2025

4 posts with the tag “2025”

MrPuffins new role

Apr 10, 2025

Hey everyone,

Kjeld here — most of you know me as MrPuffin, or back in the day, Ornias.

Over the past year, we’ve been quietly but steadily working on something big at TrueCharts. Behind the scenes, we’ve focused hard on professionalizing and restructuring the project to make it more sustainable, more scalable, and frankly, more awesome.

Our core energy has been steadily shifting toward building out and refining our Common Chart, improving our CI/CD pipelines, and developing tooling like clustertool — all with the goal of supporting better automation and long-term maintainability. It’s been a gradual but deliberate transition in focus, setting the stage for a more sustainable future for the project.

In the meantime, the charts catalog itself has organically evolved. It’s now primarily driven by community contributions, which is incredible to see. People like Alfi and jagrbombs from our core team are doing fantastic work reviewing and maintaining the quality of incoming PRs. And let’s not forget Stavros, who’s been laser-focused on the Common Chart and pushing forward with unit tests and technical improvements.

But with all this growth comes a shift.

As life changes on my end too, I’ve come to realize I simply can’t do it all — not if we want to keep doing things right. So it’s time for a new phase.

You’ll notice on the team page that I’m officially stepping back from day-to-day involvement with the general chart catalog. That means fewer interactions from me on community chart PRs and general contributions.

Instead, I’ll be focusing 100% of my energy on what matters most for the long-term success of the project:

Developing new features for the Common Chart
Maintaining and improving our CI/CD and deployment/testing pipelines
Coordinating and supporting our amazing volunteer staff

In practice, that means the chart catalog will be almost entirely community-driven — and that’s by design. We’ve built the structure for it, and now it’s time to let it grow.

So, yes, you’ll probably see less of me in Discord and around the edges of the project. But rest assured, I’m still here, still fully committed, just with a more focused role behind the scenes (and on GitHub, of course).

Thanks to everyone who’s helped us get here. This isn’t the end of anything — it’s just the next logical step forward.

Onwards and upwards, Kjeld (MrPuffin)

Clustertool v2

Apr 10, 2025

Alfred Göppel

Community Development Lead

Kjeld Schouten

Ops and R&D Lead

Just one year ago, we were fully dedicated to building TrueNAS SCALE Apps and where forced to move forward to greener pastures. Now, only a year later we’ve moved to being fully compatible with nearly every kubernetes platform out there, while still offering a staggering amount of Helm Charts.

After long consideration, we’ve decided to stop providing forks/mirrors of complicated charts such as Traefik, Prometheus and so forth. With SCALE gone, we simply don’t need to anymore and users are free to directly consume the upstream charts instead!

This has also allowed us to complete reevaluate which software we’re using to back the ClusterTool defaults. And hence, ClusterTool V2 is born!

New Clustertool v2 Launches with NGINX Backend and Major Upgrades

The highly anticipated Clustertool v2 is officially released, bringing a host of improvements and a fundamental architectural shift:

a full move to an NGINX backend.
Designed for improved performance, cleaner configuration, and upstream alignment,

Clustertool v2 is a significant step forward for Kubernetes-based cluster management.

What’s New in Clustertool v2?

The latest version comes with a comprehensive set of changes aimed at making the system more maintainable and future-ready. Key updates include:

✅ Migration to NGINX as the default ingress controller
📦 Inclusion of kube-prometheus-stack for metrics
📦 Upstream integration of many system charts
🧹 Indentation and formatting cleanups across configuration files
📥 Adoption of OCI Mirrors for chart management, boosting speed and reliability

Changes for Existing Clusters

Clusters upgrading to v2 will need to account for several changes:

📦 Repository Adjustments:

Updated Repositories list:

apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Kustomization
metadata:
  name: helm-repos
  namespace: flux-system
resources:
  - bjw-s.yaml
  - cloudnative-pg.yaml
  - home-ops-mirror.yaml
  - jetstack.yaml
  - kustomization.yaml
  - prometheus-community.yaml
  - spegel.yaml
  - truecharts.yaml

Added home-operations OCI mirror:

