Helm: Packaging and Installing Applications

Helm packages Kubernetes YAML as charts with configurable values. Helm 3 has no server component (Tiller was removed).

helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
helm repo update
helm search repo redis
helm show values bitnami/redis > values.yaml
helm install cache bitnami/redis -n data --create-namespace -f values.yaml
helm list -n data
helm upgrade cache bitnami/redis -n data -f values.yaml
helm rollback cache 1 -n data
helm uninstall cache -n data

Create your own chart with helm create myapp, and preview with helm template myapp ./myapp or helm lint.

Good habits: keep values.yaml in Git, pin chart versions with --version, and use helm upgrade --install --atomic in pipelines so a failed upgrade rolls back by itself. Release history is stored as Secrets in the release namespace.