@altech-hk/helm-gen NPM

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:

Chart Name
- Enter your chart name (e.g., "my-service")
- Must contain only lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens
Application Type
- Select application type:
  - web: For web applications
  - api: For backend services
Environments
- Choose target environments (comma-separated)
- Available options: dev,uat,prod
- Example: "dev,uat,prod"
Port Configuration
- Enter the application port (1-65535)
- Default: 8080
Container Registry Settings
- Registry URL (optional)
- Repository name (optional)
- Image tag (optional)
Autoscaling Configuration
- Enable/disable HPA
- Set minimum replicas
- Set maximum replicas
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:

Environment Setup
- Project namespace
- Environment (dev/uat/prod)
- Domain settings
Ingress Configuration
- TLS certificate settings
- Host configurations for:
  - API Gateway
  - ArgoCD
  - Web (Coming Soon)
  - Other services (Coming Soon)
Service Configuration
- Backend services paths and ports
- Frontend applications settings (Coming Soon)
- Monitoring tools setup (Coming Soon)