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Contributing Guide

This guide explains how to add new charts and release updates.

Adding a New Chart

1. Create the chart structure

mkdir -p charts/<chart-name>/templates

2. Required files

charts/<chart-name>/
├── Chart.yaml      # Chart metadata (name, version, description)
├── values.yaml     # Default configuration values
├── README.md       # Chart documentation
├── .helmignore     # Files to exclude from package
└── templates/      # Kubernetes manifest templates

3. Chart.yaml example

apiVersion: v2
name: my-chart
description: Short description of what this chart deploys
type: application
version: 0.1.0
appVersion: "1.0.0"

4. Validate your chart

# Lint
helm lint charts/<chart-name>

# Test template rendering
helm template my-release charts/<chart-name>

# Test with custom values
helm template my-release charts/<chart-name> -f custom-values.yaml

5. Document your chart

Create charts/<chart-name>/README.md with:

  • Description
  • Prerequisites
  • Installation command
  • Configuration table (parameters, descriptions, defaults)
  • Usage examples

6. Update root README

Add your chart to the table in README.md:

| [my-chart](./charts/my-chart) | Short description |

7. Submit a Pull Request

git checkout -b add-my-chart
git add charts/<chart-name> README.md
git commit -m "Add my-chart"
git push origin add-my-chart

Open a PR against main. The CI pipeline will automatically lint and validate your chart.

Releasing a Chart

1. Update the version

Edit charts/<chart-name>/Chart.yaml:

version: 0.2.0  # Bump this

2. Commit and push

git add charts/<chart-name>/Chart.yaml
git commit -m "Bump <chart-name> to 0.2.0"
git push origin main

3. Create and push the tag

The tag format is <chart-name>-<version>:

git tag <chart-name>-0.2.0
git push origin <chart-name>-0.2.0

4. Verify the release

The release workflow will:

  1. Validate the tag version matches Chart.yaml
  2. Lint and package the chart
  3. Push to GitHub Container Registry

Check the workflow status at: https://github.com/helmcode/helm-charts/actions

Once complete, the chart is available at:

oci://ghcr.io/helmcode/helm-charts/<chart-name>

Versioning Rules

  • Single source of truth: Version is defined ONLY in Chart.yaml
  • Semantic versioning: Use MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH
    • MAJOR: Breaking changes
    • MINOR: New features (backwards compatible)
    • PATCH: Bug fixes
  • Tag must match: The release pipeline validates that tag version equals Chart.yaml version

Code Standards

  • All code, comments, and documentation in English
  • Follow Helm best practices
  • Include meaningful defaults in values.yaml
  • Document all configurable parameters