Is this a full Helm chart, or just the values file?

Just the values.yaml file, the configuration values a chart's templates read via `{{ .Values.xyz }}`. It doesn't generate Chart.yaml or the templates/ directory itself; it's meant to give you a well-structured starting point for the values a typical web-app chart expects, which you then wire into your own chart's templates (or an existing community chart that follows this same common shape).

Why is there a 'secrets' block if it just says not to put real secrets in it?

It's there as a documented placeholder and reminder: many teams new to Helm put real passwords or API keys directly into values.yaml, which then gets committed to git in plain text. The generated block deliberately ships with `enabled: false` and an empty `data: {}`, with a comment pointing at safer patterns (a separate untracked values file, `--set-file`, or a secrets-management integration like External Secrets or Sealed Secrets).

Do the resources.requests/limits fields need to be filled in?

No, they're optional. If you leave all four (requests CPU/memory, limits CPU/memory) blank, the tool emits an empty `resources: {}` block, which is what a chart expects when no resource constraints should be applied, rather than an invalid or misleading placeholder value.

What format do the CPU and memory fields expect?

Standard Kubernetes resource quantities: CPU as either a plain number of cores ('0.5', '1') or millicores ('500m'), and memory with a binary suffix ('256Mi', '1Gi'). These are passed through as-is into the values file's resources block, exactly as a chart's deployment template expects to receive them.

Helm values.yaml Skeleton Generator

Overview

Introduction

Most Helm charts for a typical web application converge on a similar values.yaml shape, image repo/tag, replica count, a service block, an ingress block, resource limits, environment variables, but starting one from a blank file each time means re-deriving that same structure from memory or copying it from a previous project.

This tool generates that common values.yaml skeleton from a form, with sensible key names and nesting that match what most charts (including the Bitnami common library and the default `helm create` scaffold) expect.

What Is Helm values.yaml Generator?

A form-based generator for a Helm chart's `values.yaml` file, the configuration values a chart's templates read at install/upgrade time via `.Values.*` template expressions.

It covers the fields nearly every web-app-style chart needs: image coordinates, replica count, a Service block, an Ingress block, resource requests/limits, a list of environment variables, and a documented (but empty) secrets placeholder.

How Helm values.yaml Generator Works

Each form section maps to one top-level key in the output: image (repository/tag/pullPolicy), service (type/port), ingress (enabled/hosts/tls), resources (requests/limits), env (a list of name/value pairs), and secrets (a disabled placeholder with a warning comment).

Optional sections degrade gracefully rather than emitting misleading placeholders: an empty env list renders as `env: []`, and resources with nothing filled in renders as `resources: {}`, both valid, unambiguous YAML a chart's templates can safely range over or reference.

When To Use Helm values.yaml Generator

Use it when starting a new Helm chart for a typical stateless web service, to get a values.yaml with the right top-level keys already in place before you write the matching deployment/service/ingress templates.

It's also useful as a quick reference for the conventional key names and nesting Helm charts in the wild tend to use, useful when adapting an existing community chart's values file.

Features

Advantages

Follows the same top-level key names (image, service, ingress, resources, env) used by the default `helm create` scaffold and most public charts, so templates written against this shape are immediately reusable elsewhere.
Emits valid empty values (`[]`, `{}`) instead of omitting sections entirely, keeping the file's structure predictable even when a section is unused.
Includes a documented secrets placeholder that actively warns against committing real secret values, rather than silently omitting the topic.

Limitations

Produces the values.yaml only, not the Chart.yaml metadata file or the templates/ directory that actually consumes these values.
The env list is a plain array of name/value pairs; charts that expect envFrom, ConfigMap/Secret references, or valueFrom-style env entries will need those added by hand.

Examples

A basic web app values.yaml with ingress enabled

Input

imageRepository: myorg/webapp, imageTag: 1.4.2, replicaCount: 3, serviceType: ClusterIP, servicePort: 80, ingressEnabled: true, ingressHost: app.example.com

Output

replicaCount: 3

image:
  repository: myorg/webapp
  tag: 1.4.2
  pullPolicy: IfNotPresent

service:
  type: ClusterIP
  port: 80

ingress:
  enabled: true
  className: ""
  hosts:
    - host: app.example.com
      paths:
        - path: /
          pathType: Prefix
  tls: []

resources:
  {}

env:
  []

secrets:
  # Populate via --set-file, a sealed-secrets/external-secrets pipeline, or a
  # separate untracked values file. Never commit real secret values here.
  enabled: false
  data: {}

A ready-to-extend values.yaml with ingress wired up for app.example.com and empty (but structurally valid) resources and env sections.

Best Practices & Notes

Best Practices

Set an explicit imageTag rather than 'latest', so `helm upgrade` behaves predictably and rollbacks are meaningful.
Fill in resources.requests at minimum for anything going to a shared cluster, unconstrained Pods can starve their neighbors under load.
Never fill the generated secrets.data block with real values in a file destined for version control, wire real secrets in via a separate untracked values file or a secrets-management tool instead.

Developer Notes

The env section renders as a plain list of `{name, value}` maps rather than a map keyed by variable name, matching the shape most chart templates use with a `range` loop directly into a container's `env:` list; charts expecting a map-style env should adjust the corresponding template's range expression rather than this file's key structure. ingress.className is emitted as an empty string placeholder (`className: ""`) since its correct value is fully cluster-specific (nginx, traefik, etc.) and there's no universally safe default to guess.

Helm values.yaml Generator Use Cases

Scaffolding the values.yaml for a new internal Helm chart before writing its templates
Documenting the expected configuration surface of a chart for teammates who need to override values per environment
Producing a consistent starting structure across multiple charts in an organization's chart repository

Common Mistakes

Filling the secrets.data placeholder with real credentials and committing the file to a public or shared git repository.
Leaving resources at `{}` in production, which allows a misbehaving Pod to consume unbounded CPU/memory on its node.
Setting imageTag to 'latest', which makes Helm's own change-detection and rollback behavior unreliable since the tag itself never changes between releases.

Tips

Feed the generated env list's names into your chart's ConfigMap/Deployment template as `{{ range .Values.env }}` to keep template and values in sync as the list grows.

Helm values.yaml Generator