Deploy the empty helm chart on Kubernetes

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

To deploy an empty Helm chart on Kubernetes using Pulumi, you'll need to create a Pulumi project, write a TypeScript program with the necessary code, and then run it to deploy the Helm chart. Below is a step-by-step guide on how to create the project and the TypeScript program.

### Step 1: Create a Pulumi Project
Ensure that you have Pulumi CLI installed and configured with the credentials for your Kubernetes cluster. You can create a new Pulumi project by running the following command:

```shell
pulumi new kubernetes-typescript
```

This command creates a new directory with the name you specify for your project and sets up a default Pulumi program for deploying resources to Kubernetes.

### Step 2: Write the Pulumi TypeScript Program
Next, inside your Pulumi project, you will write your TypeScript program. The program will define a Helm chart resource, specifying that it should deploy an empty Helm chart. An "empty" Helm chart might mean different things, but typically, it refers to creating a Helm chart with no predefined Kubernetes resources like pods or services.

You will use the `kubernetes.helm.v3.Chart` class from the Pulumi Kubernetes provider to deploy a Helm chart to your cluster. The `Chart` class allows you to specify the Helm chart to be deployed along with configuration parameters.

Below is a TypeScript program that uses the Pulumi Kubernetes provider to deploy an empty Helm chart:

```typescript
import * as kubernetes from "@pulumi/kubernetes";

const namespace = "default"; // Set the namespace where you want to deploy the chart

// Create a Helm chart resource for an "empty" chart. Since there isn't a standard empty chart,
// you would typically point to a custom chart repository,
// or create a local dummy chart with minimal content, e.g., only Chart.yaml.
const emptyChart = new kubernetes.helm.v3.Chart("empty-helm-chart", {
    // You can specify a local path or a remote chart repository.
    // In this example, `path` is used for a local empty chart path. Replace it with your actual chart path, or leave it if you want to use a placeholder.
    path: "./path-to-empty-chart", // Replace with a path to your actual empty chart
    namespace: namespace,
    // Since this chart is meant to be empty, there aren't values to override.
    // If you had a chart that needed values, they'd be set here.
    values: {},
});

// Exports are optional: they can be removed if they're not needed.
export const chartName = emptyChart.metadata.name;
```

Replace `./path-to-empty-chart` with the actual path to your empty Helm chart directory, which should contain at least `Chart.yaml` file that defines the chart.

### Step 3: Deploy the Helm Chart
After writing your TypeScript program, you're ready to deploy your Helm chart. Run the following commands from the same directory as your Pulumi program:

```shell
pulumi up
```

This command will start the deployment process. Pulumi CLI will show you a preview of the resources that will be created. Confirm the action, and Pulumi will apply the changes to your cluster.

After deployment, if you've set up the exports, you can see the output of the deployment, such as the name of the chart deployed, via the Pulumi CLI.

That's it! You've now used Pulumi to define and deploy an empty Helm chart to your Kubernetes cluster.