Kubernetes Helm

Helm is a tool for managing Kubernetes charts. Charts are packages of pre-configured Kubernetes resources.

Use Helm to...

• Find and use popular software packaged as Kubernetes charts
• Share your own applications as Kubernetes charts
• Create reproducible builds of your Kubernetes applications
• Intelligently manage your Kubernetes manifest files
• Manage releases of Helm packages

Helm in a Handbasket

Helm is a tool that streamlines installing and managing Kubernetes applications. Think of it like apt/yum/homebrew for Kubernetes.

• Helm has two parts: a client (helm) and a server (tiller)
• Tiller runs inside of your Kubernetes cluster, and manages releases (installations) of your charts.
• Helm runs on your laptop, CI/CD, or wherever you want it to run.
• Charts are Helm packages that contain at least two things:
  • A description of the package (Chart.yaml)
  • One or more templates, which contain Kubernetes manifest files
• Charts can be stored on disk, or fetched from remote chart repositories (like Debian or RedHat packages)

Install

Binary downloads of the Helm client can be found at the following links:

• OSX
• Linux
• Linux 32-bit

Unpack the helm binary and add it to your PATH and you are good to go! macOS/homebrew users can also use brew install kubernetes-helm.

To rapidly get Helm up and running, start with the Quick Start Guide.

See the installation guide for more options, including installing pre-releases.

Docs

• Quick Start - Read me first!
• Installing Helm - Install Helm and Tiller
  • Kubernetes Distribution Notes
  • Frequently Asked Questions
• Using Helm - Learn the Helm tools
  • Plugins
• Developing Charts - An introduction to chart development
  • Chart Lifecycle Hooks
  • Chart Tips and Tricks
  • Chart Repository Guide
  • Syncing your Chart Repository
  • Signing Charts
  • Writing Tests for Charts
• Chart Template Developer's Guide - Master Helm templates
  • Getting Started with Templates
  • Built-in Objects
  • Values Files
  • Functions and Pipelines
  • Flow Control (if/else, with, range, whitespace management)
  • Variables
  • Named Templates (Partials)
  • Accessing Files Inside Templates
  • Creating a NOTES.txt File
  • Subcharts and Global Values
  • Debugging Templates
  • Wrapping Up
  • Appendix A: YAML Techniques
  • Appendix B: Go Data Types
• Related Projects - More Helm tools, articles, and plugins
• Architecture - Overview of the Helm/Tiller design
• Developers - About the developers
• History - A brief history of the project
• Glossary - Decode the Helm vocabulary

Roadmap

The Helm roadmap is currently located on the wiki.

Community, discussion, contribution, and support

You can reach the Helm community and developers via the following channels:

• Kubernetes Slack: #helm
• Mailing List: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/kubernetes-sig-apps
• Developer Call: Thursdays at 9:30-10:00 Pacific. https://engineyard.zoom.us/j/366425549

Code of conduct

Participation in the Kubernetes community is governed by the Kubernetes Code of Conduct.