The latest articles on DEV Community by digitalstudium (@digitalstudium). https://dev.to/digitalstudium https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F1041105%2F184e5373-cedf-4262-886a-d197211c928c.png https://dev.to/digitalstudium en digitalstudium Tue, 10 Mar 2026 11:10:22 +0000 https://dev.to/digitalstudium/helmfmt-finally-a-formatter-for-helm-charts-33gc https://dev.to/digitalstudium/helmfmt-finally-a-formatter-for-helm-charts-33gc <p>If you work with Helm, you know the pain: Go-template directives scattered across YAML files with no consistent indentation. Standard YAML formatters can't help — they don't understand Go templates. And <code>gofmt</code> doesn't know about YAML.</p> <p><strong>helmfmt</strong> fills this gap.</p> <h2> What It Does </h2> <p><strong>helmfmt</strong> creates consistent formatting for Helm templates. It auto-aligns Go-template indentation for control blocks (e.g., <code>{{ if ... }}</code>, <code>{{ range ... }}</code>), variables, and comments, improving readability.</p> <p>Importantly, it does not affect raw YAML structure, keeping your chart valid while making it cleaner.</p> <h2> What Gets Formatted </h2> <p>The tool handles indentation for control blocks (<code>range</code>, <code>with</code>, <code>define</code>, <code>block</code>), branching (<code>if</code>, <code>else</code>, <code>else if</code>, <code>end</code>), variables (<code>{{ $var := ... }}</code>), and some functions like <code>fail</code>, <code>printf</code>, etc. Comments (<code>{{/* ... */}}</code>) are also covered. </p> <h2> Flexible Configuration </h2> <p><strong>helmfmt</strong> can be configured using a <code>.helmfmt</code> file in JSON format, where you can tweak indent size, file extensions, and toggle indentation rules per function.</p> <h2> Fits Your Workflow </h2> <p>It can be configured for Zed IDE, VS Code, VIM, and as a pre-commit hook — so it integrates naturally into whatever setup you already have.</p> <h2> Why Bother? </h2> <p>Helm templates are notoriously hard to read. As charts grow, unformatted Go-template logic becomes a maintenance nightmare. <strong>helmfmt</strong> is a small, opinionated tool that solves exactly this problem — think <code>gofmt</code>, but for Helm charts.</p> <p><a href="https://github.com/digitalstudium/helmfmt" rel="noopener noreferrer">github.com/digitalstudium/helmfmt</a></p> kubernetes formatter helm