How do you write Helm tests and integrate them into CI/CD pipelines?

Helm tests are pod definitions that run custom validation after a release is installed. They are defined in the templates/tests/ directory (must start with test- prefix).

Example test definition (test-connection.yaml): apiVersion: v1 kind: Pod metadata: name: "{{ .Release.Name }}-test-connection" annotations: "helm.sh/hook": test spec: containers: - name: test image: curlimages/curl command: ["sh", "-c"] args: - "curl -f http://{{ .Release.Name }}/health && echo 'Test passed' && exit 0" restartPolicy: Never

Running tests: helm test RELEASE_NAME executes all test pods and collects results. Test passes if pod exits with code 0, fails on any other exit code.

CI/CD integration patterns:

• ArgoCD: helm test my-release --logs in post-deployment hooks
• GitLab CI: helm upgrade --install ... && helm test my-release
• Jenkins: Parallel test execution across multiple releases
• GitHub Actions: timeout 5m helm test my-release || exit 1

Test templates access the same .Values and .Release objects as regular templates. Common tests include connectivity checks, data validation, schema verification, and smoke tests.

Best practice: Keep tests idempotent and fast (<30 seconds). Use --timeout flag to prevent hanging tests.