Workleap generic Helm charts

This repository contains generic Helm charts available through GitHub Pages.

Generic Helm chart for ASP.NET Core (and other HTTP workloads)

Despite its name, the aspnetcore chart is a workload-agnostic chart for any HTTP service. Its defaults are tuned for ASP.NET Core (it bootstraps the official ASP.NET Core sample application by default), but two flags — aspnetcore.injectEnvVars and image.containerPort — make it equally usable for Node.js, Python, Go, or any other HTTP workload.

The full reference for every value lives in charts/aspnetcore/values.yaml.

Resources deployed

The chart deploys the following resources:

Resource	Created when	Notes
Deployment	Always	Single container, port image.containerPort (default 8080).
Service	Always	ClusterIP on service.port (default 80), targets the container port.
HorizontalPodAutoscaler	autoscaling.enabled (default true)	CPU-based; minReplicas / maxReplicas / targetCPUUtilizationPercentage configurable.
HTTPRoute (Gateway API)	httpRoute.create (default true)	Requires httpRoute.parentRefs. Replaces the NGINX Ingress from earlier majors.
PodDisruptionBudget	Automatic in Production / DR when effective replicas > 1	Fixed maxUnavailable: 50%. See Automatic behaviors.
ServiceAccount	serviceAccount.create (default false)	Supports Azure Workload Identity via azureWorkloadIdentity.enabled + clientId.
AzureIdentityBinding	aadPodIdentityBinding.create (default false)	Deprecated — use Azure Workload Identity instead.

Automatic behaviors

The chart applies a few opinionated defaults so callers don't have to reason about availability primitives manually.

• Environment enum validation. environment must be one of Development, Staging, Production, DR. Helm fails the render on any other value (enforced via values.schema.json).
• Production / DR replica precheck. If environment is Production or DR and effective replicas (autoscaling.minReplicas when HPA is enabled, otherwise replicaCount) are ≤ 1, the render fails with a clear message. Note: the Deployment.spec.replicas is always set from replicaCount, so when HPA is enabled you should keep replicaCount ≥ autoscaling.minReplicas to avoid initially rolling out a single replica before the HPA reconciles.
• Automatic PodDisruptionBudget. A PodDisruptionBudget with maxUnavailable: 50% is created automatically when environment is Production or DR and effective replicas > 1. No PDB is created in Development or Staging. There is no manual podDisruptionBudget block to configure.
• Default node-spread topology. When topologySpreadConstraints is unset, the presets.spreadAcrossNodes preset (enabled by default) applies a best-effort maxSkew: 1 constraint on kubernetes.io/hostname. Setting topologySpreadConstraints explicitly overrides the preset.
• Conditional .NET env injection. When aspnetcore.injectEnvVars is true (default), the chart injects DOTNET_ENVIRONMENT (from environment) and ASPNETCORE_URLS (computed from image.containerPort) into the container. Set it to false for non-.NET workloads — the env block is omitted entirely if no extraEnvVars are provided either.

Installing the chart

The recommended way is to add this chart as a dependency of your chart:

apiVersion: v2
name: your-chart
description: Your chart description
version: 1.0.0
dependencies:
  - name: aspnetcore
    alias: aspnetcore
    version: 5.1.0
    repository: https://workleap.github.io/gsoft-helm-charts

Then, in your values.yaml file, override the default values (see the sections below). Finally, deploy your chart using the --dependency-update flag:

helm upgrade --install --atomic --cleanup-on-fail --debug --dependency-update [...more options] ./your-chart/

ASP.NET Core usage

A minimal values.yaml for an ASP.NET Core service:

aspnetcore:
  environment: Production
  image:
    registry: your-registry.com
    repository: your-repository
    tag: "1.0.0"
  httpRoute:
    hostname: api.example.com
    parentRefs:
      - name: shared-gateway
        namespace: istio-system

DOTNET_ENVIRONMENT (set to Production) and ASPNETCORE_URLS (set to http://+:8080) are injected automatically — you do not need to configure them.

