action-helm-chart

Composite GitHub Action that handles the full Helm chart lifecycle — from discovery and validation to packaging and publishing to OCI-compatible registries.

Overview

This action operates in three distinct modes that can be combined in a pipeline:

1. discover — scans the repository for charts matching a glob pattern and outputs a matrix
2. validate — runs helm lint (strict) and helm template against a chart
3. release — validates, packages, annotates, and pushes a chart to an OCI registry

Quick Start

Lint a chart

- uses: b1e90ff/action-helm-chart@v1
  with:
    github-token: ${{ inputs.token }}
    mode: validate
    chart-directory: my-chart

Publish a chart

- uses: b1e90ff/action-helm-chart@v1
  with:
    github-token: ${{ inputs.token }}
    mode: release
    chart-directory: my-chart

Pipeline with matrix discovery

jobs:
  find:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    outputs:
      matrix: ${{ steps.scan.outputs.charts_matrix }}
      count: ${{ steps.scan.outputs.charts_count }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: b1e90ff/action-helm-chart@v1
        id: scan
        with:
          github-token: ${{ inputs.token }}
          mode: discover
          chart-pattern: "charts/*"

  publish:
    needs: find
    if: needs.find.outputs.count != '0'
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        chart: ${{ fromJson(needs.find.outputs.matrix) }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: b1e90ff/action-helm-chart@v1
        with:
          github-token: ${{ inputs.token }}
          mode: release
          chart-directory: ${{ matrix.chart }}

Inputs

Name	Required	Default	Description
github-token	yes	—	Token for OCI registry login and API access
mode	no	validate	discover, validate, or release
chart-directory	no	—	Chart path (validate/release)
chart-pattern	no	—	Glob for chart scanning (discover)
oci-registry	no	ghcr.io	OCI registry hostname
registry-owner	no	repo owner	Registry namespace owner
charts-repo-name	no	charts	Repository name within the namespace
source-repo	no	current repo	URL for OCI source annotation
helm-version	no	v3.17.3	Helm CLI version
skip-existing	no	true	Skip publish when version exists
lint-strict	no	true	Strict lint mode

Outputs

Name	Description
charts_matrix	JSON array for matrix strategy
charts_count	Number of charts discovered
chart_name	Name from Chart.yaml
chart_version	Version from Chart.yaml
chart_app_version	appVersion from Chart.yaml
tgz_path	Path to packaged .tgz
skipped	true if version already existed
released	true if chart was published

How Modes Work

Mode	Steps	Required
discover	Glob scan, build JSON matrix	chart-pattern
validate	Lint (strict), template render	chart-directory
release	Lint, template, check registry, resolve deps, annotate, package, push	chart-directory

Workflow Permissions

permissions:
  contents: read
  packages: write

Glob Pattern Reference

Pattern	Example Matches
charts/*	charts/api, charts/web
services/*/chart	services/auth/chart
**/Chart.yaml/..	any nested chart

Pinning

uses: b1e90ff/action-helm-chart@v1       # rolling latest within v1
uses: b1e90ff/action-helm-chart@v1.0.0   # exact