[aws-eks] Install custom helm chart from local artifact or from ecr

[captainrandom]

I would like to be able to deploy custom helm charts (either using one of the following options or both):

• deploy a helm chart from a local file committed to the repo. When building/deploying in ci it is locally referenceable
• deploy a helm chart that was pushed to ecr: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECR/latest/userguide/push-oci-artifact.html

Here is the cdk resource in question:
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cdk/api/latest/docs/@aws-cdk_aws-eks.HelmChart.html

It is highly possible that the API supports this already, and I miss-understood this ability. At which point, could you add these use cases to the docs on this page (https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cdk/api/latest/docs/aws-eks-readme.html)?

Use Case

Helm charts are a much easier/cleaner way of deploying apps to Kubernetes. I would like to be able to use helm rather than a Kubernetes manifest.

Proposed Solution

Umm ... maybe something like the following:

// or, option2: use `addChart`
cluster.addChart('MyApp', {
  chart: 'my-app',
  chartDir: 'local refeference to chart dir',
  namespace: 'kube-system'
});

or you could instead reference ecr by re-using the repository parameter:

// or, option2: use `addChart`
cluster.addChart('MyApp', {
  chart: 'my-app',
  repository: 'url to ecr repo here' + 'extra stuff to reference the helm part (see ecr repo url in guide on above on how to upload a helm chart)',
  namespace: 'kube-system'
});

• 👋 I may be able to implement this feature request
• ⚠️ This feature might incur a breaking change

---

This is a 🚀 Feature Request

[iliapolo]

@captainrandom Have you seen this issue: #9273 ? I believe it covers the use cases you mentioned here.

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[sbpath]

Looks like Custom helm charts uploaded to ECR cant be deployed using CDK, we tried below and noticed protocol handler errror.

const stable = ‘.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/artifact-test’;
cluster.addChart(mychart, {
repository: stable,
chart: ‘mychart’,
release: ‘mychart’

[jmjava]

Is this going to be added to the CDK or does it work and it's not documented well enough for people to use?

@captainrandom had stated:

It is highly possible that the API supports this already, and I miss-understood this ability

We are looking at using a lambda to execute the commands right now: https://github.com/aws-samples/aws-lambda-layer-kubectl

Is there a way to do without a lambda from within CDK stack?

thanks -john

[iliapolo]

Installing from ECR might be possible, as noted by #9273 (comment). It is not documented since we do not officially support or test for this yet.

Installing from a local artifact is not currently supported because the HelmChart construct only accepts a repository URL.

Note that this issue was closed in favor of:

• [aws-eks] Support S3 private bucket repository from helm deployment #9273
• [aws-eks] Install helm chart from asset #10247

Both issues are not currently planned, but we will gladly accept a PR.

Is there a way to do without a lambda from within CDK stack?

You could use any tool that supports installing helm charts, you just need access to the cluster by providing the necessary aws credentials and configuring your kubectl config file to connect to the cluster. See Quick Start.