Helm Repositories in JFrog Artifactory¶

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JFrog Artifactory supports Helm chart repositories natively. You can store your own Helm charts, proxy public chart repositories (like the Helm Stable repo or Bitnami), and expose everything through a single virtual Helm registry for your Kubernetes teams.

All steps use JFrog SaaS at https://<company>.jfrog.io.

What You'll Build¶

helm-local             [LOCAL]  → your team's own Helm charts
helm-bitnami-remote    [REMOTE] → proxy of Bitnami Helm charts
helm-virtual           [VIRTUAL]→ single Helm repo URL for all users

Step 1: Create a Local Repository¶

Go to Administration → Repositories → + New Repository
Select Local
Choose Helm
Set Repository Key: helm-local
Click Create Local Repository

Step 2: Create a Remote Repository — Bitnami Charts Proxy¶

Go to Administration → Repositories → + New Repository
Select Remote
Choose Helm
Set Repository Key: helm-bitnami-remote
Set URL: https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
Click Create Remote Repository

Step 3: Create a Virtual Repository¶

Go to Administration → Repositories → + New Repository
Select Virtual
Choose Helm
Set Repository Key: helm-virtual
Add repositories:
helm-local
helm-bitnami-remote
Click Create Virtual Repository

Step 4: Add JFrog as a Helm Repository¶

helm repo add jfrog-helm \
  https://<company>.jfrog.io/artifactory/helm-virtual \
  --username your-username \
  --password your-access-token

helm repo update

Step 5: Search and Install Charts¶

Search available charts:¶

helm search repo jfrog-helm/

Install a chart from JFrog (sourced from Bitnami remote):¶

helm install my-nginx jfrog-helm/nginx
helm install my-redis jfrog-helm/redis

Step 6: Push Your Own Chart to JFrog¶

Package your chart:¶

helm package ./my-chart
# Produces: my-chart-1.0.0.tgz

Push to JFrog using JFrog CLI:¶

jf rt upload my-chart-1.0.0.tgz helm-local/

Or using curl:¶

curl -u your-username:your-access-token \
  -T my-chart-1.0.0.tgz \
  "https://<company>.jfrog.io/artifactory/helm-local/my-chart-1.0.0.tgz"

After upload, update the index:

helm repo update jfrog-helm

Now the chart is installable:

helm install my-release jfrog-helm/my-chart

Repository Comparison Summary¶

Feature	Local	Remote	Virtual
Store your Helm charts	✅	❌	❌
Proxy public chart repos	❌	✅	❌
Single `helm repo add` URL	❌	❌	✅
Push with JFrog CLI	✅	❌	Delegates to local
Install public charts	❌	✅	✅ via remote

Use Cases¶

Scenario	Solution
Platform team distributes internal Helm charts	Push to `helm-local`, install via `helm-virtual`
`helm install nginx`	Served from `helm-bitnami-remote` cache
Chart repo is unavailable	CI still works — charts cached in JFrog
Enforce chart version policies	Apply Xray scan policies to `helm-local`
Single Helm repo config for all teams	`helm repo add` points at `helm-virtual`

Next Steps¶

👉 Gradle Repositories 👉 Terraform Repositories

🧠 Quick Quiz¶

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How do you add a JFrog Artifactory Helm repository for your team to use?

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