helm-debugging

# Helm Debugging & Troubleshooting

Comprehensive guidance for diagnosing and fixing Helm deployment failures, template errors, and configuration issues.

## When to Use

Use this skill automatically when:
- User reports Helm deployment failures or errors
- User mentions debugging, troubleshooting, or fixing Helm issues
- Template rendering problems occur
- Value validation or type errors
- Resource conflicts or API errors
- Image pull failures or pod crashes
- User needs to inspect deployed resources

## Context Safety (CRITICAL)

**Always specify `--context`** explicitly in all kubectl and helm commands. Never rely on the current context.

```bash
# CORRECT: Explicit context
kubectl --context=prod-cluster get pods -n prod
helm --kube-context=prod-cluster status myapp -n prod

# WRONG: Relying on current context
kubectl get pods -n prod  # Which cluster?
```

This prevents accidental operations on the wrong cluster.

---

## Layered Validation Approach

**ALWAYS follow this progression** for robust deployments:

```bash
# 1. LINT - Static analysis (local charts only)
helm lint ./mychart --strict

# 2. TEMPLATE - Render templates locally
helm template myapp ./mychart \
  --debug \
  --values values.yaml

# 3. DRY-RUN - Server-side validation
helm install myapp ./mychart \
  --namespace prod \
  --values values.yaml \
  --dry-run --debug

# 4. INSTALL - Actual deployment
helm install myapp ./mychart \
  --namespace prod \
  --values values.yaml \
  --atomic --wait

# 5. TEST - Post-deployment validation (if chart has tests)
helm test myapp --namespace prod --logs
```

## Core Debugging Commands

### Template Rendering & Inspection

```bash
# Render all templates locally
helm template myapp ./mychart \
  --debug \
  --values values.yaml

# Render specific template file
helm template myapp ./mychart \
  --show-only templates/deployment.yaml \
  --values values.yaml

# Render with debug output (shows computed values)
helm template myapp ./mychart \
  --debug \
  --value