Static Checks with helm lint
Flagging structural and best-practice issues.
Static Checks with helm lint is a free Helm Academy lesson on CoddyKit — lesson 1 of 4. You can read the complete lesson below for free — then practise it hands-on in the browser with a built-in code editor and a 24/7 AI tutor. It is part of the Helm Academy learning path, one of 4 lessons in the course, and your progress syncs across the web and the CoddyKit app.
Catch Problems Early
Before a chart ever touches a cluster, helm lint checks it for structural mistakes and best-practice issues. It is your first safety net. 🛡️
Pointing lint at a Chart
You run helm lint against a chart directory or a packaged .tgz. It reads the files locally and never contacts Kubernetes.
helm lint ./mychartWhat lint Actually Checks
Lint verifies your Chart.yaml has required fields, that templates parse, and that values referenced in templates are sane.
A Clean Result
When all is well, lint prints 0 chart(s) failed. That single line means the chart passed every check it ran.
1 chart(s) linted, 0 chart(s) failedThree Severity Levels
Lint messages come as INFO, WARNING, or ERROR. Only an ERROR causes the command to fail.
Errors Stop You
An ERROR means the chart is broken, like a missing required field in Chart.yaml. Fix these before you install anything.
[ERROR] Chart.yaml: version is requiredWarnings Are Advice
A WARNING flags a convention you should follow but is not fatal, like an icon URL that is recommended yet missing.
Strict Mode
Pass --strict to promote warnings into failures. Great for CI, where you want even small issues to block the build.
helm lint --strict ./mychartLinting with Your Values
Lint can apply your own values so it checks the chart as you will actually deploy it. Use --values just like with install.
helm lint ./mychart -f prod-values.yamlIt Renders Templates Too
Behind the scenes, lint renders your templates so a broken Go template action or bad indentation is caught right here.
Linting Several Charts
You can lint many charts at once by listing their paths. Lint reports a per-chart summary so you see exactly which one failed.
helm lint ./web ./api ./workerQuick Check
You want CI to fail when helm lint only reports warnings. Which flag do you add?
Recap
You learned that helm lint checks charts offline, reports INFO, WARNING, and ERROR, and that --strict makes warnings fatal in CI. 🎉
Frequently asked questions
Is the “Static Checks with helm lint” lesson free?
Yes — the full text of “Static Checks with helm lint” is free to read here on the web, and the Helm Academy course includes 4 lessons in total. To practise it interactively (a built-in code editor and a 24/7 AI tutor) and unlock the rest of the Helm Academy course, upgrade to CoddyKit PRO.
What will I learn in “Static Checks with helm lint”?
Flagging structural and best-practice issues. You practise Helm Academy with hands-on code you run directly in the browser, and a 24/7 AI tutor answers your questions as you work through the lesson.
Do I need any experience to start Helm Academy?
No prior experience is required. Helm Academy on CoddyKit is structured for beginners through advanced learners; this is — lesson 1 of 4, so you can start here or from the beginning and move at your own pace.
How long does the “Static Checks with helm lint” lesson take?
Most CoddyKit lessons take about 5–10 minutes. Each one is bite-sized and interactive, so you make steady progress and pick up exactly where you left off across the web and the app.
Can I write and run code in this Helm Academy lesson?
Yes. Every Helm Academy lesson includes a built-in code editor, so you write and run real code right in your browser and get instant AI feedback — no local setup required.
All lessons in this course
- Static Checks with helm lint
- Verifying Output with helm template
- Writing helm test Cases
- Schema Validation with values.schema.json