Helm Chart Management

Expert guidance for using Helm, the package manager for Kubernetes. This skill helps you search, install, configure, upgrade, and manage Helm charts to deploy applications on Kubernetes clusters.

What This Skill Does

Provides step-by-step instructions for common Helm operations including finding charts, installing releases with custom configurations, upgrading deployments, rolling back failed releases, and managing chart repositories.

Instructions

1. Understanding Core Concepts

Before working with Helm, understand these three concepts:

2. Searching for Charts

**Search Artifact Hub (public charts from all repositories):**

```bash

helm search hub [keyword]

```

**Search added repositories (local search, faster):**

```bash

helm search repo [keyword]

```

**Find repository URLs:**

```bash

helm search hub --list-repo-url [keyword]

```

**Add a repository:**

```bash

helm repo add [NAME] [URL]

helm repo update

```

Example:

```bash

helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami

helm search repo wordpress

```

3. Installing Charts

**Basic installation:**

```bash

helm install [RELEASE_NAME] [CHART]

```

**Auto-generate release name:**

```bash

helm install [CHART] --generate-name

```

**View available configuration options:**

```bash

helm show values [CHART]

```

**Install with custom values file:**

```bash

helm install -f values.yaml [RELEASE_NAME] [CHART]

```

**Install with inline overrides:**

```bash

helm install --set key=value [RELEASE_NAME] [CHART]

```

**Combine multiple methods:**

```bash

helm install -f values.yaml --set key=value [RELEASE_NAME] [CHART]

```

4. Configuration Override Formats

**Simple key-value:**

```bash

--set name=value

```

**Nested values:**

```bash

--set outer.inner=value

```

**Lists:**

```bash

--set name={a,b,c}

```

**Array indexing:**

```bash

--set servers[0].port=80,servers[0].host=example

```

**Null or empty:**

```bash

--set name=[],key=null

```

**Escape special characters:**

```bash

--set name=value1\,value2

--set nodeSelector."kubernetes\.io/role"=master

```

5. Managing Releases

**Check release status:**

```bash

helm status [RELEASE_NAME]

```

**List all releases:**

```bash

helm list

helm list --all-namespaces

```

**View release values:**

```bash

helm get values [RELEASE_NAME]

```

**View all release information:**

```bash

helm get all [RELEASE_NAME]

```

6. Upgrading Releases

**Upgrade with new values:**

```bash

helm upgrade -f values.yaml [RELEASE_NAME] [CHART]

```

**Upgrade or install if not exists:**

```bash

helm upgrade --install [RELEASE_NAME] [CHART]

```

**Reset previously set values:**

```bash

helm upgrade --reset-values [RELEASE_NAME] [CHART]

```

**Reuse existing values:**

```bash

helm upgrade --reuse-values [RELEASE_NAME] [CHART]

```

7. Rollback and Uninstall

**Rollback to previous revision:**

```bash

helm rollback [RELEASE_NAME]

```

**Rollback to specific revision:**

```bash

helm rollback [RELEASE_NAME] [REVISION]

```

**View release history:**

```bash

helm history [RELEASE_NAME]

```

**Uninstall a release:**

```bash

helm uninstall [RELEASE_NAME]

```

**Keep release history after uninstall:**

```bash

helm uninstall --keep-history [RELEASE_NAME]

```

8. Working with Repositories

**List added repositories:**

```bash

helm repo list

```

**Update repository index:**

```bash

helm repo update

```

**Remove a repository:**

```bash

helm repo remove [NAME]

```

9. Inspecting Charts

**Show chart information:**

```bash

helm show chart [CHART]

```

**Show README:**

```bash

helm show readme [CHART]

```

**Show all chart information:**

```bash

helm show all [CHART]

```

10. Troubleshooting Tips

Examples

**Install WordPress with custom database credentials:**

```bash

echo '{mariadb.auth.database: myblog, mariadb.auth.username: bloguser}' > values.yaml

helm install my-blog bitnami/wordpress -f values.yaml

```

**Upgrade with new configuration:**

```bash

helm upgrade my-blog bitnami/wordpress --set replicaCount=3

```

**Rollback failed upgrade:**

```bash

helm rollback my-blog

```

Important Notes