yxxhero
afdb2487a6
* feat: add `inherits:` for sub-helmfile config inheritance
Add an opt-in `inherits:` field to `helmfiles:` entries so a sub-helmfile
can inherit specific configuration categories from its parent:
helmfiles:
- path: myapp.yaml
inherits: [repositories, environments]
Allowed values: repositories, helmDefaults, commonLabels, apiVersions,
kubeVersion, templates, environments. Child values win; parent fills gaps
(consistent with `bases:`). This directly fixes #1495, where a repository
declared in the parent was unavailable to sub-helmfiles, producing a
confusing "repo not found" error.
Implementation notes:
- The 6 pure fields (repositories, helmDefaults, commonLabels, apiVersions,
kubeVersion, templates) are merged post-load via MergeInherited; verified
all are consumed post-load (ExecuteTemplates/converge), never at parse.
- environments is injected pre-load as ctxEnv, because RenderedValues is
baked at load time; the parent's resolved values become the base and the
child's own environments: block overrides per key.
- helmDefaults uses a *HelmSpec pointer (value type is non-comparable) with
a no-override mergo merge, so a child that omits helmDefaults inherits the
parent's fully.
- A footgun warning (WarnUninheritedRepos) suggests
`inherits: [repositories]` when a release references a repo the parent
declares but the child lacks.
- Unknown inherits keys are rejected at parse time with the allowed set.
Inheritance is opt-in and fully backward compatible: empty (the default)
preserves the historical independent-sub-helmfile behavior.
Fixes #1495
Signed-off-by: yxxhero <aiopsclub@163.com>
* fix: address review — deep-copy inherited config and fix bases: doc link
- BuildInheritedConfig now deep-copies the pure fields via a YAML round-trip
(Env via environment.DeepCopy) so the returned config never aliases the
parent state's slices/maps, matching its doc comment. Now returns an error
to surface round-trip failures; the call site in processNestedHelmfiles is
updated. Added TestBuildInheritedConfig_PureFieldsAreDeepCopied to lock
in the no-aliasing guarantee.
- Fix the broken `bases:` anchor (#) in shared-configuration-across-teams.md
to point to writing-helmfile.md#layering-state-files.
Signed-off-by: yxxhero <aiopsclub@163.com>
* fix: address review — reject inherits without path and document helmDefaults caveat
Signed-off-by: yxxhero <aiopsclub@163.com>
* fix: address review — make AllowedInherits immutable and clarify effective-repo wording
Signed-off-by: yxxhero <aiopsclub@163.com>
---------
Signed-off-by: yxxhero <aiopsclub@163.com>
Helmfile
Deploy Kubernetes Helm Charts
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About
Helmfile is a declarative spec for deploying helm charts. It lets you...
- Keep a directory of chart value files and maintain changes in version control.
- Apply CI/CD to configuration changes.
- Periodically sync to avoid skew in environments.
To avoid upgrades for each iteration of helm, the helmfile executable delegates to helm - as a result, the following must be installed
Highlights
Declarative: Write, version-control, apply the desired state file for visibility and reproducibility.
Modules: Modularize common patterns of your infrastructure, distribute it via Git, S3, etc. to be reused across the entire company (See #648)
Versatility: Manage your cluster consisting of charts, kustomizations, and directories of Kubernetes resources, turning everything to Helm releases (See #673)
Patch: JSON/Strategic-Merge Patch Kubernetes resources before helm-installing, without forking upstream charts (See #673)
Status
May 2025 Update
- Helmfile v1.0 and v1.1 has been released. We recommend upgrading directly to v1.1 if you are still using v0.x.
- If you haven't already upgraded, please go over this v1 proposal here to see a small list of breaking changes.
Installation
1: Binary Installation
download one of releases
2: Package Manager
- Archlinux: install via
pacman -S helmfile - openSUSE: install via
zypper in helmfileassuming you are on Tumbleweed; if you are on Leap you must add the kubic repo for your distribution version once before that command, e.g.zypper ar https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/kubic/openSUSE_Leap_\$releasever kubic - Windows (using scoop):
scoop install helmfile - macOS (using homebrew):
brew install helmfile - Linux/macOS/Windows (using mise):
mise use -g helmfile@latest
3: Container
For more details, see run as a container
Make sure to run
helmfile initonce after installation. Helmfile uses the helm-diff plugin.
4: Build from source
requirements: Go
go install github.com/helmfile/helmfile@latest
Getting Started
Let's start with a simple helmfile and gradually improve it to fit your use-case!
Generate a project scaffold with best-practice directory structure:
helmfile create my-project && cd my-project
Or create a helmfile.yaml manually. Suppose the helmfile.yaml representing the desired state of your helm releases looks like:
repositories:
- name: prometheus-community
url: https://prometheus-community.github.io/helm-charts
releases:
- name: prom-norbac-ubuntu
namespace: prometheus
chart: prometheus-community/prometheus
set:
- name: rbac.create
value: false
Sync your Kubernetes cluster state to the desired one by running:
helmfile apply
Congratulations! You now have your first Prometheus deployment running inside your cluster.
Iterate on the helmfile.yaml by referencing:
More complex examples
See: multi-env-helmfile
Docs
Please read complete documentation
Contributing
Welcome to contribute together to make helmfile better: contributing doc
Attribution
We use:
- semtag for automated semver tagging. I greatly appreciate the author(pnikosis)'s effort on creating it and their kindness to share it!
Users
Helmfile has been used by many users in production:
For more users, please see: Users