Working with Helm Starters

1. Understanding Helm Starters

Concept	Detail
What	Templates for `helm create` to scaffold new charts
Location	`$(helm env HELM_DATA_HOME)/starters/`
Use	`helm create mychart --starter STARTER_NAME`

2. Creating Starter Charts

Example: Build + install starter

# Start from default chart
helm create acme-microservice
# Customize templates, values.yaml, NOTES.txt
# Install to starters dir
mv acme-microservice "$(helm env HELM_DATA_HOME)/starters/"

3. Using Starter Templates

Placeholder	Replaced with
`<CHARTNAME>`	New chart name
Chart name in `Chart.yaml`	Auto-replaced by `helm create`

4. Organizing Starters Directory

Example: Layout

~/.local/share/helm/starters/   # HELM_DATA_HOME/starters/
├── acme-microservice/          # Standard 12-factor app
├── acme-cronjob/               # Batch job pattern
├── acme-stateful/              # StatefulSet pattern
└── acme-operator/              # Operator + CRD pattern

5. Customizing Starter Templates

Add to starter	Why
Org-standard labels	Cost-center, team, owner
Default NetworkPolicy	Secure-by-default
Pre-configured probes	Production-ready out of the box
Standard NOTES.txt	Consistent post-install messaging

Method	Distribution
Git repo	Clone into starters dir as part of dev setup
Symlink	Link team's charts repo to starters dir
CLI wrapper	Internal tool runs `helm create --starter`

7. Implementing Organization Standards

Standardized labels (team, cost-center, env) Required security context defaults Pre-wired Prometheus annotations Common library chart as dependency Pre-populated values.schema.json Standard CI workflow files

8. Using Starter Variables

Mechanism	Note
Built-in substitution	Only chart name (`<CHARTNAME>`)
Post-process	Run a wrapper script after `helm create` for more substitutions

9. Testing Starter Charts

Example: Smoke test in CI

helm create test-chart --starter acme-microservice
helm lint test-chart
helm template test-chart | kubeconform --strict
rm -rf test-chart

10. Maintaining Starter Charts

Practice	Detail
Version starters	Tag starter repo; document upgrade path
Track adopters	Inventory charts created from each starter
Backward-compat	Don't break naming patterns or label keys
Review cadence	Quarterly review for K8s API drift

Related Cheat Sheets

Helm Charts