Debug Helm Charts

Context-Safe Execution (MANDATORY)

Helm template output can be hundreds of lines. Always redirect to files:

export LOG_DIR="${LOG_DIR:-${WORKSPACE_DIR:-/tmp}/rossoctl-helm}"
mkdir -p "$LOG_DIR"

# Redirect helm template output
helm template rossoctl charts/rossoctl -n rossoctl-system > $LOG_DIR/rendered.yaml 2>&1 && echo "OK" || echo "FAIL"
# Analyze in subagent: Task(subagent_type='Explore') with Grep to find specific templates/values

When to Use

• Helm install/upgrade fails
• Template rendering produces unexpected output
• Values not applied correctly
• Hook jobs failing

Template Debugging

Render templates locally without installing:

helm template rossoctl charts/rossoctl -n rossoctl-system -f charts/rossoctl/.secrets.yaml

Render a specific template:

helm template rossoctl charts/rossoctl -n rossoctl-system -s templates/ui-oauth-secret-job.yaml

Compare rendered output with what's deployed:

helm get manifest rossoctl -n rossoctl-system

Value Debugging

Show computed values:

helm get values rossoctl -n rossoctl-system

Show all values (including defaults):

helm get values rossoctl -n rossoctl-system -a

Show chart default values:

helm show values charts/rossoctl

Release Debugging

Check release status:

helm status rossoctl -n rossoctl-system

Check release history:

helm history rossoctl -n rossoctl-system

Hook Debugging

Hooks run as Jobs. Check their status:

kubectl get jobs -n rossoctl-system

Check hook job logs:

kubectl logs -n rossoctl-system job/<hook-job-name>

Dependency Issues

Update chart dependencies:

helm dependency update charts/rossoctl

List dependencies:

helm dependency list charts/rossoctl

Common Issues

Issue	Cause	Fix
UPGRADE FAILED: another operation in progress	Stale lock	kubectl delete secret -n rossoctl-system -l status=pending-upgrade
Template render error	Bad YAML indent	Use helm template to see exact error
Values not applied	Wrong -f order	Later files override earlier ones
Hook timeout	Job takes too long	Check job logs, increase timeout

Related Skills

• rossoctl:deploy - Platform deployment
• rossoctl:operator - Operator management
• k8s:pods - Debug pod issues from hook jobs
• rca:hypershift - RCA when Helm issues cause test failures
• rca:kind - RCA on local Kind cluster
• tdd:hypershift - TDD loop that includes Helm reinstall iterations
• tdd:kind - TDD loop on Kind cluster