Working with Helm basics

With Helm installed, you can manage Kubernetes applications using a concise command-line interface. Run the helm command to get started — calling helm with no arguments or with --help prints a summary of available commands and common actions.

$ helm --help

The Kubernetes package manager

Common actions for Helm:

- helm search:  search for charts
- helm pull:    download a chart to your local directory to view
- helm install: install the chart into Kubernetes
- helm list:    list releases of charts

Usage:
  helm [command]

Available Commands:
  completion  generate autocompletion scripts for the specified shell
  create      create a new chart with the given name
  dependency  manage a chart's dependencies
  env         helm client environment information
  get         download extended information of a named release
  help        Help about any command
  history     fetch release history

Use the help text to recall exact commands (for example, helm rollback is the correct command to undo an upgrade — not helm restore). You can also view help for specific subcommands; for repository operations run:

$ helm repo --help

This command consists of multiple subcommands to interact with chart repositories.

It can be used to add, remove, list, and index chart repositories.

Usage:
  helm repo [command]

Available Commands:
  add       add a chart repository
  index     generate an index file given a directory containing packaged charts
  list      list chart repositories
  remove    remove one or more chart repositories
  update    update information of available charts locally from chart repositories

Below is a compact reference of common Helm operations and when to use them.

Action	Command example	Purpose
Search charts (Artifact Hub)	`helm search hub <keyword>`	Search Artifact Hub for published charts
Search local repos	`helm search repo <keyword>`	Search chart repositories you’ve added locally
Add a repository	`helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami`	Add a chart repository
Install a chart	`helm install my-release bitnami/wordpress`	Deploy a chart to your cluster as a release
List releases	`helm list`	Show installed releases in the cluster
Uninstall a release	`helm uninstall my-release`	Remove a release and its Kubernetes resources
Update repo cache	`helm repo update`	Refresh local repository metadata

Charts are published to repositories indexed on Artifact Hub. Browse Artifact Hub to find charts that include documentation, configuration options, and installation commands. Look for charts with the “Official” or “Verified Publisher” badges to find maintained, high-quality packages.

A screenshot of the Artifact Hub website showing the headline "Find, install and publish Kubernetes packages" with a prominent search bar containing the query "wordpress." The page is displayed on a dark background with site navigation and small tag buttons below the search.

A chart’s Artifact Hub page typically contains:

Exact install commands and repository URLs.
The components the chart deploys.
Commonly configurable values and examples.

You can search Artifact Hub from the CLI. The helm search command requires a subcommand: hub to query Artifact Hub or repo to search your locally configured repositories.

$ helm search

Search provides the ability to search for Helm charts in the various places
they can be stored including the Artifact Hub and repositories you have added.
Use search subcommands to search different locations for charts.

Usage:
  helm search [command]

Available Commands:
  hub     search for charts in the Artifact Hub or your own hub instance
  repo    search repositories for a keyword in charts

Search Artifact Hub for WordPress:

$ helm search hub wordpress

URL                                             CHART VERSION   APP VERSION   DESCRIPTION
https://artifacthub.io/packages/helm/riftbit/...   12.1.16        5.8.1         Web publishing platform for building blogs
https://artifacthub.io/packages/helm/bitnami-ak...   12.1.18        5.8.1         Web publishing platform for building blogs
https://artifacthub.io/packages/helm/bitnami/wo...   12.1.27        5.8.1         Web publishing platform for building blogs

The APP VERSION column shows the upstream application version the chart deploys (for example, the WordPress version). Once you choose a chart (for instance, the Bitnami WordPress chart), deploy it by adding the chart repository and installing the chart. The chart’s Artifact Hub page or README typically provides the exact commands:

$ helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
$ helm install my-release bitnami/wordpress

Example outputs from those commands:

$ helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
"bitnami" has been added to your repositories

$ helm install my-release bitnami/wordpress

NAME: my-release
LAST DEPLOYED: Wed Nov 10 18:03:50 2021
NAMESPACE: default
STATUS: deployed
REVISION: 1
TEST SUITE: None
NOTES:
CHART NAME: wordpress
CHART VERSION: 12.1.27
APP VERSION: 5.8.1

** Please be patient while the chart is being deployed **

Your WordPress site can be accessed through the following DNS name
from within your cluster:

    my-release-wordpress.default.svc.cluster.local (port 80)

Post-install NOTES are generated by the chart author and provide package-specific guidance: how to access the application, default credentials, and recommended next steps. After deployment, Helm records the chart as a release. To view releases:

$ helm list

NAME            NAMESPACE       REVISION    UPDATED                                         STATUS    CHART                         APP VERSION
my-release      default         1           2021-11-10 18:03:50.414174217 +0000 UTC        deployed  wordpress-12.1.27            5.8.1

To remove a release and all Kubernetes objects created by Helm, run:

$ helm uninstall my-release

release "my-release" uninstalled

Other helpful repository-related commands:

helm repo add — add a chart repository.
helm repo list — show configured repositories.
helm repo remove — remove one or more repositories.
helm repo update — refresh the local cache of repository metadata.

Run helm repo update periodically to refresh the local cache of repository information. This is similar to apt-get update on Debian/Ubuntu: it pulls the latest chart metadata from your configured repositories so searches and installs use up-to-date data.

Practice these CLI operations to become comfortable installing, upgrading, and managing Helm charts on Kubernetes. Links and references

Artifact Hub: https://artifacthub.io
Helm documentation: https://helm.sh/docs/
Kubernetes documentation: https://kubernetes.io/docs/

Introduction

Core Concepts

Scheduling

Logging & Monitoring

Application Lifecycle Management

Cluster Maintenance

Security

Storage

Networking

Design and Install a Kubernetes Cluster

Install "Kubernetes the kubeadm way"

Troubleshooting

Helm Basics (2025 Updates)

Kustomize Basics (2025 Updates)

Other Topics

Mock Exams

Working with Helm basics

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