---
# yaml-language-server: $schema=https://kubernetes-schemas.pages.dev/source.toolkit.fluxcd.io/helmrepository_v1.json
apiVersion: source.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1
kind: HelmRepository
metadata:
  name: home-ops-mirror
  namespace: flux-system
spec:
  type: oci
  interval: 2h
  url: oci://ghcr.io/home-operations/charts-mirror

Please compare your Repositories with this template.
Charts such as Cilium, Metrics Server, Node-Feature-Discovery, Longhorn, Metallb, and OpenEBS are now pulled via an OCI mirror

🔥 Traefik Removal:
- Both Traefik and traefik-crds are no longer included and need to be removed
- Ingress configurations now require annotation updates to work with NGINX
- ingressClassName is recommended to be set for all ingresses. Additionally, you will need to disable the traefik integration.
🔄 IngressClass Management:
- New support for using either internal or external ingress classes
- Clusterenv now includes:
  - NGINX_INTERNAL_IP has been added
  - NGINX_EXTERNAL_IP has been added
  - TRAEFIK_IP has been removed
🧪 Upstream Chart Migrations:
- Charts such as CloudNativePG, Cert-Manager, and Kube-Prometheus-Stack are now managed upstream
- 🧭 Check the Quick Start Guide for integration examples

Clustertool as a CI Platform for Chart Testing

With v2, Clustertool is now also being adopted internally as a replacement for the legacy ChartTool, which was previously used to test and release charts but its code was never released publicly.

Special Thanks

Thank to the home-operations team for providing and maintaining their OCI mirror 🎉

This ensures every one of us, can fully use the power of OCI-backed Helm-charts in our clusters!

Important Notice for SCALE Users

Starting with v2, Clustertool will no longer include any tooling or support for SCALE exports, conversions, or migrations. Users relying on those features should retain v1 or migrate to separate tools.

Ready to update?

Clustertool v2 continues the project’s goal of modular, maintainable cluster management and leans into modern best practices for Kubernetes ecosystem integration. This release sets the foundation for a more streamlined and scalable future.

Ready to upgrade? Check out the full changelog and migration resources to get started.

Recent Changes

Mar 9, 2025

Alfred Göppel

Community Development Lead

Kjeld Schouten

Ops and R&D Lead

The TrueCharts team has made several major updates to the Helm Project, focusing on improving stability, removing deprecated content, and providing a wealth of new resources for users. Here’s a rundown of the latest changes:

Deprecation & Removal of Mirrored Upstream Charts

As part of an effort to streamline and refine the project, TrueCharts has officially deprecated and removed most mirrored upstream charts. Users are encouraged to read the newly updated Quick-Start Guide for assistance with these changes, ensuring a smooth transition.

Expansion to Stable Charts

In a significant update, TrueCharts has moved 15 charts from the incubator to the stable train, ensuring they are now fully ready-to-use. Additionally, the community has added 5 completely new charts to the stable train, expanding the selection of reliable and robust options available to users.

Documentation Overhaul

TrueCharts has also made significant updates to its documentation. Around 80 guides have been updated to remove references to TrueNAS Scale, thanks to the contributions from the community members Boemeltrein, itconstruct, and gismo2004. This update ensures that the documentation aligns with current best practices and provides users with clear and concise information.

New Guides and Resources

A variety of new guides have been added to the TrueCharts documentation, making it easier for users to get started and troubleshoot issues:

Quick-Start Guide: A comprehensive new guide that helps newcomers set up their projects with TrueCharts smoothly.
Development Guides: Updates to the guides help developers navigate the TrueCharts environment and contribute more effectively.
Clustertool Guide: An updated guide that provides detailed instructions on using Clustertool for managing your clusters.
General Guides: Multiple new general-purpose guides have been added, covering essential topics such as:
- Add-ons: A guide detailing how to use and manage add-ons inside the truecharts charts.
- FluxCD Webhook: A dedicated guide to setting up and configuring FluxCD webhooks.
- Troubleshooting: A troubleshooting guide designed to help users resolve common issues.
- NVIDIA and Intel GPUs: Guides for utilizing NVIDIA and Intel GPUs within the Talos Kubernetes enviroment.

