When templating, explicitly distinguish three states: missing, explicit false, and null. Relying on truthiness can silently drop intended configuration.

Apply two patterns: 1) Preserve explicit false (boolean fields)

• Don’t use with / truthy checks for booleans if false must still render.
• Instead, render based on key presence.

{{/* BAD: with treats false as empty */}}
{{- with .Values.serviceMonitor.honorLabels }}
honorLabels: {{ . }}
{{- end }}

{{/* GOOD: preserves explicit false */}}
{{- if hasKey .Values.serviceMonitor "honorLabels" }}
honorLabels: {{ .Values.serviceMonitor.honorLabels }}
{{- end }}

2) Omit fields via real null (Helm values)

• If you need to remove defaulted keys so downstream controllers (e.g., SCCs) can assign values, override with null (and confirm rendered output).
• Use helm template to verify that runAsUser: null / fsGroup: null (or similar) do not appear in manifests.

# values.yaml override example
podSecurityContext:
  runAsUser: null
  fsGroup: null
securityContext:
  runAsUser: null

Rule of thumb:

• If false must be honored → check hasKey.
• If a value must be removed from rendered YAML → override with null and verify with helm template.