Creating a Helm App w Argocd

March 17, 2025 · 6 min read

Lead Software Engineer | CEO Spakl

When you need to create a helm application for Argocd to deploy a Helm chart, it can feel a little confusing.

You go to a docs page and read thier installation guide and all you see is

Example: Traefik

helm repo add traefik https://traefik.github.io/charts
helm repo update
helm install traefik traefik/traefik

Where do you even begin?

How does this map to the argocd CRD?

How do I add a values file, I'm just getting an error?

Why is it looking in the helm charts repo for my values file?

The truth is, once you see it once, you can retrace the the steps to make any Argocd Helm Application Deployment.

Boilerplate Application

Lets start by creating a boiler plate application.

helm.yml
apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: ""
  namespace: argocd
spec:
  project: default
  sources:
  - repoURL: '' 
    targetRevision: ''
    path: '' # Path to the Helm chart directory in your repository.
    chart: ''
    helm:
      releaseName: ''
    #   valueFiles:
    #     # Update this to point to your custom values file if you have one.
    #     - $values/values.yml 
    #   parameters:
        # - name: installCRD
        #   value: "true" 

## IF VALUES FILE NEEDED
#   - repoURL: ''
#     targetRevision: master
#     ref: values
  
  destination:
    namespace: ''
    server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
  syncPolicy:
    automated:
      prune: true
      selfHeal: true
    syncOptions:
      - CreateNamespace=true # Allows ArgoCD to create the namespace if it doesn't exist.
    #   - ServerSideApply=true  # Enable server-side apply
    #   - RespectIgnoreDifferences=true
  
  # Needed in newest traefik chart
#   ignoreDifferences: 
#   - kind: Service
    # jqPathExpressions:
    #   - '.status.loadBalancer.ingress[].ipMode'

This is a good starting point to get a Helm application started.

Traefik Example

Lets use the above example

helm repo add traefik https://traefik.github.io/charts
helm repo update
helm install traefik traefik/traefik

Helm Command Mapping

Name	Mapping
helm repo add traefik `https://traefik.github.io/charts`	`spec.sources.[].repoUrl`
helm install traefik `traefik/traefik`	`spec.sources.[].path`
helm install traefik traefik/`traefik`	`spec.sources.[].chart`
helm install `traefik` traefik/traefik	`spec.sources.[].helm.releaseName`

So now the example Chart would look like this.

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: "traefik-system"
  namespace: argocd
spec:
  project: default
  sources:
  - repoURL: 'https://traefik.github.io/charts' 
    targetRevision: ''
    path: traefik/traefik # Path to the Helm chart directory in your repository.
    chart: traefik
    helm:
      releaseName: traefik
    #   valueFiles:
    #     - $values/values.yml # Update this to point to your custom values file if you have one.
    #   parameters:
        # - name: installCRD
        #   value: "true" # Set to "true" if Traefik CRDs need to be installed.

## IF VALUES FILE NEEDED
#   - repoURL: ''
#     targetRevision: master
#     ref: values
  
  destination:
    namespace: 'traefik'
    server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
  syncPolicy:
    automated:
      prune: true
      selfHeal: true
    syncOptions:
      - CreateNamespace=true # Allows ArgoCD to create the namespace if it doesn't exist.
    #   - ServerSideApply=true  # Enable server-side apply
    #   - RespectIgnoreDifferences=true
  
  # Needed in newest traefik chart
#   ignoreDifferences: 
#   - kind: Service
    # jqPathExpressions:
    #   - '.status.loadBalancer.ingress[].ipMode'

What about the target revision?

Chart Version

Sometime you can visit the chart repo url in the browser and it will direct you to the git project for the chart.

Traefik's is here

https://github.com/traefik/traefik-helm-chart

Visit the releases tab

https://github.com/traefik/traefik-helm-chart/releases

Copy the latest version you see or desired version to deploy.

v34.4.1

Now set it in the Target Revision.

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: "traefik-system"
  namespace: argocd
spec:
  project: default
  sources:
  - repoURL: 'https://traefik.github.io/charts' 
    targetRevision: 'v34.4.1'
    path: traefik/traefik # Path to the Helm chart directory in your repository.
    chart: traefik
    helm:
      releaseName: traefik
    #   valueFiles:
    #     - $values/values.yml # Update this to point to your custom values file if you have one.
    #   parameters:
        # - name: installCRD
        #   value: "true" # Set to "true" if Traefik CRDs need to be installed.

