lint-helm.yml

Comprehensive Helm chart validation with two parallel jobs: chart structure linting using chart-testing and documentation validation using helm-docs. Ensures charts follow best practices and documentation stays current.

Inputs

Input	Type	Description	Required	Default
HELM_DOCS_VERSION	string	Version (image tag) of jnorwood/helm-docs	No	1.14.2
CT_CONF_PATH	string	Path to the chart-testing configuration file	Yes	-
LINT_CHARTS	boolean	Whether to run the chart linting job	No	true
LINT_DOCS	boolean	Whether to run the chart docs linting job	No	true

Permissions

Scope	Access	Description
contents	read	Read chart sources & docs

Notes

• Two conditional jobs for flexible validation:
  • lint-charts: Uses helm/chart-testing-action with ct lint to validate chart structure, syntax, dependencies, best practices, and version increment requirements. Runs only if LINT_CHARTS=true.
  • lint-docs: Uses jnorwood/helm-docs with --validate flag to ensure documentation matches current chart configuration without making changes. Runs only if LINT_DOCS=true.
• Set LINT_CHARTS=false to skip chart structure validation (useful for docs-only changes).
• Set LINT_DOCS=false to skip documentation validation (useful for chart logic changes without doc updates).
• Chart-testing requires a configuration file (typically .github/ct.yaml) to define linting rules, target branch, chart directories, and validation options.
• Documentation validation mounts ./charts read-only and exits non-zero if generated docs would differ from committed files.
• Jobs run independently when both are enabled; workflow succeeds if all enabled jobs pass.
• Consider pinning Docker images by digest for stronger supply-chain guarantees if stability is critical.
• When you modify Chart.yaml, values.yaml, or templates that affect documentation, regenerate the docs locally:

  docker run --rm \
    -v "$(pwd)/charts:/helm-docs" \
    -u $(id -u) \
    docker.io/jnorwood/helm-docs:1.14.2

  Then review and commit the updated README.md under charts/<chart-name>/. After committing, the lint-docs job should pass again.

Examples

Simple example

jobs:
  lint-helm:
    uses: this-is-tobi/github-workflows/.github/workflows/lint-helm.yml@main
    with:
      HELM_DOCS_VERSION: 1.14.2
      CT_CONF_PATH: .github/ct.yaml

Example chart-testing configuration (.github/ct.yaml):

# See https://github.com/helm/chart-testing/blob/main/doc/ct_lint.md
target-branch: main
chart-dirs:
  - charts
helm-extra-args: --timeout 600s
check-version-increment: true
validate-maintainers: false
excluded-charts:
  - unstable-chart
chart-repos:
  - bitnami=https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami

Docs-only validation

jobs:
  lint-helm-docs-only:
    uses: this-is-tobi/github-workflows/.github/workflows/lint-helm.yml@main
    with:
      CT_CONF_PATH: .github/ct.yaml
      LINT_CHARTS: false
      LINT_DOCS: true

Charts-only validation

jobs:
  lint-helm-charts-only:
    uses: this-is-tobi/github-workflows/.github/workflows/lint-helm.yml@main
    with:
      CT_CONF_PATH: .github/ct.yaml
      LINT_CHARTS: true
      LINT_DOCS: false