alloy-operator does not install alloy's CRD

[bmailhe]

Hi team,

I noticed that the alloy-crd chart (https://github.com/grafana/alloy-operator/tree/main/charts/alloy-crd) does not install the CRDs when used as a dependency in another Helm chart (alloy-operator).

This is due to the way Helm handles CRDs: the contents of the crds/ directory are only installed when the chart is the primary chart being installed, and not when it is included as a dependency.

Expected behavior:

When using alloy-crd as a dependency in another chart, I would expect the CRDs to be automatically installed as part of the Helm deployment, manual CRD installation is not an idempotent way to do.

Actual behavior:

When alloy-crd is included as a dependency, Helm does not install the CRDs from the crds/ directory. This can lead to failed deployments or missing resources.

Consider providing an installation script or Helm post-install hook as a workaround for users who wish to automate CRD installation.

Thanks!

[petewall]

I know Helm will not install CRDs on upgrades, but on fresh installs, it should work just fine. Here's a quick test I ran:

% kind create cluster
Creating cluster "kind" ...
 ✓ Ensuring node image (kindest/node:v1.33.1) 🖼
 ✓ Preparing nodes 📦
 ✓ Writing configuration 📜
 ✓ Starting control-plane 🕹️
 ✓ Installing CNI 🔌
 ✓ Installing StorageClass 💾
Set kubectl context to "kind-kind"
You can now use your cluster with:

kubectl cluster-info --context kind-kind

Not sure what to do next? 😅  Check out https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/docs/user/quick-start/
% kubectl api-resources | grep alloy
% helm install alloy-operator grafana/alloy-operator
NAME: alloy-operator
LAST DEPLOYED: Thu Jul 31 11:46:17 2025
NAMESPACE: default
STATUS: deployed
REVISION: 1
TEST SUITE: None
NOTES:
Thanks for trying out the alloy-operator!
% kubectl api-resources | grep alloy
alloys                                           collectors.grafana.com/v1alpha1   true         Alloy
%

[m4r1u2]

I just did a upgrade of the k8s-monitoring helm chart including the new alloy-operator.
This failed do to the crd missing for alloy-operator.

Doing some tests, but crd is not installed:

$ helm install --dry-run alloy-crd grafana/alloy-crd
NAME: alloy-crd
LAST DEPLOYED: Tue Aug  5 15:41:22 2025
NAMESPACE: default
STATUS: pending-install
REVISION: 1
TEST SUITE: None
HOOKS:
MANIFEST:

[bruceharrison1984]

I'm seeing this as well. It seems like the auto-install for dependencies isn't working for some reason. Manually installing the CRDs seems to work fine though. I got it work on k3s with the following:

apiVersion: helm.cattle.io/v1
kind: HelmChart
metadata:
  name: alloy-operator
spec:
  repo: https://grafana.github.io/helm-charts
  chart: alloy
---
apiVersion: helm.cattle.io/v1
kind: HelmChart
metadata:
  name: alloy-operator-crds
spec:
  repo: https://grafana.github.io/helm-charts
  chart: alloy-crd
---

This was the most recent PR that seems to relate to this feature:
0c31e0a

I tried adding the following to the operator chart to get the CRDs installed, but it still didn't seem to work:

crds:
  create: true
  deployAlloyCRD: true

[petewall]

What commands are you using to install the Helm chart? Are you using Helm or some other tool like ArgoCD or Terraform?

[bmailhe]

I'm using helm secrets upgrade -i command.
CRD alloys.collectors.grafana.com is not installed when the chart is in dependency:

---
apiVersion: v2
name: monitoring
description: grafana alloy to send logs to loki, node-exporter and kube-state-metrics
type: application
version: 3.1.0
dependencies:
  - name: k8s-monitoring
    version: 3.1.0
    repository: "https://grafana.github.io/helm-charts"
    alias: k8smonitoring

This will not install the alloy operator CRD alloys.collectors.grafana.com (but others yes)

[petewall]

@bmailhe I just tested exactly that:

• Created a new chart with your Chart.yaml exactly.
• Created a fresh kubernetes cluster with kind.
• installed with helm secrets upgrade --install k8smon <path/to/new/parent/chart>

Everything installed correctly, with the Alloy CRD:

% kubectl get crd
NAME                            CREATED AT
alloys.collectors.grafana.com   2025-09-19T16:29:58Z

[petewall]

Note that, it will not show up if using helm template, or related "template generation" techniques. As the CRD is stored in the crds directly. It's not a rendered template, but a crd deployed before the rendering on installs.

[petewall]

Also, due to Helm, it will only deploy the CRD if installing the Helm chart for the first time, not on actual upgrades.