Helm Scaffolding Skill

Scaffolds Helm charts for deploying SDD components to Kubernetes. Charts are generated based on component settings from sdd/sdd-settings.yaml.

Skills

Use the following skills for reference:

• techpack-settings — Authoritative source for helm component settings schema (deploys, deploy_type, deploy_modes, ingress, assets)

When to Use

Use when creating Helm chart components. Creates Helm charts that integrate with the SDD config system.

Settings-Driven Scaffolding

Helm charts are scaffolded based on their settings in sdd/sdd-settings.yaml. Delegate to the techpack-settings skill for the complete helm settings schema and defaults — it returns deploys (server reference), deploy_type, deploy_modes (array of mode strings), ingress (boolean), and assets (static file configuration).

Template Selection Logic

// Pseudocode for settings-driven template selection
const scaffoldHelmChart = async (helmComponent: HelmComponent): Promise<void> => {
  const { settings } = helmComponent;

  // Always include base templates
  await copyTemplate('_helpers.tpl');
  await copyTemplate('configmap.yaml');

  if (settings.deploy_type === 'server') {
    // Server-specific templates
    await copyTemplate('servicemonitor.yaml'); // All servers get metrics

    const deployModes = settings.deploy_modes ?? [serverSettings.server_type];

    if (deployModes.length > 1) {
      // Multiple modes = separate deployments per mode
      if (deployModes.includes('api')) await copyTemplate('deployment-api.yaml');
      if (deployModes.includes('worker')) await copyTemplate('deployment-worker.yaml');
      if (deployModes.includes('cron')) await copyTemplate('cronjob.yaml');
    } else if (deployModes[0] === 'cron') {
      await copyTemplate('cronjob.yaml');
    } else {
      await copyTemplate('deployment.yaml');
    }

    // Service only if deploying api mode and server provides contracts
    if (deployModes.includes('api') && serverSettings.provides_contracts.length > 0) {
      await copyTemplate('service.yaml');
    }
  } else {
    // Webapp templates
    await copyTemplate('deployment.yaml');
    await copyTemplate('service.yaml');
  }

  // Ingress from helm settings
  if (settings.ingress) {
    await copyTemplate('ingress.yaml');
  }
};

Directory Structure

Helm charts live at components/helm_charts/<name>/:

Component Name	Directory
main-server-api	components/helm_charts/main-server-api/
admin-dashboard	components/helm_charts/admin-dashboard/
umbrella	components/helm_charts/umbrella/

What It Creates

Server Chart Structure

components/helm_charts/<name>/
├── Chart.yaml                # Chart metadata
├── values.yaml               # Default values
└── templates/
    ├── _helpers.tpl          # Template helpers (always)
    ├── configmap.yaml        # Config mount (always)
    ├── servicemonitor.yaml   # Metrics integration (always)
    ├── deployment.yaml       # Single-mode deployment
    ├── deployment-api.yaml   # Hybrid: API mode deployment
    ├── deployment-worker.yaml # Hybrid: Worker mode deployment
    ├── cronjob.yaml          # Cron mode
    ├── service.yaml          # When provides_contracts (conditional)
    └── ingress.yaml          # When ingress: true (conditional)

Webapp Chart Structure

components/helm_charts/<name>/
├── Chart.yaml
├── values.yaml
└── templates/
    ├── _helpers.tpl
    ├── deployment.yaml       # nginx with config injection
    ├── service.yaml
    ├── configmap.yaml        # App config + nginx config
    └── ingress.yaml          # When ingress: true (conditional)

Umbrella Chart Structure

components/helm_charts/umbrella/
├── Chart.yaml                # Lists all charts as dependencies
└── values.yaml               # Enable/disable individual charts

Template Variables

Variable	Description
{{CHART_NAME}}	Helm chart name
{{CHART_DESCRIPTION}}	Helm chart description
{{DEPLOYS_COMPONENT}}	Name of component this chart deploys
{{APP_VERSION}}	Application version
{{PROJECT_NAME}}	Project name
{{IS_HYBRID}}	True if deploying multiple modes
{{DEPLOY_MODES}}	List of modes being deployed
{{HAS_SERVICE}}	True if server provides contracts
{{HAS_INGRESS}}	True if ingress enabled

Templates Location

Templates are organized by deployment target:

skills/components/helm/helm-scaffolding/
├── templates/                 # Legacy (single deployment)
├── templates-server/          # Server charts
│   ├── Chart.yaml
│   ├── values.yaml
│   └── templates/
│       ├── _helpers.tpl
│       ├── deployment.yaml
│       ├── deployment-api.yaml
│       ├── deployment-worker.yaml
│       ├── cronjob.yaml
│       ├── service.yaml
│       ├── ingress.yaml
│       ├── servicemonitor.yaml
│       └── configmap.yaml
├── templates-webapp/          # Webapp charts
│   ├── Chart.yaml
│   ├── values.yaml
│   └── templates/
│       ├── _helpers.tpl
│       ├── deployment.yaml
│       ├── service.yaml
│       ├── ingress.yaml
│       └── configmap.yaml
└── templates-umbrella/        # Umbrella chart
    ├── Chart.yaml
    └── values.yaml

Config Integration

Server Config Injection

Config is mounted as a file at /app/config/config.yaml. The application reads config using the SDD_CONFIG_PATH environment variable:

# templates/configmap.yaml
data:
  config.yaml: |
    {{- toYaml .Values.config | nindent 4 }}

The ConfigMap is mounted in deployments and SDD_CONFIG_PATH is set automatically.

