Helm Values Management

Comprehensive guidance for managing Helm values across environments, understanding override precedence, and advanced configuration strategies.

When to Use

Use this skill automatically when:

User needs to configure Helm deployments with custom values
User mentions environment-specific configurations (dev/staging/prod)
User asks about value override precedence or merging
User needs to manage secrets or sensitive configuration
User wants to understand what values were deployed
User needs to validate or inspect values

Value Override Precedence

Values are merged with right-most precedence (last wins):

1. Chart defaults (values.yaml in chart)
   ↓
2. Parent chart values (if subchart)
   ↓
3. Previous release values (--reuse-values)
   ↓
4. Values files in order (-f values1.yaml -f values2.yaml)
   ↓
5. Individual overrides (--set, --set-string, --set-json, --set-file)
   ↑
   HIGHEST PRECEDENCE

Example Precedence

# Chart values.yaml
replicaCount: 1
image:
  tag: "1.0.0"

# -f base.yaml
replicaCount: 2

# -f production.yaml
image:
  tag: "2.0.0"

# --set replicaCount=5

# RESULT:
# replicaCount: 5        (from --set, highest precedence)
# image.tag: "2.0.0"     (from production.yaml)

Core Value Commands

View Default Values

# Show chart default values
helm show values <chart>

# Show values from specific chart version
helm show values <chart> --version 1.2.3

# Save defaults to file
helm show values bitnami/nginx > default-values.yaml

View Deployed Values

# Get values used in deployed release
helm get values <release> --namespace <namespace>

# Get ALL values (including defaults)
helm get values <release> --namespace <namespace> --all

# Get values in different formats
helm get values <release> -n <namespace> -o json

# Get values from specific revision
helm get values <release> -n <namespace> --revision 2

Set Values During Install/Upgrade

# Using values file
helm install myapp ./chart \
  --namespace prod \
  --values values.yaml

# Using multiple values files (right-most wins)
helm install myapp ./chart \
  --namespace prod \
  -f values/base.yaml \
  -f values/production.yaml

# Using --set for individual values
helm install myapp ./chart \
  --namespace prod \
  --set replicaCount=3 \
  --set image.tag=v2.0.0

# Using --set-string to force string type
helm install myapp ./chart \
  --namespace prod \
  --set-string version="1.0"

# Using --set-json for complex structures
helm install myapp ./chart \
  --namespace prod \
  --set-json 'nodeSelector={"disktype":"ssd","region":"us-west"}'

# Using --set-file to read value from file
helm install myapp ./chart \
  --namespace prod \
  --set-file tlsCert=./certs/tls.crt

Value Reuse Strategies

# Reuse existing values, merge with new
helm upgrade myapp ./chart \
  --namespace prod \
  --reuse-values \
  --set image.tag=v2.0.0

# Reset to chart defaults, ignore existing values
helm upgrade myapp ./chart \
  --namespace prod \
  --reset-values \
  -f new-values.yaml

Multi-Environment Value Management

Directory Structure

project/
├── charts/
│   └── myapp/           # Helm chart
│       ├── Chart.yaml
│       ├── values.yaml  # Chart defaults
│       └── templates/
└── values/              # Environment-specific values
    ├── common.yaml      # Shared across all environments
    ├── dev.yaml         # Development overrides
    ├── staging.yaml     # Staging overrides
    ├── production.yaml  # Production overrides
    └── secrets/         # Sensitive values (gitignored)
        ├── dev.yaml
        ├── staging.yaml
        └── production.yaml

Common Values (values/common.yaml)

# Shared configuration across all environments
app:
  name: myapp
  labels:
    team: platform
    component: api

service:
  type: ClusterIP
  port: 8080

ingress:
  enabled: true
  className: nginx
  annotations:
    cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: letsencrypt

resources:
  requests:
    cpu: 100m
    memory: 128Mi

Deployment Commands

# Deploy to dev
helm upgrade --install myapp ./charts/myapp \
  --namespace dev \
  --create-namespace \
  -f values/common.yaml \
  -f values/dev.yaml \
  -f values/secrets/dev.yaml

# Deploy to staging
helm upgrade --install myapp ./charts/myapp \
  --namespace staging \
  --create-namespace \
  -f values/common.yaml \
  -f values/staging.yaml \
  -f values/secrets/staging.yaml \
  --atomic --wait

# Deploy to production
helm upgrade --install myapp ./charts/myapp \
  --namespace production \
  --create-namespace \
  -f values/common.yaml \
  -f values/production.yaml \
  -f values/secrets/production.yaml \
  --atomic --wait --timeout 10m

Value Syntax & Types

Simple Values

# String
name: myapp
tag: "v1.0.0"  # Quote to ensure string

# Number
replicaCount: 3
port: 8080

# Boolean
enabled: true
debug: false

# Null
database: null

Nested Values

# Nested objects
image:
  repository: nginx
  tag: "1.21.0"
  pullPolicy: IfNotPresent

# Access in template: {{ .Values.image.repository }}

Lists/Arrays

# Simple list
tags:
  - api
  - web
  - production

# List of objects
env:
  - name: DATABASE_URL
    value: postgres://db:5432/myapp
  - name: REDIS_URL
    value: redis://cache:6379

Setting Values via CLI

# Simple value
--set name=myapp

# Nested value (use dot notation)
--set image.tag=v2.0.0
--set ingress.annotations."cert-manager\.io/cluster-issuer"=letsencrypt

# List values (use array index or {})
--set tags={api,web,prod}

# Complex JSON structures
--set-json 'nodeSelector={"disk":"ssd","region":"us-west"}'

# Force string (prevents numeric conversion)
--set-string version="1.0"

# Read value from file
--set-file cert=./tls.crt

Value Validation & Testing

Template with Values

# Render templates with values
helm template myapp ./chart --values values.yaml

# Validate against Kubernetes API
helm install myapp ./chart \
  --values values.yaml \
  --dry-run --validate

Check Computed Values

# See what values will be used (before install)
helm template myapp ./chart \
  --values values.yaml \
  --debug 2>&1 | grep -A 100 "COMPUTED VALUES"

# See what values were used (after install)
helm get values myapp --namespace prod --all

Test Different Value Combinations

# Test with minimal values
helm template myapp ./chart --set image.tag=test

# Test with full production values
helm template myapp ./chart \
  -f values/common.yaml \
  -f values/production.yaml

For detailed environment value examples, schema validation JSON, secret management options, template value handling patterns, best practices, and troubleshooting, see REFERENCE.md.

Agentic Optimizations

Context	Command
View values (JSON)	`helm get values <release> -n <ns> -o json`
All values (JSON)	`helm get values <release> -n <ns> --all -o json`
Computed values	`helm template myapp ./chart -f values.yaml --debug 2>&1 \| grep -A 50 "COMPUTED VALUES"`
Validate schema	`helm install myapp ./chart -f values.yaml --dry-run 2>&1 \| head -50`

Related Skills

Helm Release Management - Using values during install/upgrade
Helm Debugging - Troubleshooting value errors
Helm Chart Development - Creating charts with good value design

helm-values-management