cloudnative wiki

Helm Commands

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Helm Commands

Complete reference for Helm CLI commands. Run helm <command> --help for detailed help.

Installation & Upgrades

helm install

Install a chart into Kubernetes.

# Basic install
helm install <release-name> <chart>
 
# Generate name automatically
helm install myapp bitnami/wordpress
 
# Install with values file
helm install -f values.prod.yaml myapp ./mychart
 
# Install with multiple value files (later takes precedence)
helm install -f values.yaml -f values.prod.yaml myapp ./mychart
 
# Set individual values
helm install --set image.tag=v1.2.3 --set replicaCount=3 myapp ./mychart
 
# Dry-run (template locally)
helm install --dry-run --debug myapp ./mychart
 
# Atomic install (rollback on failure)
helm install --atomic myapp ./mychart
 
# Wait for resources to be ready
helm install --wait --timeout 10m myapp ./mychart
 
# Skip schema validation
helm install --skip-schema-validation myapp ./mychart
 
# Install from OCI registry
helm install myapp oci://ghcr.io/org/charts/app --version 1.0.0
 
# Install from specific digest (most secure)
helm install myapp oci://ghcr.io/org/charts/app@sha256:abc123...

helm upgrade

Upgrade a release to a new chart version.

# Basic upgrade
helm upgrade <release-name> <chart>
 
# Upgrade with install (create if not exists)
helm upgrade --install myapp ./mychart
 
# Atomic upgrade with rollback on failure
helm upgrade --install --atomic myapp ./mychart
 
# Force replace (delete and recreate resources)
helm upgrade --force myapp ./mychart
 
# Recreate pods (deprecated in Helm 3)
helm upgrade --recreate-pods myapp ./mychart
 
# Upgrade with reset values
helm upgrade --reset-values myapp ./mychart
 
# Upgrade with timeout and wait
helm upgrade --wait --timeout 5m myapp ./mychart
 
# Upgrade from OCI with version
helm upgrade myapp oci://ghcr.io/org/charts/app --version 2.0.0

helm rollback

Roll back a release to a previous revision.

# Rollback to previous revision
helm rollback <release-name>
 
# Rollback to specific revision
helm rollback <release-name> 3
 
# Rollback with timeout
helm rollback --timeout 5m <release-name>
 
# Rollback with wait
helm rollback --wait <release-name>

helm uninstall

Uninstall a release from Kubernetes.

# Basic uninstall
helm uninstall <release-name>
 
# Keep release history
helm uninstall --keep-history <release-name>
 
# Wait for resources to be deleted
helm uninstall --wait <release-name>

Release Management

helm list

List all releases in a namespace.

# List releases in current namespace
helm list
 
# List releases in specific namespace
helm list -n mynamespace
 
# List all releases across namespaces
helm list --all-namespaces
 
# List with status filter
helm list --filter 'status=deployed'
 
# Show deleted releases
helm list --uninstalled
 
# Show all releases including failed/deleted
helm list --all
 
# Output in JSON/YAML
helm list -o json
helm list -o yaml
 
# Limit results
helm list --max 20

helm status

Display the status of a named release.

helm status <release-name>
helm status <release-name> -n mynamespace
 
# Show resources (Helm 3.2+)
helm status <release-name> --show-resources

helm history

Fetch release history.

helm history <release-name>
helm history <release-name> --max 10

helm get

Download extended information for a named release.

# All information
helm get all <release-name>
 
# Values
helm get values <release-name>
helm get values <release-name> --revision 2
 
# Manifest (rendered templates)
helm get manifest <release-name>
helm get manifest <release-name> --revision 3
 
# Notes
helm get notes <release-name>
 
# Hooks
helm get hooks <release-name>
 
# Metadata
helm get metadata <release-name>

Chart Operations

helm create

Create a new chart with the given name.

# Create new chart
helm create mychart
 
# Create in specific directory
helm create ./charts/myservice
 
# Create from starter template
helm create mychart --starter common

helm package

Package a chart directory into a chart archive.

# Package current directory
helm package ./mychart
 
# Package with version
helm package ./mychart --version 1.2.3
 
# Sign the package
helm package --sign --key 'My Key' --keyring ~/.gnupg/secring.gpg ./mychart
 
# Sign with specific algorithm
helm package --sign --key 'My Key' --keyring ~/.gnupg/secring.gpg --sign-algorithm ECDSA ./mychart

helm lint

Examine a chart for possible issues.

# Lint chart
helm lint ./mychart
 
# Strict linting (including schema validation)
helm lint --strict ./mychart
 
# Set values during lint
helm lint --set image.tag=v1.0 ./mychart

helm template

Locally render templates.

# Basic template
helm template myrelease ./mychart
 
# With values file
helm template myrelease -f values.yaml ./mychart
 
# With set values
helm template myrelease --set image.tag=v1.2.3 ./mychart
 
# Include hooks
helm template myrelease --include-crds ./mychart
 
# Show notes
helm template myrelease --show-only templates/NOTES.txt ./mychart

helm diff (requires helm-diff plugin)

Show differences between chart versions.

