Helm
Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes. It bundles related Kubernetes manifests into reusable charts, then installs each configured chart as a tracked release.
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Don't Panic
Don't Panic - Helm
Helm centers on Helm. Kubernetes runs applications from resource manifests. A real application often needs several of them: Deployments, Services, ConfigMaps, Secrets, and more.
Operate from the project's own resources and APIs. Learn how desired state becomes running state, which status conditions matter, and which dependencies (network, storage, identity, certificates) the control plane assumes.
Upgrades, backups, and credential rotation are part of the product, not optional aftercare. Version skew between clients and servers creates failures that look like application bugs. Pin versions and rehearse rollback.
Convenience features reduce boilerplate and widen blast radius. Enable them when you can observe and reverse the expanded surface. Defaults from quickstarts are starting points, not production policy.
Name owners for upgrades, credentials, and disaster recovery before traffic arrives. Unowned control-plane state becomes an outage with no clear pager. Prefer explicit version pins and tested rollback over floating tags that quietly change behavior between deploys.
Name owners for upgrades, credentials, and disaster recovery before traffic arrives. Unowned control-plane state becomes an outage with no clear pager. Prefer explicit version pins and tested rollback over floating tags that quietly change behavior between deploys.
Name owners for upgrades, credentials, and disaster recovery before traffic arrives. Unowned control-plane state becomes an outage with no clear pager. Prefer explicit version pins and tested rollback over floating tags that quietly change behavior between deploys.
Read the Intro for the mental model. Use the Cheatsheet when you need the resource map. Updates and Upstream track the Helm release line that changes these APIs.
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Sources
- https://helm.sh/docs/intro/introduction/
Supports
- Helm as the package manager for Kubernetes
- Charts, repositories, releases, values, and Helm architecture
- Helm's application-management scope and cluster-operation boundary
- https://helm.sh/docs/intro/using_helm/
Supports
- Repository, install, values, upgrade, history, rollback, status, and uninstall workflows
- Release revisions and rollback behavior
- https://helm.sh/docs/topics/charts/
Supports
- Chart directory structure and required metadata
- Chart and application version distinction
- Dependencies, lock files, templates, values, schemas, and custom resource definitions
- https://helm.sh/docs/chart_template_guide/values_files/
Supports
- Values sources and precedence
- Values access through the Values built-in object
- https://helm.sh/docs/chart_template_guide/
Supports
- Go template syntax, built-in objects, functions, pipelines, flow control, named templates, and files
- https://helm.sh/docs/helm/
Supports
- Current Helm commands for charts, repositories, releases, dependencies, registries, tests, and plugins
- https://helm.sh/docs/helm/helm_template/
Supports
- Local chart rendering for manifest inspection
- Limits of client-side rendering
- https://helm.sh/docs/helm/helm_rollback/
Supports
- Rolling a named release back to a previous revision
- https://helm.sh/docs/helm/helm_dependency_build/
Supports
- Rebuilding dependencies from Chart.lock
- Difference between dependency build and dependency update
- https://helm.sh/docs/topics/charts_hooks/
Supports
- Hook annotations and lifecycle points
- Hook ordering, readiness, and deletion policies
- https://helm.sh/docs/topics/chart_tests/
Supports
- Chart tests as templated Pods or Jobs with the test hook
- Successful process exit and helm test execution
- https://helm.sh/docs/topics/registries/
Supports
- OCI reference rules and registry commands
- OCI distribution and dependency support
- https://helm.sh/docs/topics/chart_repository/
Supports
- Traditional chart repository layout and index.yaml
- Packaging and serving charts
- https://helm.sh/docs/topics/provenance/
Supports
- Provenance files, signing, integrity checks, and verification
- https://helm.sh/docs/chart_best_practices/
Supports
- Official chart development conventions
- https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome
Supports
- Starting index used for required awesome-list discovery
- https://github.com/cdwv/awesome-helm
Supports
- Discovery of Artifact Hub, Helmfile, Helm Diff, Chart Testing, Helm Unittest, and Chart Releaser
- https://artifacthub.io/docs/
Supports
- Artifact Hub as a service for finding, installing, and publishing cloud native packages
- Helm package and repository metadata
- https://helmfile.readthedocs.io/en/stable/
Supports
- Declarative management of Helm releases, values, environments, and synchronization
- https://github.com/databus23/helm-diff
Supports
- Previewing upgrade and rollback changes
- Comparing release revisions
- https://github.com/helm/chart-testing
Supports
- Linting and installing changed charts in repository continuous integration
- https://github.com/helm-unittest/helm-unittest
Supports
- YAML-based assertions against rendered chart templates
- https://github.com/helm/chart-releaser
Supports
- Publishing packaged charts through GitHub Releases and a GitHub Pages chart repository