⎈ Getting Started with Helm: The Kubernetes Package Manager

Introduction to Helm

Helm is the package manager for Kubernetes, helping you manage Kubernetes applications through Helm Charts. These charts provide templating, versioning, and dependency management for your Kubernetes manifests.

What We’ll Cover

  1. Understanding Helm concepts
  2. Installing and configuring Helm
  3. Working with existing charts
  4. Creating custom charts
  5. Advanced Helm features and best practices

Prerequisites

  • Kubernetes cluster (local or remote)
  • kubectl configured
  • Basic understanding of Kubernetes concepts

Installing Helm

# For macOS with Homebrew
brew install helm

# Verify installation
helm version

Core Concepts

Charts

A Helm chart is a package of pre-configured Kubernetes resources:

  • Templates for K8s manifests
  • Values for customization
  • Chart metadata and dependencies
# Example chart.yaml
apiVersion: v2
name: my-app
description: A Helm chart for my application
type: application
version: 0.1.0
appVersion: "1.0.0"

Values

Values provide configuration that is injected into templates:

# values.yaml
replicaCount: 3
image:
  repository: nginx
  tag: "1.21.1"
service:
  type: ClusterIP
  port: 80

Templates

Templates are Kubernetes manifests with Go templating:

# templates/deployment.yaml
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: {{ .Release.Name }}-deployment
spec:
  replicas: {{ .Values.replicaCount }}
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: {{ .Release.Name }}
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: {{ .Release.Name }}
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: {{ .Chart.Name }}
        image: "{{ .Values.image.repository }}:{{ .Values.image.tag }}"
        ports:
        - containerPort: {{ .Values.service.port }}

Working with Helm Charts

Adding Repositories

# Add the official stable repository
helm repo add stable https://charts.helm.sh/stable

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

# Update repositories
helm repo update

Searching for Charts

# Search for available charts
helm search repo wordpress

# Get chart details
helm show chart bitnami/wordpress

# See all values
helm show values bitnami/wordpress

Installing Charts

# Install with default values
helm install my-release bitnami/wordpress

# Install with custom values
helm install my-release bitnami/wordpress \
  --set wordpressUsername=admin \
  --set wordpressPassword=password \
  --set mariadb.auth.rootPassword=secretpassword

# Install with values file
helm install my-release bitnami/wordpress -f values.yaml

Creating Your Own Chart

Chart Structure

mychart/
  Chart.yaml          # Chart metadata
  values.yaml         # Default values
  charts/             # Chart dependencies
  templates/          # Template files
    NOTES.txt         # Usage notes
    deployment.yaml
    service.yaml
    _helpers.tpl      # Template helpers

Create a New Chart

# Create a new chart
helm create mychart

# Lint the chart
helm lint mychart

# Package the chart
helm package mychart

Template Functions and Pipelines

# Example of template functions
metadata:
  name: 
  labels:

# Using conditionals
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress

# Loops
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: 
data:
  :

Advanced Helm Features

Dependencies

Define dependencies in Chart.yaml:

dependencies:
  - name: mongodb
    version: 10.0.0
    repository: https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
    condition: mongodb.enabled
  - name: redis
    version: 15.0.0
    repository: https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
    condition: redis.enabled

Subcharts

Create reusable components:

# mychart/charts/mysubchart/values.yaml
service:
  name: nginx
  type: ClusterIP

Hooks

Implement lifecycle hooks:

# templates/hooks/pre-install-hook.yaml
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: Job
metadata:
  name: -pre-install
  annotations:
    "helm.sh/hook": pre-install
    "helm.sh/hook-weight": "-5"
    "helm.sh/hook-delete-policy": hook-succeeded
spec:
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: pre-install-job
        image: busybox
        command: ['sh', '-c', 'echo Pre-install job']
      restartPolicy: Never

Best Practices

1. Chart Organization

  • Use consistent naming
  • Group related resources
  • Implement proper labels
# _helpers.tplapp.kubernetes.io/name: 
app.kubernetes.io/instance: 
app.kubernetes.io/version:

2. Values Management

  • Provide good defaults
  • Document all values
  • Use hierarchical structure
# values.yaml
global:
  imageRegistry: "docker.io"
  imagePullSecrets: []
  storageClass: ""

application:
  replicaCount: 2
  image:
    repository: nginx
    tag: latest
    pullPolicy: IfNotPresent

3. Security

  • Use RBAC
  • Implement network policies
  • Secure sensitive data
# templates/secret.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: 
type: Opaque
data:
  :

Helm Commands Cheatsheet

# List releases
helm list

# Upgrade a release
helm upgrade my-release bitnami/wordpress -f values.yaml

# Rollback a release
helm rollback my-release 1

# Uninstall a release
helm uninstall my-release

# Get release status
helm status my-release

# Get release history
helm history my-release

Video Resources

Getting Started

Advanced Topics

Additional Resources

Written on July 10, 2025