Deployment workflow:

# Generate merged config
<plugin-root>/fullstack-typescript/system/system-run.sh config generate --env production --component main-server \
  --output production-config.yaml

# Deploy with config
helm install my-release ./components/helm_charts/main-server-api \
  -f values-production.yaml \
  --set-file config=production-config.yaml

Webapp Config Injection

Config is injected into HTML at deploy time via init container:

1. Webapp exports: export const startApp = (config: AppConfig) => { ... }
2. Helm chart's index.html has: startApp(__SDD_CONFIG__)
3. Init container replaces __SDD_CONFIG__ with JSON from ConfigMap
4. App receives config as parameter

Observability Integration

All server charts include:

• ServiceMonitor - Registers app with Prometheus/Victoria Metrics
• Metrics endpoint - Port 9090 for health/metrics
• Structured logging - JSON logs to stdout (collector picks up)

Cluster-level observability (Victoria Metrics, Victoria Logs) is set up separately (see task #47).

---

Scaffold Spec

To scaffold a Helm chart, build a spec with context flags derived from helm + server settings and invoke the engine:

<plugin-root>/fullstack-typescript/system/system-run.sh scaffolding apply --spec spec.json

Variables

Variable	Source
PROJECT_NAME	From sdd-settings.yaml project name
CHART_NAME	Helm component name
CHART_DESCRIPTION	"Helm chart for <chart-name>"
DEPLOYS_COMPONENT	Name of the component this chart deploys
IS_HYBRID	"true" or "false"
HAS_SERVICE	"true" or "false"
HAS_INGRESS	"true" or "false"

Context Flags (derived from settings)

Flag	Derived From
deploy_type	settings.deploy_type ("server" or "webapp")
is_hybrid	deploy_modes.length > 1
is_cron_only	deploy_modes === ["cron"]
has_api_mode	deploy_modes.includes("api")
has_worker_mode	deploy_modes.includes("worker")
has_cron_mode	deploy_modes.includes("cron")
needs_service	has_api_mode && provides_contracts.length > 0
has_ingress	settings.ingress === true

Example Spec (server chart)

See the full Helm chart spec example in the task description. Each template file is a separate template_file operation with appropriate when conditions based on the pre-computed context flags.

Operations Pattern

{
  "target_dir": "<project-root>",
  "base_dir": "<plugin-root>/skills",
  "variables": { "CHART_NAME": "<chart-name>", "..." : "..." },
  "context": {
    "is_hybrid": false,
    "is_cron_only": false,
    "has_api_mode": true,
    "needs_service": true,
    "has_ingress": true
  },
  "operations": [
    { "type": "template_file", "source": "components/helm/helm-scaffolding/templates-server/Chart.yaml", "dest": "components/helm_charts/<chart-name>/Chart.yaml" },
    { "type": "template_file", "source": "components/helm/helm-scaffolding/templates-server/values.yaml", "dest": "components/helm_charts/<chart-name>/values.yaml" },
    { "type": "template_file", "source": "components/helm/helm-scaffolding/templates-server/templates/_helpers.tpl", "dest": "components/helm_charts/<chart-name>/templates/_helpers.tpl" },
    { "type": "template_file", "source": "components/helm/helm-scaffolding/templates-server/templates/configmap.yaml", "dest": "components/helm_charts/<chart-name>/templates/configmap.yaml" },
    { "type": "template_file", "source": "components/helm/helm-scaffolding/templates-server/templates/servicemonitor.yaml", "dest": "components/helm_charts/<chart-name>/templates/servicemonitor.yaml" },
    { "type": "template_file", "source": "components/helm/helm-scaffolding/templates-server/templates/deployment.yaml", "dest": "components/helm_charts/<chart-name>/templates/deployment.yaml", "when": [{ "key": "is_hybrid", "equals": false }, { "key": "is_cron_only", "equals": false }] },
    { "type": "template_file", "source": "components/helm/helm-scaffolding/templates-server/templates/service.yaml", "dest": "components/helm_charts/<chart-name>/templates/service.yaml", "when": { "key": "needs_service", "equals": true } },
    { "type": "template_file", "source": "components/helm/helm-scaffolding/templates-server/templates/ingress.yaml", "dest": "components/helm_charts/<chart-name>/templates/ingress.yaml", "when": { "key": "has_ingress", "equals": true } },
    { "type": "package_json_scripts", "scripts": { "<chart-name>:lint": "helm lint components/helm_charts/<chart-name>" } }
  ]
}

Input

Schema: schemas/input.schema.json

Accepts chart name, deploy target, deployment type, and optional settings for modes, ingress, and webapp assets.

Output

Schema: schemas/output.schema.json

Returns the scaffolding engine result: created files, directories, and scripts; skipped paths; errors; and a human-readable summary.

Related Skills

• helm-standards — Generated Helm charts must follow these standards. Defines values.yaml structure, template patterns, settings-driven configuration, and release naming conventions.