LLM‑Router Helm Chart#

Quick summary – This Helm chart deploys the LLM‑Router application with its optional Redis dependency. It works on any Kubernetes 1.19+ cluster and can be customized via values.yaml, environment variables, or the --set flag.

Table of Contents#

Prerequisites
Chart layout
Dependencies
Installing the chart
Customising the deployment

Prerequisites#

Requirement	Why we need it
Kubernetes (v1.19 or newer)	The chart creates Deployments, Services, Ingresses, ConfigMaps, …
Helm (v3.x)	Used to render and apply the chart
Access to a container registry (e.g., Docker Hub, Quay, your private registry)	The chart pulls the image defined in llm-router``values.yaml
(Optional) cert‑manager	If you enable TLS for the Ingress, cert‑manager will provision certificates
## Chart layout

helm_charts/
└─ llm-router/
   ├─ Chart.yaml          # Chart metadata
   ├─ values.yaml         # Default values
   ├─ values-dev.yaml     # Development‑specific overrides
   ├─ templates/
   │   ├─ _helpers.tpl    # Helper functions (name, labels, etc.)
   │   ├─ deployment.yaml # Deployment definition
   │   ├─ service.yaml    # Service definition
   │   ├─ ingress.yaml    # Ingress definition (optional)
   │   ├─ configmap.yaml  # ConfigMap for runtime env vars
   │   └─ configmap-models.yaml # ConfigMap for `models-config.json`
   └─ charts/
       └─ redis-23.2.12.tgz   # Bitnami Redis sub‑chart (dependency)

Dependencies#

The chart depends on Redis. The dependency is declared in Chart.yaml and pulled automatically when you run helm dependency update.

# Chart.yaml
dependencies:
  - name: redis
    version: "23.2.12"
    repository: "oci://registry-1.docker.io/bitnamicharts"
    condition: redis.enabled

Adding / updating dependencies

# From the chart root (helm_charts/llm-router)
helm dependency update .

You can disable the Redis sub‑chart with:

--set redis.enabled=false

Installing the chart#

helm upgrade --install my-llm-router ./helm_charts/llm-router \
  --namespace my-namespace \
  --create-namespace

Customising the deployment#

You can tailor the LLM‑Router Helm chart to your environment in three different ways. Pick the approach that best fits the task at hand.

Method	When to use
Edit `values.yaml` and run `helm upgrade`	Long‑term, version‑controlled configuration that lives in source control.
Pass `--set` flags on the command line	One‑off tweaks, CI pipelines, quick experiments, or when you need to override just a handful of values.
Provide a custom values file (`-f my-values.yaml`)	Complex overrides, reusable profiles, or when you prefer to keep the changes in a separate, shareable file.

Below are concrete examples for the two most common scenarios: using a custom values file and using --set flags.

1️⃣ Using a custom values file#

Create a file (e.g. my-values.yaml) with the settings you want to override:

# my-values.yaml
ingress:
  enabled: true
  className: traefik
  hosts:
    - host: my-custom.cluster.local
      paths:
        - path: /
          pathType: Prefix
  tls:
    - hosts:
        - my-custom.cluster.local
      secretName: llm-router-tls

image:
  tag: latest          # pull the latest container image

web_host: my-custom.cluster.local   # the hostname used by the app & Ingress

Deploy (or upgrade) the chart with this file:

```shell script helm upgrade --install llm-router ./helm_charts/llm-router \ -f my-values.yaml

---

### 2️⃣ Using `--set` flags  

If you only need to change a few values, the `--set` syntax is handy:

```shell script
helm upgrade --install llm-router ./helm_charts/llm-router \
  --set ingress.enabled=true \
  --set web_host=llm2.k3s.radlab.dev \
  --set image.tag=latest

Flag	Effect
`ingress.enabled=true`	Turns on the Ingress resource (otherwise it’s omitted).
`llm-1.cluster.local`	Sets the host name used both in the Ingress rule and the application’s configuration (`LLM_ROUTER_WEB_HOST`).
`image.tag=latest`	Pulls the `latest` image tag instead of the default chart‑version tag.