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The deploy workflow follows a validate-plan-deploy pattern similar to Terraform. Preview changes before applying them.

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Lifecycle

devhelm validate → devhelm plan → devhelm deploy
    (offline)       (read-only)     (applies changes)

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1. Validate

Check YAML syntax and schema validity offline — no API calls are made: 
devhelm validate devhelm.yml
Validates:
  • YAML syntax
  • Required fields for each resource type
  • Type-specific config (e.g., url required for HTTP monitors)
  • Cross-references (e.g., alert channel names exist in config) — reported as warnings; pass --strict to fail on them
  • Environment variable resolution — pass --skip-env for a syntax-only check without resolving ${VAR} references

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2. Plan

Preview what would change without applying anything: 
devhelm plan -f devhelm.yml
The plan compares your YAML against the current API state and shows resources to create, update, and delete (if pruning is enabled). No deploy lock is acquired and no writes are made.

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3. Deploy

Apply the configuration: 
devhelm deploy -f devhelm.yml --yes
The deploy:
  1. Loads and validates the YAML
  2. Fetches current state from the API
  3. Computes the diff (same as plan)
  4. Prompts for confirmation (unless --yes)
  5. Acquires a deploy lock (unless --no-lock)
  6. Applies changes in dependency order
  7. Releases the deploy lock and updates .devhelm/state.json

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Non-interactive mode

For CI pipelines, always pass --yes to skip the confirmation prompt: 
devhelm deploy -f devhelm.yml --yes

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Dry-run with exit codes

Combine --dry-run and --detailed-exitcode for CI gating: 
devhelm deploy -f devhelm.yml --dry-run --detailed-exitcode
Exit codeMeaning
0No changes needed
10Changes pending
4Validation error
11API error (including a held deploy lock)
13Partial failure — some changes applied, some failed
1Other error

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JSON output

Get structured output for programmatic consumption: 
devhelm deploy -f devhelm.yml --dry-run -o json

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Pruning

By default, deploy only creates and updates resources. Resources not in your YAML are left untouched.
FlagBehavior
(default)Create and update only
--pruneAlso delete resources tracked in this config’s .devhelm/state.json that are absent from YAML (does not touch other configs’ resources)
--prune-org-cliWiden to all CLI-managed resources in the org absent from YAML
--prune-allDelete all resources absent from config, including dashboard- and Terraform-managed ones
devhelm deploy -f devhelm.yml --prune --yes
--prune-all removes resources created outside config-as-code. Review the plan carefully before using it.

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Multi-file deploys

Split config across files for organization: 
devhelm deploy -f monitors.yml -f alert-channels.yml --yes
Or point to a directory: 
devhelm deploy -f config/ --yes
All *.yml and *.yaml files in the directory are loaded in sorted order and their sections concatenated. Resource names must be unique across all files — duplicates are a validation error.

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Next steps

Drift and locking

How drift detection and deploy locks work.

CI/CD patterns

Automate the deploy workflow in CI.