Common 2025 refactors ongoing

Meanwhile we’re hard at work finishing up the major reworks that will be the new breaking common-chart revision, new known as “Common 2025” and ensuring this future update will go smoothly for all our users and charts

Currently, users can expect a complete rework of our Ingress, Traefik and Addon systems. Offering complete compatibility with different ingress providers and a more flexible backend for addons. Allowing both end-user customization and future expansion of both Ingress and Addon systems.

Community Contributions Welcome

As always, the continued growth and success of TrueCharts rely heavily on the support and contributions of the community. The project thrives thanks to the efforts of developers, documenters, and users who collaborate to improve and expand the ecosystem. Whether it’s contributing new Helm charts, enhancing documentation, or providing feedback, your involvement helps shape the future of TrueCharts.

If you’re passionate about Kubernetes and Helm, we encourage you to get involved! Your contributions, no matter how big or small, make a meaningful impact and help ensure that TrueCharts remains a reliable and valuable resource for everyone.

For more information, visit the TrueCharts Quick-Start Guide and explore the new guides and resources today!

2025 project goals

Jan 30, 2025

Kjeld Schouten

Ops and R&D Lead

TrueCharts: Our Ambitious Plans for 2025

Reflecting on 2024

2024 was a transformative year for the TrueCharts project. After being compelled to move away from TrueNAS SCALE as a platform by iXSystems, we swiftly pivoted to embrace a new direction. Within mere months, we launched our proprietary cluster deployment tool, ClusterTool, marking a significant milestone. This bold transition also saw us adopting Kubernetes, Talos, and FluxCD as the foundation of our ecosystem.

While this shift opened up immense possibilities, it also meant we had to postpone several exciting features we had initially planned. However, these setbacks have only strengthened our resolve to make 2025 a year of solidification and innovation.

Goals for 2025

Helm Chart Repository Enhancements

Archiving System Charts:
- We plan to archive certain “system” charts where high-quality upstream Helm charts already exist. This approach minimizes the need for us to stay in sync with upstream CRD changes, ultimately benefiting our users.
Standardized Normal Charts:
- For charts without Kubernetes customizations or CRDs, we will continue to develop and maintain them, as our standardization offers significant value to users.
Expanding the Catalog:
- We are committed to growing our chart repository, adding numerous innovative software solutions to better serve the community.

Improvements to the Common Chart and Ingress

Ingress Overhaul:
- Based on valuable feedback from our community and the former K8S-At-Home (now “Homelab”) community, we will completely rewrite our ingress configuration. The updated ingress will:
  - Be compatible with stock Traefik or other standardized ingress solutions.
  - Eliminate reliance on TrueCharts-specific ingress settings.
Traefik Middlewares Integration:
- Traefik middlewares will be incorporated into the common chart and thoroughly tested to ensure seamless functionality.

Dependency Management Enhancements

Integrated Dependencies:
- Helm dependencies, such as those for MariaDB and Redis, have posed challenges in terms of testing and flexibility. To address this, we will integrate these dependencies directly into the common chart, enabling:
  - Easier customization.
  - Significantly improved test coverage.

Add-On System Expansion

Enhanced Add-On Options:
- While the current add-on system is appreciated, user feedback has highlighted its limitations. We aim to expand its capabilities, providing users with more granular options comparable to standalone charts.

Testing and Validation Improvements

Increased Test Coverage:
- We will continue to improve the common chart’s test coverage, addressing existing gaps and ensuring reliability.
Schema Validation:
- Introducing schema.json validation for all common chart options will reduce the likelihood of user errors.
- We also plan to automate documentation generation from the schema, addressing documentation gaps and accelerating development.

Looking Ahead

As we step into 2025, our focus is clear: to refine, expand, and solidify the TrueCharts ecosystem. By addressing community feedback, enhancing our chart repository, and improving testing and validation processes, we aim to deliver a more robust and user-friendly experience. The road ahead is ambitious, but with the support of our dedicated community, we are confident in achieving these goals.