🎛️ Helm Values Preview

A VS Code extension that supercharges Helm chart development

See resolved template values inline, navigate to definitions, and switch between environments instantly.

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✨ Features

📊 Inline Value Decorations

See resolved .Values.* expressions directly in your template files. Values update instantly when you switch between environments—no need to run helm template repeatedly.

• Values shown inline after each template expression
• Unset values highlighted with warnings
• Truncated display for long values (configurable)

🔄 Values File Selector

Quickly switch between values override files using the status bar dropdown. The selected file is merged with values.yaml following Helm's merge behavior.

Status bar shows: 📄 values-prod.yaml or 📦 subchart > 📄 values-prod.yaml for subcharts

🔍 Go-to-Definition

Ctrl/Cmd+Click on any value decoration to jump directly to where that value is defined—whether it's in your override file, default values.yaml, or a subchart's values.

📚 Find All References

Right-click on any key in a values file and select "Find All References" to see every template that uses that value across your chart and subcharts.

💡 Quick Fixes for Missing Values

When a .Values.* reference doesn't exist, the extension shows a warning decoration and offers a Quick Fix to create the missing key in your values.yaml.

📦 Full Subchart Support

Works seamlessly with Helm dependencies:

Feature	Description
Auto-detection	Subcharts in charts/ directory automatically detected
Alias support	Dependencies with aliases in Chart.yaml properly resolved
Nested subcharts	Full support for subcharts within subcharts
Archive support	Works with .tgz packaged subcharts (read-only)
Global values	global: section properly inherited

🎯 Autocomplete for Subchart Values

When editing values files, get intelligent autocomplete suggestions for subchart configuration keys based on their default values.yaml.

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🚀 Getting Started

1. Install the extension from the VS Code marketplace
2. Open a workspace containing a Helm chart (must have Chart.yaml)
3. Edit any template file in the templates/ directory
4. Click the status bar item to select a values override file
5. Enjoy inline value previews and instant navigation!

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⚙️ Configuration

Setting	Description	Default
helmValues.enableInlayHints	Enable/disable inline value decorations	true
helmValues.inlayHintMaxLength	Maximum characters before value is truncated	50

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📋 Commands

Command	Description
Helm: Select Values File	Open the values file picker
Helm: Clear Values File Selection	Reset to default values.yaml only
Helm: Go to Value Definition	Navigate to the value source
Helm: Create Missing Value	Add undefined value to values.yaml

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📁 Supported Patterns

Template Expressions

{{ .Values.foo }}
{{- .Values.foo -}}
{{ $.Values.foo }}
{{ .Values.foo | default "bar" }}
{{ if .Values.enabled }}...{{ end }}

Values File Patterns

The extension discovers override files matching these patterns:

• values-*.yaml → values-prod.yaml, values-dev.yaml
• *.values.yaml → prod.values.yaml
• *-values.yaml → production-values.yaml
• values.*.yaml → values.prod.yaml
• values/*.yaml → values/staging.yaml

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📦 Subchart Example

# Chart.yaml
dependencies:
  - name: mysql
    version: "1.0.0"
    alias: database

# values.yaml
database:
  auth:
    rootPassword: "my-secret"
global:
  environment: production

When editing charts/mysql/templates/deployment.yaml:

• .Values.auth.rootPassword → "my-secret" (from parent)
• .Values.global.environment → "production" (inherited global)

Archive subcharts (.tgz) are supported for value resolution and autocomplete, but navigation into archives is read-only.

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🛠️ Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Compile
npm run compile

# Watch mode (for development)
npm run watch

# Run tests
npm test

# Lint
npm run lint

# Format code
npm run format

Debugging

1. Open the project in VS Code
2. Press F5 to launch the Extension Development Host
3. Open a folder containing a Helm chart to test

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see the AGENTS.md file for development guidelines and architecture documentation.

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📄 License

MIT

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