Reuse existing Helm release values during rad upgrade kubernetes by nicolejms · Pull Request #11361 · radius-project/radius

nicolejms · 2026-03-03T19:16:19Z

Description

Today when you upgrade kubernetes, the existing helm values which were used to deploy are ignored. While there is a workaround where you can pass in the helm values, it's counter-intuitive (and hard to troubleshoot failures) to upgrade and lose all existing helm settings. This PR just adds an option to reuse existing values using a built in helm option:

upgradeClient.ReuseValues = true

I reviewed the change with Will Tsai and he agrees this should be the default behavior.

Type of change

This pull request fixes a bug in Radius and has an approved issue (issue link required).

Fixes: #11218

Contributor checklist

Please verify that the PR meets the following requirements, where applicable:

An overview of proposed schema changes is included in a linked GitHub issue.
- Yes
- Not applicable
A design document PR is created in the design-notes repository, if new APIs are being introduced.
- Yes
- Not applicable
The design document has been reviewed and approved by Radius maintainers/approvers.
- Yes
- Not applicable
A PR for the samples repository is created, if existing samples are affected by the changes in this PR.
- Yes
- Not applicable
A PR for the documentation repository is created, if the changes in this PR affect the documentation or any user facing updates are made.
- Yes
- Not applicable
A PR for the recipes repository is created, if existing recipes are affected by the changes in this PR.
- Yes
- Not applicable

- Changed pkg/cli/helm/cluster.go line 598 to use LastDeployed instead of FirstDeployed - Updated Test_Helm_GetRadiusRevisions_Success to use different timestamps for different revisions - Added comprehensive test Test_Helm_GetRadiusRevisions_MultipleUpgradesWithDifferentTimestamps - All tests pass successfully Co-authored-by: nicolejms <101607760+nicolejms@users.noreply.github.com>

…utput Fix revision timestamps in `rad rollback kubernetes --list-revisions` to show the list of all install times per version.

* Initial plan * Fix: Use LastDeployed instead of FirstDeployed for revision timestamps - Changed pkg/cli/helm/cluster.go line 598 to use LastDeployed instead of FirstDeployed - Updated Test_Helm_GetRadiusRevisions_Success to use different timestamps for different revisions - Added comprehensive test Test_Helm_GetRadiusRevisions_MultipleUpgradesWithDifferentTimestamps - All tests pass successfully Co-authored-by: nicolejms <101607760+nicolejms@users.noreply.github.com> * Merge pull request #2 from nicolejms/copilot/fix-revision-timestamp-output Fix revision timestamps in `rad rollback kubernetes --list-revisions` to show the list of all install times per version. * Merge branch 'main' into main * Merge branch 'main' into main * Merge branch 'radius-project:main' into main * Merge branch 'radius-project:main' into main * Merge branch 'radius-project:main' into main * Merge branch 'radius-project:main' into main * Merge branch 'radius-project:main' into main * new agent to investigate issues * Merge branch 'main' of https://github.com/nicolejms/radius * Initial plan * Add ReuseValues flag to Helm upgrade to preserve existing values Co-authored-by: nicolejms <101607760+nicolejms@users.noreply.github.com> * Add test and documentation for value preservation in upgrades Co-authored-by: nicolejms <101607760+nicolejms@users.noreply.github.com> * Address code review feedback with expanded test documentation Co-authored-by: nicolejms <101607760+nicolejms@users.noreply.github.com> * Add integration test to verify ReuseValues preserves existing Helm values Co-authored-by: nicolejms <101607760+nicolejms@users.noreply.github.com> * Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/main' into copilot/fix-issue-11218

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR aims to ensure rad upgrade kubernetes preserves existing Helm release values during upgrades (instead of resetting to chart defaults), and updates CLI help text and tests to reflect/validate that behavior.

Changes:

Set ReuseValues=true for Helm upgrades in HelmClientImpl.RunHelmUpgrade.
Add a new test intended to validate value preservation/merging during upgrade.
Update rad upgrade kubernetes command help text/examples to state that existing values are preserved and merged with --set/--set-file.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

File	Description
pkg/cli/helm/helmclient.go	Enables Helm upgrade value reuse via `ReuseValues=true`.
pkg/cli/helm/helmclient_test.go	Adds a test intended to assert upgrade value preservation/merge behavior.
pkg/cli/cmd/upgrade/kubernetes/kubernetes.go	Updates CLI long description/examples to describe preserved/merged Helm values on upgrade.

