Helm Chart Packaging AI Skill Guide (Claude)

Overview & Engine Architecture

Helm packages Kubernetes manifests as charts: Chart.yaml, values.yaml, and Go templates in templates/. A release is an installed instance with revision history; helm upgrade --install renders templates and applies via the Kubernetes API. Agents enforce local render before cluster, secrets outside values.yaml, and understanding Helm’s render-time lookup semantics— a common production footgun.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                 Helm release lifecycle                    │
│                                                             │
│  Chart + values (+ values.prod.yaml)                        │
│       ↓ helm lint / template / schema                       │
│  Rendered manifest batch → API server                       │
│  Hooks (pre/post install/upgrade) run weighted jobs         │
│  Revision N stored → rollback to N-1                        │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