Non-.NET workloads

For non-.NET workloads, disable the .NET env injection and set the container port your app listens on. The chart still creates an HTTPRoute by default, so configure httpRoute.parentRefs (or set httpRoute.create: false if your routing is managed elsewhere):

aspnetcore:
  aspnetcore:
    injectEnvVars: false
  image:
    registry: your-registry.com
    repository: your-repository
    tag: "1.0.0"
    containerPort: 3000
  httpRoute:
    hostname: api.example.com
    parentRefs:
      - name: shared-gateway
        namespace: istio-system

Callers typically also configure their own readinessProbe / livenessProbe and extraEnvVars. A full working example (Node.js HTTP echo server) is at charts/aspnetcore/tests/values-nondotnet.yaml.

Most-used values

A curated reference for the values most commonly set. The full list — including probes, volumes, certificate store, security context, migration helpers, and more — is documented inline in charts/aspnetcore/values.yaml.

Image

Key	Default	Description
image.registry	mcr.microsoft.com	Image registry.
image.repository	dotnet/samples	Image repository.
image.tag	aspnetapp	Image tag (immutable tags are recommended).
image.pullPolicy	IfNotPresent	Image pull policy.
image.containerPort	8080	Port the container listens on. Used by the Service and ASPNETCORE_URLS.

Workload

Key	Default	Description
replicaCount	2	Replicas when HPA is disabled. Required ≥ 2 in Production / DR (or use autoscaling.minReplicas).
environment	Development	One of Development, Staging, Production, DR. Drives PDB creation and DOTNET_ENVIRONMENT.
aspnetcore.injectEnvVars	true	Inject DOTNET_ENVIRONMENT and ASPNETCORE_URLS. Set false for non-.NET workloads.
extraEnvVars	[]	Additional env vars. Only name / value entries are rendered today (valueFrom is permitted by the schema but not emitted by the template).
resources	see values	Container requests/limits. Defaults: 50m CPU request, 128Mi memory request and limit.

Networking

Key	Default	Description
service.port	80	Service port; targets the container port.
httpRoute.create	true	Create the Gateway API HTTPRoute.
httpRoute.hostname	aspnetcore.example.local	Hostname for the route.
httpRoute.parentRefs	[]	Required when create is true. List of parent Gateways (name, optional namespace, sectionName).
httpRoute.path	/	Default path match.
httpRoute.pathType	PathPrefix	One of Exact, PathPrefix, RegularExpression.
httpRoute.timeout	""	Request timeout in Gateway API duration format (e.g. 60s, 5m). Empty uses the gateway/mesh defaults.

Scaling and availability

Key	Default	Description
autoscaling.enabled	true	Create the HorizontalPodAutoscaler.
autoscaling.minReplicas	2	Minimum replicas. Required when autoscaling.enabled is true.
autoscaling.maxReplicas	3	Maximum replicas.
autoscaling.targetCPUUtilizationPercentage	80	CPU utilization target.

PDB creation is automatic and not configurable via values — see Automatic behaviors.

Identity

Key	Default	Description
serviceAccount.create	false	Create a ServiceAccount.
azureWorkloadIdentity.enabled	false	Add the azure.workload.identity/use pod label and (when serviceAccount.create: true) annotate the chart-managed ServiceAccount with the workload identity client ID. The chart's documented usage assumes serviceAccount.create: true.
azureWorkloadIdentity.clientId	""	Azure AD application client ID for the workload identity.

Values schema

The chart includes a JSON schema file charts/aspnetcore/values.schema.json that defines the structure and validation rules for the values, including type validation, enum constraints (e.g. environment), and property descriptions.

Important: When making changes to the values definition in values.yaml, ensure that the corresponding values.schema.json file is updated to maintain consistency and proper validation.

Migration

See charts/aspnetcore/MIGRATION.md for upgrade notes between major versions.

Release and versioning process

• Commit your changes on a new branch.
• In the same branch, manually bump the version property in charts/<affected-chartname>/Chart.yaml by following SemVer guidelines.
• Create a pull request and go through the review process.
• When the pull request is merged back in the main branch, the following workflows are automatically triggered:
  1. Release charts: packages the updated chart, creates a GitHub release and updates the public Helm index.yaml repository file. This has no effect if no chart version was changed.
  2. Deploy pages: deploy the latest index.yaml file to GitHub Pages.

License

Copyright © 2025, Workleap Technologies. This code is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.