# Show upgrade diff
helm diff upgrade myapp ./mychart
 
# Show against specific revision
helm diff upgrade myapp --revision 2 ./mychart
 
# Show with value changes
helm diff values myapp -f values.prod.yaml ./mychart
 
# Ignore specific fields
helm diff upgrade myapp --ignore-annotations ./mychart

Repository Management

helm repo add

Add a chart repository.

# Add repository
helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com
 
# Add with alias
helm repo add stable https://charts.helm.sh/stable
 
# Add with username/password
helm repo add internal https://charts.internal.com --username admin --password secret
 
# Add from OCI registry
helm repo add oci://ghcr.io/org/charts

helm repo update

Update information of available charts locally.

helm repo update
 
# Update specific repository
helm repo update bitnami
 
# Update all repositories
helm repo update

helm repo list

List chart repositories.

helm repo list

helm repo remove

Remove one or more chart repositories.

helm repo remove bitnami
helm repo remove stable local

helm repo index

Generate an index file from a directory of charts.

# Generate index for directory
helm repo index ./charts --url https://charts.example.com
 
# Merge with existing index
helm repo index ./charts --merge ./charts/index.yaml

Search for charts.

# Search Artifact Hub
helm search hub wordpress
 
# Search specific repository
helm search repo bitnami/wordpress
 
# Search with version constraint
helm search repo nginx --version ">=1.0.0"
 
# Output in JSON
helm search hub wordpress -o json
 
# List repository URLs
helm search hub nginx --list-repo-url

Dependency Management

helm dependency build

Rebuild the charts/ directory based on Chart.lock.

helm dependency build ./mychart

helm dependency update

Update charts/ based on Chart.yaml.

helm dependency update ./mychart
 
# Update with specific repository cache
helm dependency update --repository-cache /path/to/cache ./mychart

helm dependency list

List dependencies for a chart.

helm dependency list ./mychart

Testing

helm test

Run tests for a release.

# Run all tests
helm test <release-name>
 
# Run with output
helm test <release-name> --logs
 
# Keep pods after test
helm test <release-name> --keep-containers
 
# Run specific test
helm test <release-name> --filter "name=test-connection"

Registry Operations

helm registry login

Login to a registry.

# Interactive login
helm registry login ghcr.io
 
# With credentials
helm registry login -u username ghcr.io

helm registry logout

Logout from a registry.

helm registry logout ghcr.io

helm push

Push a chart to OCI registry.

# Push chart package
helm push mychart-1.0.0.tgz oci://ghcr.io/org/charts
 
# Push with provenance file
helm push mychart-1.0.0.tgz oci://ghcr.io/org/charts

Plugin Management

helm plugin install

Install Helm plugins.

# Install from URL
helm plugin install https://github.com/dataroots/helm-git
 
# Install from local plugin directory
helm plugin install ./path/to/plugin
 
# Install specific version
helm plugin install https://example.com/plugin-1.0.0.tgz --version 1.0.0

helm plugin list

List installed plugins.

helm plugin list

helm plugin update

Update plugins.

helm plugin update diff
helm plugin update

helm plugin uninstall

Uninstall plugins.

helm plugin uninstall diff

Environment & Configuration

helm env

Print Helm client environment information.

helm env

helm version

Print version information.

helm version
helm version --short

helm completion

Generate autocompletion scripts.

# Bash
helm completion bash
 
# Zsh
helm completion zsh
 
# PowerShell
helm completion powershell
 
# Fish
helm completion fish
 
# Update completions in current shell
source <(helm completion bash)

Verification

helm verify

Verify that a chart at the given path has been signed and is valid.

# Verify chart
helm verify ./mychart-1.0.0.tgz
 
# Verify with keyring
helm verify --keyring ~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg ./mychart-1.0.0.tgz

helm plugin verify

Verify that a plugin is signed and valid.

helm plugin verify ./path/to/plugin.tar.gz

Global Flags

FlagDescription
--debugEnable verbose output
--kube-contextSet the kube context
--namespace / -nSet the namespace
--kubeconfigPath to kubeconfig file
--dry-runSimulate operations
--timeoutSet timeout (Go duration format)
--waitWait for resources to be ready
--no-hooksSkip running hooks
--skip-schema-validationSkip schema validation
--setSet values
--set-fileSet values from file
--set-stringSet string values
--values / -fSet values from file

Common Patterns

Install-or-Upgrade (Idempotent)

helm upgrade --install myapp ./mychart --wait --atomic

Dry-Run Before Install

helm template myapp ./mychart -f values.prod.yaml | less

Debug Template Rendering

helm template myapp ./mychart --debug --dry-run

View Release History with Timestamps

helm list -o yaml | yq '.[] | {name: .name, revision: .revision, updated: .updated, status: .status}'

Cleanup Failed Release

helm uninstall myapp --wait
kubectl delete job -l "helm.sh/release=myapp"

Graph View