chart-testing Action

A GitHub Action for installing the helm/chart-testing CLI tool.

Usage

Pre-requisites

1. A GitHub repo containing a directory with your Helm charts (e.g: charts)
2. A workflow YAML file in your .github/workflows directory. An example workflow is available below. For more information, reference the GitHub Help Documentation for Creating a workflow file

Inputs

For more information on inputs, see the API Documentation

• version: The chart-testing version to install (default: 3.14.0)
• yamllint_version: The yamllint version to install (default: 1.33.0)
• yamale_version: The yamale version to install (default: 6.0.0)
• lint_config: Path to a custom yamllint config file. If set, ct lint uses it instead of the default lintconf.yaml (default: none)

Example Workflow

Create a workflow (eg: .github/workflows/lint-test.yaml):

Note that Helm and Python must be installed. This can be achieved using actions as shown in the example below. Python is required because ct lint runs Yamale and yamllint which require Python.

name: Lint and Test Charts

on: pull_request

permissions: {}

jobs:
  lint-test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: read
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v5.0.0
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Set up Helm
        uses: azure/setup-helm@v4.3.1

      - uses: actions/setup-python@v6.0.0
        with:
          python-version: '3.x'
          check-latest: true

      - name: Set up chart-testing
        uses: helm/chart-testing-action@v2.8.0

      - name: Run chart-testing (list-changed)
        id: list-changed
        run: |
          changed=$(ct list-changed --target-branch ${{ github.event.repository.default_branch }})
          if [[ -n "$changed" ]]; then
            echo "changed=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
          fi

      - name: Run chart-testing (lint)
        if: steps.list-changed.outputs.changed == 'true'
        run: ct lint --target-branch ${{ github.event.repository.default_branch }}

      - name: Create kind cluster
        if: steps.list-changed.outputs.changed == 'true'
        uses: helm/kind-action@v1.12.0

      - name: Run chart-testing (install)
        if: steps.list-changed.outputs.changed == 'true'
        run: ct install --target-branch ${{ github.event.repository.default_branch }}

This uses helm/kind-action GitHub Action to spin up a kind Kubernetes cluster, and helm/chart-testing to lint and test your charts on every pull request.

Testing charts that use CRDs

If your chart renders custom resources for CRDs that are not installed by the chart itself, install those CRDs after the kind cluster is created and before running ct install. For example, if your repository stores the required CRD manifests in a crds/ directory:

      - name: Create kind cluster
        if: steps.list-changed.outputs.changed == 'true'
        uses: helm/kind-action@v1.12.0

      - name: Install test CRDs
        if: steps.list-changed.outputs.changed == 'true'
        run: kubectl apply -f crds/

      - name: Run chart-testing (install)
        if: steps.list-changed.outputs.changed == 'true'
        run: ct install --target-branch ${{ github.event.repository.default_branch }}

The helm/kind-action step configures kubectl for the kind cluster, so later workflow steps can apply CRDs or other cluster prerequisites before chart installation.

Upgrading from v1.x.x

v2.0.0 is a major release with breaking changes. The action no longer wraps the chart-testing tool but simply installs it. It is no longer run in a Docker container. All ct options are now directly available without the additional abstraction layer.

Code of conduct

Participation in the Helm community is governed by the Code of Conduct.