✨ Add helm/v2-alpha addressing all feedbacks and aiming maintainability. Deprecated helm/v1-alpha in favor of helm/v2-alpha #5058

camilamacedo86 · 2025-08-27T02:13:03Z

Introduce helm/v2-alpha Plugin: Dynamic Helm Chart Generation

This PR introduces a completely rewritten Helm plugin (helm/v2-alpha) that dynamically generates Helm charts based on the actual kustomize output from make build-installer, replacing the previous hardcoded template approach in helm/v1-alpha.

The existing helm/v1-alpha plugin used static templates that didn't reflect user customizations (environment variables, labels, annotations, security contexts, etc.) made in their kustomize configuration. This led to inconsistencies between kubectl apply -f dist/install.yaml and helm install.

Key Features

Dynamic generation: Charts generated from actual kustomize output (dist/install.yaml)
Smart organization: Resources split into logical directories (metrics/, webhook/, cert-manager/, rbac/, crd/)
Conditional logic: Only includes resources that actually exist (certManager, webhooks, metrics)
Individual files: CRDs, RBAC, and certificates as separate files for better maintainability
Enhanced values.yaml: Dynamic configuration based on detected project features

Changes

Deprecated Helm v1-alpha in favour of v2
Add docs and tests for Helm v2
Update all samples
Address all feedback raised so far

Documentation

📖 Preview docs: https://deploy-preview-5058--kubebuilder.netlify.app/plugins/available/helm-v2-alpha

How to Review

Documentation: Check the docs link above for complete feature overview
Core implementation: Focus on pkg/plugins/optional/helm/v2alpha/ for the actual code changes
File changes context: Most changes under testdata/ and docs/ are sample updates with helm/v2-alpha
Test coverage: Comprehensive unit tests added with GitHub workflow integration for e2e testing via Prow
Play with in your solutions 🙏

Usage

# Generate Helm chart from kustomize output
kubebuilder edit --plugins=helm.kubebuilder.io/v2-alpha

# Custom output directory  
kubebuilder edit --plugins=helm.kubebuilder.io/v2-alpha --output=charts

Closes:

k8s-ci-robot · 2025-08-27T02:13:10Z

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mkarlheim · 2025-09-10T18:11:13Z

Hi @mkarlheim

The chart. labels were added 👍 to allow adding extra labels. However, note that these are the labels defined in Kustomize, and we should retain them. The goal of Helm charts is to package the solution, so the labels should be identical.

Regards the CRDs, see:

Although Helm best practices recommend placing CRDs under a top-level crds/ directory, the Kubebuilder Helm plugin intentionally places them under templates/crd.**

This was a conscious design decision aafter lengthydiscussions in the design proposal and community threads (Slack discussion link).

The reason: CRDs in crds/ are not upgraded by Helm. Keeping them under templates/ ensures CRDs are correctly managed and updated together with releases, avoiding drift. While this means you cannot bundle custom resources directly in the chart (a current Helm limitation), it provides a more straightforward and more reliable workflow for projects generated by Kubebuilder. See; #3632 (comment)

Alternatively, here we could create a chart only for the CRDs, such as a two-chart flow (API first, then operator/app), with a simple readiness/wait check. However, if we change it, it would be better in a follow-up discussion where we can address it. Let's keep the cards under the templates, which is the most adopted approach.

Thanks for clarifying.

tchinmai7 · 2025-09-11T21:55:28Z

This looks great!. the new plugin's chart output is close to kustomize. The managed-by label is rightly pointing to helm now, and only the namespace resource is missing - which is ok, helm charts can be installed with the --create-namespace option. Thank you for working on this!

camilamacedo86 · 2025-09-13T06:36:11Z

Hey

@tchinmai7 @bavarianbidi @calind @vaidikcode @mkarlheim @abhijith-darshan @klaudworks @FishyFishPat @pabhi18

I would like to ask your help on reviews and I would appreciate LGTMs if you are satisfied with the proposed changes .. Really thank you for your interest on this one and all your collab !!!

It would be great if we could delivery it with the next release

abhijith-darshan · 2025-09-13T20:11:57Z

Hey

@tchinmai7 @bavarianbidi @calind @vaidikcode @mkarlheim @abhijith-darshan @klaudworks @FishyFishPat @pabhi18

I would like to ask your help on reviews and I would appreciate LGTMs if you are satisfied with the proposed changes .. Really thank you for your interest on this one and all your collab !!!

It would be great if we could delivery it with the next release

Hey @camilamacedo86,

Thank you so much for this amazing implementation 🚀

Building the binary from source camilamacedo86:helm-change-manager and using it to generate charts -

changes to kustomize manifest is reflected on to chart templates (solves the original issue I opened) 🎉
tested with basic controller, admission webhooks and conversion webhook 👍

However I see one improvement necessary -

The args for controller-manager container needs to be templated and available in values.yaml (with defaults or empty [ ] )
Otherwise it won't be possible to dynamically include args.

