Helm and Kustomize Standard

Use Helm for parameterized application packaging and Kustomize for environment-specific composition where each adds clear value. Avoid layering both merely by habit.

Charts pass helm lint, declare dependencies, and render with every supported values file. Values files contain configuration, not secrets. Templates avoid hidden behavior and produce stable resource names.

Kustomize uses a clear base/overlay model. Overlays patch only environment differences; they do not duplicate entire bases. Every overlay runs kustomize build in CI.

Rendered output is the object of schema and security validation because source templates alone may hide final misconfiguration.