Copilot · 2026-03-03T19:19:18Z

pkg/cli/helm/helmclient_test.go

+// TestHelmClient_UpgradeReusesValues verifies that RunHelmUpgrade preserves existing values
+// by using ReuseValues=true. This test validates the fix for issue #11218 where upgrades
+// were resetting values to chart defaults.
+func TestHelmClient_UpgradeReusesValues(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("upgrade preserves existing values and merges new values", func(t *testing.T) {
+		// This is an integration test that validates the actual behavior of RunHelmUpgrade
+		// with ReuseValues=true by simulating an upgrade with Helm's in-memory storage.
+
+		// Test data representing values from previous install/upgrade
+		existingValues := map[string]interface{}{
+			"global": map[string]interface{}{
+				"azureWorkloadIdentity": map[string]interface{}{
+					"enabled": true,
+				},
+				"imageRegistry": "myregistry.azurecr.io",
+			},
+			"database": map[string]interface{}{
+				"enabled": true,
+			},
+		}
+
+		// New values being applied in this upgrade
+		newValues := map[string]interface{}{
+			"global": map[string]interface{}{
+				"imageTag": "0.48.0",
+			},
+		}
+
+		// Expected merged result: existing values preserved + new values applied
+		expectedValues := map[string]interface{}{
+			"global": map[string]interface{}{
+				"azureWorkloadIdentity": map[string]interface{}{
+					"enabled": true,
+				},
+				"imageRegistry": "myregistry.azurecr.io",
+				"imageTag":      "0.48.0",
+			},
+			"database": map[string]interface{}{
+				"enabled": true,
+			},
+		}
+
+		// Create an in-memory Helm configuration for testing (similar to Helm's own tests)
+		registryClient, err := registry.NewClient()
+		require.NoError(t, err, "Failed to create registry client")
+
+		cfg := &helm.Configuration{
+			Releases:       storage.Init(driver.NewMemory()),
+			KubeClient:     &kubefake.PrintingKubeClient{Out: io.Discard},
+			Capabilities:   chartutil.DefaultCapabilities,
+			RegistryClient: registryClient,
+			Log:            func(format string, v ...interface{}) {},
+		}
+
+		// Create and store an initial release with existing values
+		initialRelease := &release.Release{
+			Name:      "test-release",
+			Namespace: "test-namespace",
+			Version:   1,
+			Config:    existingValues,
+			Chart: &chart.Chart{
+				Metadata: &chart.Metadata{
+					Name:    "test-chart",
+					Version: "1.0.0",
+				},
+			},
+			Info: &release.Info{
+				Status: release.StatusDeployed,
+			},
+		}
+		err = cfg.Releases.Create(initialRelease)
+		require.NoError(t, err, "Failed to create initial release")
+
+		// Create a chart with new values
+		upgradeChart := &chart.Chart{
+			Metadata: &chart.Metadata{
+				Name:    "test-chart",
+				Version: "1.1.0",
+			},
+			Values: newValues,
+		}


This test sets upgradeChart.Values to contain only the incremental changes, but in the real codepath helmChart.Values comes from the loaded chart (defaults) and is then mutated by --set/--set-file. That means upgrades will still pass a map containing many default keys, which can overwrite existing release values even with ReuseValues=true. Update the test to reflect the real scenario (chart defaults present) and assert that only CLI overrides are applied on top of the existing release config.

@copilot open a new pull request to apply changes based on this feedback

Copilot · 2026-03-03T19:19:18Z

pkg/cli/cmd/upgrade/kubernetes/kubernetes.go

+The upgrade process preserves your existing Helm chart values (such as Azure Workload Identity settings,
+database configuration, and custom container registries). The upgrade merges these existing values with
+any new values specified via --set or --set-file flags, allowing you to override specific settings
+without losing your configuration.


