helm_template stdout contains non-yaml output

[serpro69]

SUMMARY

Trying to render nginx template in one task, and then apply them in another.
But I noticed that the stdout from helm_template contains other output from helm when the charts are downloaded, which then of course fails when I try to apply directly from stdout.

Don't know if this is a bug, just wondering, am I doing something wrong here, or how is this supposed to work for such use-case?

ISSUE TYPE

• Bug Report

COMPONENT NAME

helm_template

ANSIBLE VERSION

ansible [core 2.18.7]
  config file = /Users/sergio/Projects/***/ansible/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = ['/Users/sergio/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /nix/store/a31k23mld4df676p9j1n87akzd8rb29g-python3.12-ansible-core-2.18.7/lib/python3.12/site-packages/ansible
  ansible collection location = /Users/sergio/Projects/***/ansible/galaxy/collections
  executable location = /nix/store/a31k23mld4df676p9j1n87akzd8rb29g-python3.12-ansible-core-2.18.7/bin/ansible
  python version = 3.12.11 (main, Jun  3 2025, 15:41:47) [Clang 19.1.7 ] (/nix/store/v21kg4vm7yy0wflh0avkibz0shk86jn8-python3-3.12.11/bin/python3.12)
  jinja version = 3.1.6
  libyaml = True

COLLECTION VERSION

# /Users/sergio/Projects/***/ansible/galaxy/collections/ansible_collections
Collection      Version
--------------- -------
kubernetes.core 6.2.0

# /nix/store/m61na0mcz8fj8g299dqx6r4l80p181pc-python3.12-ansible-11.8.0/lib/python3.12/site-packages/ansible_collections
Collection      Version
--------------- -------
kubernetes.core 5.3.0

CONFIGURATION

ANSIBLE_FORCE_COLOR(/Users/sergio/Projects/***/ansible/ansible.cfg) = True
COLLECTIONS_PATHS(/Users/sergio/Projects/***/ansible/ansible.cfg) = ['/Users/sergio/Projects/***/ansible/galaxy/collections']
CONFIG_FILE() = /Users/sergio/Projects/***/ansible/ansible.cfg
DEFAULT_ROLES_PATH(/Users/sergio/Projects/***/ansible/ansible.cfg) = ['/Users/sergio/Projects/***/ansible/galaxy/roles']
DEFAULT_STDOUT_CALLBACK(/Users/sergio/Projects/***/ansible/ansible.cfg) = yaml
EDITOR(env: EDITOR) = vim
HOST_KEY_CHECKING(/Users/sergio/Projects/***/ansible/ansible.cfg) = False
PAGER(env: PAGER) = /usr/bin/less

OS / ENVIRONMENT

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

    - name: Render nginx manifests from helm chart
      kubernetes.core.helm_template:
        chart_ref: ../kubernetes/nginx
        include_crds: true
        release_name: ingress-nginx
        release_namespace: ingress-nginx
        dependency_update: true
        values_files:
          - ../kubernetes/nginx/values.yaml
      register: nginx_manifests

    - name: Apply nginx manifests
      kubernetes.core.k8s:
        resource_definition: "{{ nginx_manifests.stdout }}"
        apply: true

EXPECTED RESULTS

You should be able to get just the rendered templates w/o writing them to files, not the entire helm output.

ACTUAL RESULTS

The stdout starts with standard helm output, and then contains the rendered templates:

Hang tight while we grab the latest from your chart repositories...
...Successfully got an update from the "ingress-nginx" chart repository
...Successfully got an update from the "jetstack" chart repository
Update Complete. ⎈Happy Helming!⎈
Saving 1 charts
Downloading ingress-nginx from repo https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx
Deleting outdated charts
---
# Source: nginx/charts/ingress-nginx/templates/controller-poddisruptionbudget.yaml
# PDB is not supported for DaemonSets.
# https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/108124
apiVersion: policy/v1
kind: PodDisruptionBudget
metadata:
  ...

So on first run, if charts need to be downloaded, apply task will fail with: ''str'' object has no attribute ''setdefault''' since it's not a valid yml.

TASK [Apply nginx manifests] ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
An exception occurred during task execution. To see the full traceback, use -vvv. The error was: ansible_collections.kubernetes.core.plugins.module_utils.k8s.exceptions.CoreException: Failed to load resource definition: 'str' object has no attribute 'setdefault'
fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => changed=false
  msg: 'Failed to load resource definition: ''str'' object has no attribute ''setdefault'''

I suspect I might be doing something wrong here, so would appreciate some tips on how to solve this.
Thanks