Helm Cheatsheet

Helm is the package manager for Kubernetes. This cheatsheet covers the helm commands you’ll use most to find, install, and manage charts and releases.

Table of Contents

Repositories

# Add a chart repository
helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami

# Refresh the local chart repository cache
helm repo update

# List added repositories
helm repo list

# Remove a repository
helm repo remove bitnami

Searching Charts

# Search added repositories for a chart
helm search repo nginx

# Search Artifact Hub for a chart
helm search hub wordpress

# Show general information about a chart
helm show chart bitnami/nginx

# Show the default values for a chart
helm show values bitnami/nginx

Installing and Upgrading Releases

# Install a chart as a new release
helm install my-release bitnami/nginx

# Install using a custom values file
helm install my-release bitnami/nginx -f values.yaml

# Install while overriding a single value
helm install my-release bitnami/nginx --set service.type=LoadBalancer

# Upgrade a release, installing it first if it doesn't exist
helm upgrade --install my-release bitnami/nginx

# Preview the rendered manifests without installing anything
helm install my-release bitnami/nginx --dry-run --debug

Managing Releases

# List releases in the current namespace
helm list

# List releases across all namespaces
helm list --all-namespaces

# Show the status of a release
helm status my-release

# Show the values currently applied to a release
helm get values my-release

# Uninstall a release
helm uninstall my-release

Chart Development

# Scaffold a new chart
helm create mychart

# Lint a chart for common issues
helm lint mychart

# Render templates locally without installing
helm template mychart

# Package a chart into a versioned archive
helm package mychart

Rollbacks and History

# Show revision history for a release
helm history my-release

# Roll back to the previous revision
helm rollback my-release

# Roll back to a specific revision number
helm rollback my-release 2