Helm Chart Generator CLI

A command-line interface tool to quickly generate Kubernetes Helm chart templates with best practices.

Overview

This CLI tool helps developers quickly scaffold a Helm chart structure with commonly needed templates and configurations. It generates a complete Helm chart setup based on user inputs and best practices.

Installation

npm install -g @altech-hk/helm-gen

Usage

Creating a New Helm Chart

To create a new chart, run:

helm-gen create

The CLI will walk you through the following steps:

1. Chart Name

   • Enter your chart name (e.g., "my-service")
   • Must contain only lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens

2. Application Type

   • Select application type:
     • web: For web applications
     • api: For backend services

3. Environments

   • Choose target environments (comma-separated)
   • Available options: dev,uat,prod
   • Example: "dev,uat,prod"

4. Port Configuration

   • Enter the application port (1-65535)
   • Default: 8080

5. Container Registry Settings

   • Registry URL (optional)
   • Repository name (optional)
   • Image tag (optional)

6. Autoscaling Configuration

   • Enable/disable HPA
   • Set minimum replicas
   • Set maximum replicas

7. Health Check Paths

   • Readiness probe path
   • Liveness probe path
   • Default paths:
     • Web: "/"
     • API: "/actuator/health/readiness" and "/actuator/health/liveness"

Generated Structure

The command will create a new directory with the following structure:

my-service/
├── Chart.yaml              # Chart metadata
├── values.dev.yaml         # Development environment values
├── values.uat.yaml         # UAT environment values
├── values.prod.yaml        # Production environment values
└── templates/
    ├── deployment.yaml     # Kubernetes Deployment
    ├── service.yaml        # Kubernetes Service
    ├── configmap.yaml      # ConfigMap for configuration
    ├── secret.yaml         # Secret for sensitive data
    ├── hpa.yaml            # Horizontal Pod Autoscaler
    └── cron-jobs.yaml      # Scheduled jobs configuration

Example

$ helm-gen create

? What is your chart name? my-service
? Select application type: api
? Enter environments (comma-separated): dev,uat,prod
? Enter application port: 8080
? Enter container registry URL: registry.example.com
? Enter repository name: my-team/my-service
? Enter image tag: latest

This will generate a complete Helm chart with all necessary templates and configurations for your application.

Features

• Generate complete Helm chart structure
• Support multiple environments (dev, uat, prod)
• Include common K8s resources:
  • Deployment
  • Service
  • ConfigMap
  • Secret
  • HPA (Horizontal Pod Autoscaler)
  • CronJobs for scheduled tasks
• Customizable templates with common variables
• Built-in best practices for K8s deployments
• Support for HTTP-based scheduled jobs with retry mechanism

Cron Jobs Configuration

You can define scheduled jobs in your values file:

jobs:
  daily-cleanup:
    schedule: "0 0 * * *"
    method: POST
    endpoint: /api/cleanup
  weekly-report:
    schedule: "0 0 * * 0"
    method: GET
    endpoint: /api/generate-report

Each job supports:

• Custom schedule using cron syntax
• HTTP method (GET, POST, etc.)
• Endpoint configuration
• Automatic retry mechanism (3 attempts)
• Success/failure history management

Core Helm Setup for ArgoCD

To set up a core Helm chart for ArgoCD infrastructure, run:

helm-gen setup-core

The CLI will walk you through the following steps:

1. Environment Setup

   • Project namespace
   • Environment (dev/uat/prod)
   • Domain settings

2. Ingress Configuration

   • TLS certificate settings
   • Host configurations for:
     • API Gateway
     • ArgoCD
     • Web (Coming Soon)
     • Other services (Coming Soon)

3. Service Configuration

   • Backend services paths and ports
   • Frontend applications settings (Coming Soon)
   • Monitoring tools setup (Coming Soon)

The command will generate a complete core Helm chart with:

• Ingress configurations for all services
• TLS certificate setup
• ArgoCD configurations
• Environment-specific values