The command help claims upgrades preserve existing Helm values and only override what’s provided via --set/--set-file, but the current implementation passes helmChart.Values (chart defaults + parsed CLI flags) into Helm upgrade. Unless the upgrade path is changed to pass only user overrides (or an empty map), this documentation is likely inaccurate and may mislead users.

@copilot open a new pull request to apply changes based on this feedback

Copilot · 2026-03-03T19:19:19Z

pkg/cli/cmd/upgrade/kubernetes/kubernetes.go

@@ -61,9 +67,18 @@ rad workspace show
 rad workspace switch myworkspace
 rad upgrade kubernetes

-# Upgrade Radius with custom configuration
+# Upgrade Radius and override a specific value
+# All other existing values from the previous installation are preserved
 rad upgrade kubernetes --set key=value

+# Example: If you installed with Azure Workload Identity enabled:
+# rad install kubernetes --set global.azureWorkloadIdentity.enabled=true
+# Then upgrade without repeating the flag - the setting is preserved:
+rad upgrade kubernetes
+
+# You can still override specific values during upgrade:
+rad upgrade kubernetes --set global.imageTag=0.48
+


The examples state that existing values are "automatically preserved" on upgrade, but with the current Helm upgrade invocation this is only true if the values map passed to Helm contains just explicit overrides. Either adjust the implementation to match this behavior or soften the wording in the examples to avoid promising value preservation that may not occur.

@copilot open a new pull request to apply changes based on this feedback

Copilot · 2026-03-03T19:19:19Z

pkg/cli/helm/helmclient.go

 	upgradeClient := helm.NewUpgrade(helmConf)
 	upgradeClient.Namespace = namespace
 	upgradeClient.Wait = wait
 	upgradeClient.Timeout = upgradeTimeout
 	upgradeClient.Recreate = true
+	upgradeClient.ReuseValues = true

 	return upgradeClient.Run(releaseName, helmChart, helmChart.Values)
 }


Setting upgradeClient.ReuseValues = true won’t preserve prior user configuration as long as you continue to pass helmChart.Values (which includes the chart’s default values plus any --set mutations) into upgradeClient.Run(...). Those defaults will be treated as explicit overrides and can still overwrite the previous release’s config. Consider separating CLI-provided overrides from chart defaults (e.g., build a fresh values map from --set/--set-file and pass only that), or pass an empty values map when no overrides are supplied so reuse-values can actually take effect.

codecov · 2026-03-03T19:32:32Z

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 51.12%. Comparing base (a1059b6) to head (2f4f956).

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main   #11361      +/-   ##
==========================================
+ Coverage   51.10%   51.12%   +0.02%     
==========================================
  Files         699      699              
  Lines       44067    44080      +13     
==========================================
+ Hits        22519    22537      +18     
+ Misses      19401    19395       -6     
- Partials     2147     2148       +1

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Copilot AI and others added 14 commits December 12, 2025 21:44

Initial plan

6c3bd78

Merge pull request #2 from nicolejms/copilot/fix-revision-timestamp-o…

9d67c38

…utput Fix revision timestamps in `rad rollback kubernetes --list-revisions` to show the list of all install times per version.

Merge branch 'main' into main

cb89601

Merge branch 'main' into main

08cb197

Merge branch 'radius-project:main' into main

866a015

Merge branch 'radius-project:main' into main

ef984cd

Merge branch 'radius-project:main' into main

f835a9d

Merge branch 'radius-project:main' into main

ae36db3

Merge branch 'radius-project:main' into main

e5b65cd

new agent to investigate issues

07a8f11

Merge branch 'main' of https://github.com/nicolejms/radius

54636be

Merge branch 'main' of https://github.com/nicolejms/radius

f1f449f

nicolejms requested review from a team as code owners March 3, 2026 19:16

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings March 3, 2026 19:16

nicolejms requested a deployment to external-contributor-approval March 3, 2026 19:16 — with GitHub Actions Waiting

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of nicolejms March 3, 2026 19:16 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Mar 3, 2026

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nicolejms changed the title ~~Auto PR from fork: pr/auto-from-fork~~ Reuse existing Helm release values during rad upgrade kubernetes Mar 3, 2026

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