / regexReplace

{{- if regexMatch "^prod-" .Values.name }}

{{- $version := .Values.image.tag | regexFind "[0-9]+" }}

label: {{ .Values.name | regexReplaceAll "[^a-z0-9-]" "-" }}

Flow Control Functions

range - Iterate

# Range over list
{{- range .Values.items }}
- {{ . }}
{{- end }}

# Range over map
{{- range $key, $value := .Values.config }}
{{ $key }}: {{ $value }}
{{- end }}

# Range with index
{{- range $index, $item := .Values.items }}
{{ $index }}: {{ $item }}
{{- end }}

Lookup Function (Cluster Queries)

Query existing Kubernetes resources (use with caution).

{{- $secret := lookup "v1" "Secret" .Release.Namespace "my-secret" }}
{{- if $secret }}
# Secret exists
data:
  password: {{ $secret.data.password }}
{{- else }}
# Create new secret
{{- end }}

⚠️ Warning: lookup queries the cluster, which:

Breaks the declarative model
May cause issues with helm template
Can lead to non-reproducible builds
Should be used sparingly

Best Practices

1. Validation First

# Validate required values
name: {{ required "name is required" .Values.name }}
port: {{ required "port is required" .Values.port }}

2. Provide Defaults

# Always provide sensible defaults
replicas: {{ .Values.replicaCount | default 1 }}
image:
  pullPolicy: {{ .Values.image.pullPolicy | default "IfNotPresent" }}

3. Quote Strings

# Quote string values in env vars and annotations
env:
  - name: DATABASE_URL
    value: {{ .Values.database.url | quote }}

4. Use include Over template

# Prefer include for composability
labels:
  {{- include "mychart.labels" . | nindent 2 }}

# Not: {{ template "mychart.labels" . }}

5. Use toYaml for Complex Objects

# Let toYaml handle complex structures
{{- with .Values.resources }}
resources:
  {{- toYaml . | nindent 2 }}
{{- end }}

6. Proper Indentation

# Use nindent for YAML blocks
metadata:
  labels:
    {{- include "mychart.labels" . | nindent 4 }}

# Use indent for multi-line strings
data:
  config: |
    {{ .Values.config | indent 4 }}

7. Whitespace Control

# Use {{- and -}} to control whitespace
{{- if .Values.enabled }}
  content
{{- end }}

8. Fail Fast with required

# Fail early if critical values missing
database:
  host: {{ required "database.host is required!" .Values.database.host }}

Common Patterns

ConfigMap Checksum

Trigger pod restart when ConfigMap changes:

annotations:
  checksum/config: {{ include (print $.Template.BasePath "/configmap.yaml") . | sha256sum }}

Conditional Resource Creation

{{- if .Values.ingress.enabled }}
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
# ...
{{- end }}

Dynamic Names

name: {{ include "mychart.fullname" . }}
serviceName: {{ include "mychart.fullname" . }}-svc

Passing Custom Context

{{- include "mychart.container" (dict "root" . "container" .Values.mainContainer) }}

Then in helper:

{{- define "mychart.container" -}}
{{- $root := .root }}
{{- $container := .container }}
name: {{ $container.name }}
image: {{ $container.image }}
namespace: {{ $root.Release.Namespace }}
{{- end }}

Resources

Install with Tessl CLI

npx tessl i pantheon-ai/helm-generator@0.1.0

references

crd_patterns.md

helm_template_functions.md

resource_templates.md

scripts

SKILL.md

tile.json

pantheon-ai/helm-generator

helm_template_functions.md.css-3qkkll{font-size:var(--chakra-font-sizes-sm);font-weight:var(--chakra-font-weights-normal);color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-300);}references/

Helm Template Functions Reference

Essential Template Functions

1. required - Enforce Required Values

2. default - Provide Fallback Values

3. quote - Safely Quote Strings

4. include - Include Templates with Pipeline Support

5. template - Include Templates (No Pipeline)

6. toYaml - Convert to YAML

7. fromYaml - Parse YAML String

8. tpl - Render String as Template

9. nindent / indent - Control Indentation

10. printf - Format Strings

Logical Functions

if / else / else if - Conditionals

and / or / not - Boolean Logic

with - Scope Context

Comparison Functions

String Functions (Sprig)

Basic String Operations

String Testing

List Functions (Sprig)

list - Create Lists

append / prepend

first / rest / last / initial

has - Check Membership

Dict/Map Functions (Sprig)

dict - Create Dictionary

set / unset

hasKey

merge - Merge Dictionaries

Type Functions

typeOf / kindOf

int / int64 / float64 / toString

Crypto Functions

sha256sum - SHA-256 Hash

b64enc / b64dec - Base64

Date Functions

now - Current Time

date - Format Date

Regex Functions

regexMatch / regexFind / regexReplace

Flow Control Functions

range - Iterate

Lookup Function (Cluster Queries)

Best Practices

1. Validation First

2. Provide Defaults

3. Quote Strings

4. Use include Over template

5. Use toYaml for Complex Objects

6. Proper Indentation

7. Whitespace Control

8. Fail Fast with required

Common Patterns

ConfigMap Checksum

Conditional Resource Creation

Dynamic Names

Passing Custom Context

Resources

helm_template_functions.mdreferences/