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devopshigh PriorityID: helm-charts-best-practices

Helm Charts Production Hardening & Schema Validation Standard

Production-grade Kubernetes packaging with Helm 3. Enforces values.schema.json validation, non-root security contexts, pod anti-affinity, readiness/liveness probes, and PodDisruptionBudgets.

Prohibited Anti-Pattern: AI outputs unvalidated Helm templates with hardcoded credentials, missing resource limits, and no health probes.

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---
description: Helm Charts Production Hardening & Schema Validation Standard - Production-grade Kubernetes packaging with Helm 3. Enforces values.schema.json validation, non-root security contexts, pod anti-affinity, readiness/liveness probes, and PodDisruptionBudgets.
globs: charts/**/Chart.yaml, charts/**/values.yaml, charts/**/templates/*.yaml
alwaysApply: false
verified_by: "agentrules.org"
license: "CC-BY-4.0"
source: "https://agentrules.org/rules/helm-charts-best-practices"
---

# Helm Charts Production Hardening & Schema Validation Standard

> **Severity**: HIGH | **Category**: devops
> **Anti-Pattern Warning**: AI outputs unvalidated Helm templates with hardcoded credentials, missing resource limits, and no health probes.

## System Constraints
You are a Kubernetes and Helm infrastructure engineer. When creating Helm charts, always provide a values.schema.json file to validate parameters. Every Deployment template MUST include securityContext (runAsNonRoot: true), resource limits/requests, liveness/readiness probes, and podAntiAffinity.

## Strict Guidelines
- Always create a values.schema.json to enforce strict type checking and required fields during `helm lint` and `helm install`.
- Every pod template must define securityContext (runAsNonRoot: true, allowPrivilegeEscalation: false, readOnlyRootFilesystem: true).
- Never leave CPU/memory resources unbounded; configure explicit requests and limits in values.yaml.
- Include a PodDisruptionBudget (PDB) template to guarantee high availability during node drainage and cluster upgrades.

## Bad vs Good Implementations
### Hardened Helm Deployment Template with Probes & Affinity vs Fragile Default

#### Bad Antipattern (AI Common Hallucination)
> **Why it fails**: Lacking securityContext and probes leaves pods vulnerable to container breakout and traffic routing to crashed instances.
```yaml
# ANTI-PATTERN: Unhardened default Helm template
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: {{ .Release.Name }}
spec:
  replicas: {{ .Values.replicaCount }}
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: app
          image: "{{ .Values.image.repository }}:{{ .Values.image.tag }}"
          # CRITICAL FLAWS:
          # 1. Runs as root with full privileges
          # 2. No liveness or readiness probes
          # 3. No resource requests or limits
          # 4. No pod anti-affinity (all replicas can land on single failing node)
```

#### Production Standard (Correct)
> **Standard**: Ensures zero-privilege execution, automatic traffic rerouting upon probe failure, and anti-affinity scheduling across failure domains.
```yaml
# PRODUCTION STANDARD: Hardened Helm Deployment Template
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: {{ include "app.fullname" . }}
  labels:
    {{- include "app.labels" . | nindent 4 }}
spec:
  replicas: {{ .Values.replicaCount }}
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      {{- include "app.selectorLabels" . | nindent 6 }}
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        {{- include "app.selectorLabels" . | nindent 8 }}
    spec:
      securityContext:
        runAsNonRoot: true
        runAsUser: 10001
        fsGroup: 10001
      affinity:
        podAntiAffinity:
          preferredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
            - weight: 100
              podAffinityTerm:
                labelSelector:
                  matchLabels:
                    {{- include "app.selectorLabels" . | nindent 22 }}
                topologyKey: kubernetes.io/hostname
      containers:
        - name: {{ .Chart.Name }}
          image: "{{ .Values.image.repository }}:{{ .Values.image.tag | default .Chart.AppVersion }}"
          imagePullPolicy: {{ .Values.image.pullPolicy }}
          securityContext:
            allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
            readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
            capabilities:
              drop: ["ALL"]
          resources:
            {{- toYaml .Values.resources | nindent 12 }}
          livenessProbe:
            httpGet:
              path: /healthz
              port: http
            initialDelaySeconds: 15
            periodSeconds: 20
          readinessProbe:
            httpGet:
              path: /ready
              port: http
            initialDelaySeconds: 5
            periodSeconds: 10
```

### values.schema.json for Strong Input Validation

#### Bad Antipattern (AI Common Hallucination)
> **Why it fails**: Typos in values.yaml are ignored by Helm, resulting in unexpected default configurations.
```json
{
  "_comment": "ANTI-PATTERN: Unchecked values schema with typos causing silent failure",
  "repilcaCount": 3,
  "imag": {
    "repo": "app/service"
  }
}
```

#### Production Standard (Correct)
> **Standard**: Helm lint and install immediately abort if required fields are missing or mistyped.
```json
// PRODUCTION STANDARD: values.schema.json
{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
  "properties": {
    "replicaCount": {
      "type": "integer",
      "minimum": 1
    },
    "image": {
      "type": "object",
      "required": ["repository", "tag"],
      "properties": {
        "repository": { "type": "string" },
        "tag": { "type": "string" }
      }
    }
  },
  "required": ["replicaCount", "image"]
}
```
Recommended MCP Servers (mcp-serverlist.com)

Equip agent with system tools to verify code for this stack.

Helm Chart Validator MCP
Lint Helm charts against values.schema.json and check security compliance.
Recommended Agent Skills (askills.dev)

Ready-to-use executable skill functions tailored to this stack.

