Helm Commands Cheat Sheet¶

A quick reference guide for common Helm CLI operations.

Installation & Upgrades¶

Install a Chart¶

# Basic install
helm install myrelease bitnami/redis

# Install with custom values file
helm install -f myvalues.yaml myredis ./redis

# Install with individual set flags
helm install --set name=prod myredis ./redis

# Install with string values (force string type)
helm install --set-string long_int=1234567890 myredis ./redis

# Install with file contents as value
helm install --set-file my_script=dothings.sh myredis ./redis

Install in Specific Namespace¶

helm install -f myvalues.yaml myredis ./redis -n namespace_name

Dry Run (Simulate)¶

helm install -f myvalues.yaml myredis ./redis --dry-run

Timeout¶

# Default is 5 minutes
helm install -f values.yaml test . -n cnf --timeout 20s

Values Precedence¶

The rightmost file or flag has the highest precedence (it overrides previous ones).

# override.yaml wins over myvalues.yaml
helm install -f myvalues.yaml -f override.yaml myredis ./redis

Management & Inspection¶

List Releases¶

helm list
helm list -n namespace_name  # List in specific namespace
helm list -A                 # List across all namespaces

Get Manifest¶

Retrieve the generated Kubernetes YAML for a deployed release.

helm get manifest release_name
helm get manifest release_name -n namespace_name

Inspect Chart Values¶

Download the default values.yaml from a repo chart.

helm inspect values bitnami/redis > /tmp/values.yaml

Uninstall / Delete¶

helm uninstall release_name
helm uninstall release_name -n namespace_name

Repositories¶

Add Repo¶

helm repo add [NAME] [URL]
helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
helm repo add stable https://charts.helm.sh/stable

Repo Commands¶

helm repo list     # List added repositories
helm repo update   # Update local cache of charts
helm repo remove   # Remove a repository

Search¶

helm search repo bitnami/        # Search all in bitnami repo
helm search repo bitnami/mysql   # Search specific chart

Plugins¶

Install Plugin¶

helm plugin install https://github.com/helm/helm-2to3

List Plugins¶

helm plugin list

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