helm-defaults

A Helm plugin that displays chart default values in a clean, formatted output.

Overview

helm-defaults enhances the standard helm show values command by providing prettified YAML output using yq, making it easier to read and understand chart default values.

Features

• Pretty-printed YAML output using yq
• Fast tab completion with intelligent caching
• Chart discovery from all configured repositories
• Local chart support for development workflows
• Smart caching in ~/.cache or /tmp fallback

Requirements

• Helm v3.x
• yq v4.x (for YAML formatting)

Install yq:

# macOS
brew install yq

# Linux
sudo wget -qO /usr/local/bin/yq https://github.com/mikefarah/yq/releases/latest/download/yq_linux_amd64
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/yq

Installation

Install from GitHub

helm plugin install https://github.com/joshfng/helm-defaults

Install from local directory

helm plugin install .

Usage

Basic Usage

# Show default values for a chart
helm defaults traefik/traefik

# Show defaults for a local chart
helm defaults ./my-chart

# Get help
helm defaults --help

Tab Completion

The plugin supports intelligent tab completion:

# Complete chart names from all repositories
helm defaults <TAB>

# Filter by prefix
helm defaults traefik<TAB>     # Shows: traefik/traefik, traefik/maesh, etc.
helm defaults prometheus<TAB>  # Shows: prometheus-community/prometheus, etc.

Performance

The plugin uses smart caching to provide fast tab completion:

• First completion: ~2-3 seconds (builds cache)
• Subsequent completions: ~0.1 seconds (uses cache)
• Cache duration: 10 minutes
• Cache location: ~/.cache/helm-defaults/ or /tmp/helm-defaults-$USER/

Examples

Repository Charts

# Popular charts
helm defaults grafana/grafana
helm defaults prometheus-community/kube-prometheus-stack
helm defaults traefik/traefik

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.