Production Helm Chart Scaffolder
Generate enterprise-ready Helm charts with PDB, HPA, and security contexts.
Architectural Specification & Invariant Rationale

Architectural Invariant Design: Helm Charts Production Hardening & Schema Validation Standard

Helm Charts Production Hardening & Schema Validation Standard defines an industrial-grade behavioral standard for devops engineering. Production-grade Kubernetes packaging with Helm 3. Enforces values.schema.json validation, non-root security contexts, pod anti-affinity, readiness/liveness probes, and PodDisruptionBudgets. Modern software architectures require strict adherence to deterministic patterns to guarantee high availability, maintainability, and zero security vulnerabilities.

Framework Paradigm Shift & Drift MechanicsLLMs are trained on millions of open-source repositories containing outdated code, legacy idioms, and unpatched antipatterns. When coding assistants generate implementations for this stack, they default to common statistical tokens: AI outputs unvalidated Helm templates with hardcoded credentials, missing resource limits, and no health probes. Without an explicit system instruction file, developers spend hours debugging silent failures.
Failure Modes & Production Blast Radius

Hazard Analysis: What Breaks Without This Rule

The following failure modes have been cataloged from hundreds of hours of production code reviews where AI assistants produced non-compliant implementations:

Failure ModeAI Symptom (The Anti-Pattern)SeverityProduction Impact & Remedy
AI Hallucination & Deprecation DriftAI outputs unvalidated Helm templates with hardcoded credentials, missing resource limits, and no health probes.High
Violating this industrial standard introduces regression bugs, security risks, and unexpected runtime failures in production.
Enforce explicit behavioral system directives across all AI coding assistants in your repository.
Silent Architecture InconsistencyAI assistants produce mixed paradigms across files, creating fragmented codebase conventions.Medium
Increases cognitive load during code reviews and leads to maintenance debt across engineering teams.
Pin project conventions in .cursor/rules, CLAUDE.md, and AGENTS.md so all team agents follow identical guardrails.
Architectural Directives in Detail

Step-by-Step Production Directives

Each rule constraint below is injected into the AI agent's system prompt to establish deterministic boundaries:

1

Always create a values.schema.json to enforce strict type checking and required fields during `helm lint` and `helm install`.

Always create a values.schema.json to enforce strict type checking and required fields during `helm lint` and `helm install`.

Rationale:AI models frequently generate unconstrained code here because statistical language distributions lack project-specific architectural context. Mandating this directive ensures that generated code adheres to verified industrial production requirements.
Enforcement:Integrated into the Agent Pack rule file. When Cursor, Claude Code, or Codex processes this prompt, it applies this constraint before emitting syntax.
2

Every pod template must define securityContext (runAsNonRoot

Every pod template must define securityContext (runAsNonRoot: true, allowPrivilegeEscalation: false, readOnlyRootFilesystem: true).

Rationale:AI models frequently generate unconstrained code here because statistical language distributions lack project-specific architectural context. Mandating this directive ensures that generated code adheres to verified industrial production requirements.
Enforcement:Integrated into the Agent Pack rule file. When Cursor, Claude Code, or Codex processes this prompt, it applies this constraint before emitting syntax.
3

Never leave CPU/memory resources unbounded

Never leave CPU/memory resources unbounded; configure explicit requests and limits in values.yaml.

Rationale:AI models frequently generate unconstrained code here because statistical language distributions lack project-specific architectural context. Mandating this directive ensures that generated code adheres to verified industrial production requirements.
Enforcement:Integrated into the Agent Pack rule file. When Cursor, Claude Code, or Codex processes this prompt, it applies this constraint before emitting syntax.
4

Include a PodDisruptionBudget (PDB) template to guarantee high availability during node drainage and cluster upgrades.

Include a PodDisruptionBudget (PDB) template to guarantee high availability during node drainage and cluster upgrades.

Rationale:AI models frequently generate unconstrained code here because statistical language distributions lack project-specific architectural context. Mandating this directive ensures that generated code adheres to verified industrial production requirements.
Enforcement:Integrated into the Agent Pack rule file. When Cursor, Claude Code, or Codex processes this prompt, it applies this constraint before emitting syntax.
Technical Questions & Answers

Frequently Asked Technical Questions

Common questions developers face when configuring AI coding assistants for this stack:

Q:Why is Helm Charts Production Hardening & Schema Validation Standard critical for AI coding assistants?

Production-grade Kubernetes packaging with Helm 3. Enforces values.schema.json validation, non-root security contexts, pod anti-affinity, readiness/liveness probes, and PodDisruptionBudgets. Without explicit behavioral boundaries, AI coding assistants (Cursor, Claude Code, Windsurf, Codex) rely on training data averages, which frequently produce deprecated, inefficient, or vulnerable code patterns.

Q:How does adopting this rule prevent AI hallucinations?

This rule explicitly declares what the AI must avoid (AI outputs unvalidated Helm templates with hardcoded credentials, missing resource limits, and no health probes.) and prescribes verified positive examples. Grounding the LLM with negative and positive pairs eliminates guesswork.

Q:Which AI coding environments are supported?

This specification is multi-platform compatible: Cursor (.cursor/rules/*.mdc & .cursorrules), Anthropic Claude Code (CLAUDE.md), Windsurf (.windsurfrules), Codex / Cline (AGENTS.md), and GitHub Copilot (.github/copilot-instructions.md).

Q:Can I combine this rule with other technology stacks?

Yes. Use the Interactive Stack Builder or download an Agent Pack to merge this rule with other frontend, backend, database, security, and DevOps rules without syntax collision.

Open Specification · CC BY 4.0·Free for Personal, Team & Commercial In-Repo Use

Citation & Open Source Attribution Guidelines

This specification is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). You are completely free to adapt and share this rule in your workspace. If citing, including in public AI benchmark datasets, or redistributing, attribution to AgentRules.org is required.

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