Helm — The Package Manager for Kubernetes

What Helm Does

• Charts — packaged templated Kubernetes manifests
• Values — override defaults per install
• Templates — Go template language for dynamic resources
• Releases — named install instances of a chart
• Rollbacks — revert to a previous release
• Dependencies — charts can depend on other charts
• Hooks — pre-install, post-upgrade lifecycle
• Repositories — share and discover charts
• OCI registry — store charts in OCI-compliant registries

Architecture

Helm 3 is a pure client-side tool (no Tiller). helm install renders the templates locally, applies manifests to the cluster via the Kubernetes API, and stores release metadata as Kubernetes Secrets. No server-side component with cluster-admin rights.

Self-Hosting

CLI tool — runs on developer workstation or CI. Charts can be hosted anywhere:

• ChartMuseum — open-source chart repo
• Harbor — container registry with Helm chart support
• GitHub Pages — via helm repo index
• Any OCI registry — Docker Hub, GHCR, ECR

Key Features

• Templated manifests
• Release tracking
• Rollback support
• Chart dependencies
• Lifecycle hooks
• Values hierarchy (CLI > values file > defaults)
• Chart testing (helm test)
• OCI registry support
• Public chart hubs (Artifact Hub)

Comparison

FAQ

Q: Helm vs Kustomize? A: Helm is great for distributing generic software (customize via values); Kustomize handles per-environment differences (dev/stage/prod overlays). They are often combined: Helm provides defaults, Kustomize applies environment-specific patches.

Q: Templates are too complex? A: Go templates do have a learning curve. For complex logic, use the Lua-like extensions Helm 3 supports, or switch to Cue/Pulumi/Jsonnet.

Q: v2 vs v3? A: v3 removed Tiller (the server component), greatly improving security and simplicity. v2 is EOL; new projects must use v3.

Sources

• Docs: https://helm.sh/docs
• GitHub: https://github.com/helm/helm
• License: Apache 2.0