app-template Helm Chart

The bjw-s/app-template chart deploys containerized applications without requiring a dedicated Helm chart. It provides a declarative interface for common Kubernetes resources.

Chart source: oci://ghcr.io/bjw-s-labs/helm/app-template Schema: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bjw-s-labs/helm-charts/app-template-4.6.0/charts/other/app-template/values.schema.json

Quick Start

Minimal values.yaml for a single-container deployment:

# yaml-language-server: $schema=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bjw-s-labs/helm-charts/app-template-4.6.0/charts/other/app-template/values.schema.json
controllers:
  main:
    containers:
      main:
        image:
          repository: nginx
          tag: latest

service:
  main:
    controller: main
    ports:
      http:
        port: 80

Security Context

Namespace Security Level	Required
restricted	defaultPodOptions.securityContext with runAsNonRoot: true + seccompProfile: RuntimeDefault; every container needs allowPrivilegeEscalation: false, capabilities.drop: ["ALL"], readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
baseline	defaultPodOptions.securityContext with runAsUser/fsGroup recommended
privileged	None required

task k8s:validate does NOT catch PodSecurity violations — only admission time reveals them. If an image runs as root, set runAsUser: 65534. If the app writes to the filesystem, use writable emptyDir mounts rather than disabling readOnlyRootFilesystem.

Resource Limits

Resource limits prevent runaway processes, not bin-packing. The homelab hardware is heavily over-provisioned — be generous with limits rather than running tight to avoid OOMKills and CrashLoopBackOff. Never set CPU limits unless the workload is genuinely CPU-abusive.

Workload Type	Memory Request	Memory Limit
Lightweight sidecar (gluetun, oauth2-proxy)	64Mi	256Mi
Web application	128-256Mi	512Mi-1Gi
Media application (qbittorrent, jellyfin)	512Mi	2-4Gi
Database (CNPG)	256Mi	1-2Gi

Flux HelmRelease Integration

For this homelab, app-template deploys via Flux ResourceSet. Add to kubernetes/platform/helm-charts.yaml:

- name: "my-app"
  namespace: "default"
  chart:
    name: "app-template"
    version: "4.6.0"
    url: "oci://ghcr.io/bjw-s-labs/helm"  # Note: OCI registry
  dependsOn: [cilium]

Values go in kubernetes/platform/charts/my-app.yaml.

References

• references/values-reference.md — complete field reference with all YAML examples
• references/patterns.md — real-world deployment examples (Vaultwarden, Home Assistant, etc.)