Currently only static values in the manifest is carried over to the manager.yaml in chart/templates

## Helm template manager.yaml
      containers:
      - command:
        - /manager
        args:
          - --leader-elect
          - --health-probe-bind-address=:8081
          - --leader-lease-duration=15s
          - --leader-renew-timeout=10s
          - --leader-retry-period=2s
        image: controller:latest
        name: manager

Instead it can be something like this -

## Helm template manager.yaml
        spec:
            containers:
                - args:
                    - --metrics-bind-address=:8443
                    - --health-probe-bind-address=:8081
                    {{- range .Values.controllerManager.args }}
                    - {{ . }}
                    {{- end }}
                    {{- if .Values.certManager.enable }}
                    - --webhook-cert-path=/tmp/k8s-webhook-server/serving-certs
                    {{- end }}
...

values.yaml

# Configure the controller manager deployment
controllerManager:
  replicas: 1
  args:
    - --leader-elect
    - --leader-lease-duration=15s
    - --leader-renew-timeout=10s
    - --leader-retry-period=2s

camilamacedo86 · 2025-09-14T10:16:39Z

HI @abhijith-darshan

The args might be a good thought, but I think we could check this one in a follow-up, wdyt?

abhijith-darshan · 2025-09-14T12:01:51Z

HI @abhijith-darshan

The args might be a good thought, but I think we could check this one in a follow-up, wdyt?

Sure. Once this is in, I can contribute towards enhancements as well, thanks.

For now, LGTM 🚀

camilamacedo86 · 2025-09-14T15:05:48Z

/retest-required

pedjak · 2025-09-19T12:17:58Z

pkg/plugins/optional/helm/v1alpha/plugin.go

+	return "helm/v1-alpha plugin is deprecated, use helm/v2-alpha instead which " +
+		"provides dynamic Helm chart generation from kustomize output"


nit: could we have a single string here instead of concatenation?

That would cause the lint check lll fail

pedjak · 2025-09-19T12:42:10Z

pkg/plugins/optional/helm/v2alpha/scaffolds/internal/templates/chart-templates/helpers_tpl.go

+	return nil
+}
+
+const helmHelpersTemplate = `{{` + "`" + `{{/*


for the future maintenance, would it helpful to move this and similar content into standalone files and use go:embed directive to access it?

All templates in Kubebuilder are currently done this way. I might not have fully understood the reasoning, but if we decide to change the approach, it would probably make sense to update all places consistently. That said, we’re always open to ideas—feel free to open a PR to propose the change and demonstrate what it would look like.

pedjak · 2025-09-19T12:44:32Z

pkg/plugins/optional/helm/v2alpha/edit.go

+#          kubectl wait --namespace cert-manager --for=condition=available --timeout=300s deployment/cert-manager
+#          kubectl wait --namespace cert-manager --for=condition=available --timeout=300s deployment/cert-manager-cainjector
+#          kubectl wait --namespace cert-manager --for=condition=available --timeout=300s deployment/cert-manager-webhook`


I think you can get incorporate this waiting into the previous helm install step by doing something like:

helm install cert-manager jetstack/cert-manager --namespace cert-manager --create-namespace --set crds.enabled=true --wait --timeout 300s #

It seems a good idea. 🚀

camilamacedo86 · 2025-09-19T13:01:35Z

/test pull-kubebuilder-e2e-k8s-1-33-0

…`) that dynamically generates Helm charts based on the actual kustomize output from `make build-installer`, replacing the previous hardcoded template approach in `helm/v1-alpha`. The existing `helm/v1-alpha` plugin used static templates that didn't reflect user customizations (environment variables, labels, annotations, security contexts, etc.) made in their kustomize configuration. This led to inconsistencies between `kubectl apply -f dist/install.yaml` and `helm install`. - Deprecated Helm v1-alpha in favour of v2 - Add docs and tests for Helm v2 - Update all samples - Address all feedbacks raised so far Assisted-by: OpenAI

camilamacedo86 · 2025-09-22T11:00:59Z

We have enough reviews/lgtm so far
Also, to allow contributions on top of those changes we need get this one merged
So, I am letting it move forward.
We have up to the next release to enhance or change what might be required.

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camilamacedo86 changed the title ~~WIP Add helm/v2-alpha and deprecated helm/v1-alpha~~ ✨ Add helm/v2-alpha addressing all feedbacks and lessons learned. Deprecated helm/v1-alpha in favor of helm/v2-alpha Aug 28, 2025

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camilamacedo86 changed the title ~~✨ Add helm/v2-alpha addressing all feedbacks and lessons learned. Deprecated helm/v1-alpha in favor of helm/v2-alpha~~ WIP ✨ Add helm/v2-alpha addressing all feedbacks and lessons learned. Deprecated helm/v1-alpha in favor of helm/v2-alpha Aug 28, 2025

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		return "helm/v1-alpha plugin is deprecated, use helm/v2-alpha instead which " +
		"provides dynamic Helm chart generation from kustomize output"

✨ Add helm/v2-alpha addressing all feedbacks and aiming maintainability. Deprecated helm/v1-alpha in favor of helm/v2-alpha #5058

✨ Add helm/v2-alpha addressing all feedbacks and aiming maintainability. Deprecated helm/v1-alpha in favor of helm/v2-alpha #5058

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camilamacedo86 commented Aug 27, 2025 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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Introduce helm/v2-alpha Plugin: Dynamic Helm Chart Generation

Key Features

Changes

Documentation

How to Review

Usage

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