## IF VALUES FILE NEEDED
#   - repoURL: ''
#     targetRevision: master
#     ref: values
  
  destination:
    namespace: 'traefik'
    server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
  syncPolicy:
    automated:
      prune: true
      selfHeal: true
    syncOptions:
      - CreateNamespace=true # Allows ArgoCD to create the namespace if it doesn't exist.
    #   - ServerSideApply=true  # Enable server-side apply
    #   - RespectIgnoreDifferences=true
  
  # Needed in newest traefik chart
#   ignoreDifferences: 
#   - kind: Service
    # jqPathExpressions:
    #   - '.status.loadBalancer.ingress[].ipMode'

We are now ready to deploy this!

But what if you need values?

Helm Values

You will get some errors if you try to add a values file in the repo with this file. it will only get from the traefik helm chart project.

To fix this you need to use the parameters in the helm section or add a values ref.

Values Ref

## IF VALUES FILE NEEDED
#   - repoURL: ''
#     targetRevision: master
#     ref: values

This is the section of code that we are goin to uncomment.

Name	Mapping
Repo Where this helm App is being deployed from	repoUrl
targetRevision	"branch to deploy on"
ref to use in yml for this repo	ref

We are going to use this repo i have set with a traefik values file to deploy this.

https://gitlab.com/d3vbd/hlab-cluster/traefik.git

The values file is in the root of the project `values.yml

Lets add it to our argo helm depployment

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: "traefik-system"
  namespace: argocd
spec:
  project: default
  sources:
  - repoURL: 'https://traefik.github.io/charts' 
    targetRevision: 'v34.4.1'
    path: traefik/traefik # Path to the Helm chart directory in your repository.
    chart: traefik
    helm:
      releaseName: traefik
      # Update this to point to your custom values file if you have one.
      valueFiles:
        - $values/values.yml 
    #   parameters:
        # - name: installCRD
        #   value: "true" # Set to "true" if Traefik CRDs need to be installed.

# IF VALUES FILE NEEDED
  - repoURL: 'https://gitlab.com/d3vbd/hlab-cluster/traefik.git'
    targetRevision: master
    ref: values

  destination:
    namespace: 'traefik'
    server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
  syncPolicy:
    automated:
      prune: true
      selfHeal: true
    syncOptions:
      - CreateNamespace=true # Allows ArgoCD to create the namespace if it doesn't exist.
    #   - ServerSideApply=true  # Enable server-side apply
    #   - RespectIgnoreDifferences=true
  
  # Needed in newest traefik chart
#   ignoreDifferences: 
#   - kind: Service
    # jqPathExpressions:
    #   - '.status.loadBalancer.ingress[].ipMode'

Now you have a full helm deployment with a values file!

Bonus Traefik Settings

Was having issues with this ipMode in the service and found a workaround to use the ignoreDifferences

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: "traefik-system"
  namespace: argocd
spec:
  project: default
  sources:
  - repoURL: 'https://traefik.github.io/charts' 
    targetRevision: 'v34.4.1'
    path: traefik/traefik # Path to the Helm chart directory in your repository.
    chart: traefik
    helm:
      releaseName: traefik
      valueFiles:
        - $values/values.yml 
  - repoURL: 'https://gitlab.com/d3vbd/hlab-cluster/traefik.git'
    targetRevision: master
    ref: values

  destination:
    namespace: 'traefik'
    server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
  syncPolicy:
    automated:
      prune: true
      selfHeal: true
    syncOptions:
      - CreateNamespace=true # Allows ArgoCD to create the namespace if it doesn't exist.
      - ServerSideApply=true  # Enable server-side apply
      - RespectIgnoreDifferences=true
  
  # Needed in newest traefik chart
  ignoreDifferences: 
  - kind: Service
    jqPathExpressions:
      - '.status.loadBalancer.ingress[].ipMode'

Boilerplate Application​

Traefik Example​

Helm Command Mapping​

Chart Version​

Helm Values​

Values Ref​

Bonus Traefik Settings​