Technologies · Helm
Helm consulting for startups
We build and untangle Helm charts: one maintainable chart per service pattern, values layered cleanly across environments, and charts wired into Argo CD so releases are declarative. Helm is how Kubernetes configuration stays DRY — and how it becomes unreadable when charts grow without discipline.
Reference architecture
How we build with Helm
Define
Compose
Verify
Release
Scope
What our Helm consulting covers
- Chart architecture: a shared library chart so 15 services don't mean 15 divergent charts
- Values strategy: base + per-environment overlays without the 800-line values file
- Chart testing and linting in CI: helm-unittest, kubeconform, diff-on-PR
- Third-party chart management: pinned versions, values audits, upgrade cadence
- Helm inside GitOps: charts rendered and synced by Argo CD, not helm-install by hand
System design
How Helm keeps Kubernetes config scalable
- 1
One library chart, many services: new service onboarding becomes a 20-line values file instead of 400 lines of copied YAML
- 2
Environment diffs stay readable: overlays only express what differs, so staging-vs-prod review is a glance, not a hunt
- 3
Chart versioning enables safe rollout: platform changes ship as a chart version bump, promoted environment by environment
- 4
Rendered-manifest diffs in CI show exactly what a chart change does to every service before it merges
In practice
What a typical engagement looks like
A team with 12 copy-pasted charts (drifted, of course) consolidates onto one library chart with thin per-service values. A security-context fix that used to mean 12 PRs becomes one chart bump; a new service's Kubernetes footprint is 25 lines; and rendered diffs in CI end the 'what will this actually change?' guessing.
Illustrative engagement — representative of typical work at typical scale, not a specific client. See a full sample audit deliverable here.
Helm work is covered by the Fractional DevOps retainer ($2,900/mo) and scoped fixed-price projects — start with the guaranteed $1,900 audit if you want findings before commitments.
Questions
Helm, straight answers
Helm or Kustomize?
Both solve environment configuration; Helm adds packaging and versioning, which matters once you template many similar services or consume third-party charts (you will — ingress, cert-manager, monitoring all ship as Helm). Kustomize shines for small, purely-your-own manifests. Argo CD speaks both; we pick per situation and often use Helm charts with Kustomize-style thin overlays.
Our values files are enormous and nobody understands them. Fixable?
Yes — it's a refactor, not a rewrite: extract the shared shape into a library chart, cut per-service values to genuine differences, and add rendered-diff CI so every future change shows its blast radius. Services migrate one at a time with byte-identical rendered output as the acceptance test.
Related technologies
Need senior Helm help without the hire?
A 15-minute call is enough to tell you exactly what we'd do and what it costs. No pitch deck, no pressure.