Package, configure, and deploy Kubernetes apps as charts — install complex applications with one command.

Welcome to Helm: The Package Manager for Kubernetes.

Helm is the package manager for Kubernetes: it bundles an application's many manifests into a single versioned, parameterized package called a chart, so you can install, upgrade, and roll back complex apps with one command. This free book teaches it from the ground up: the package-manager model and how Helm 3 works without Tiller, chart anatomy, the templating engine and values, functions/conditionals/loops and helper templates, dependencies and subcharts, repositories and distribution (including OCI registries), the release lifecycle (install/upgrade/rollback/hooks), using Helm with CI/CD and GitOps tools like Argo CD and Flux, and security and chart-authoring best practices. Ten focused chapters with real chart examples and clear diagrams that take you from installing charts to authoring clean, reusable ones of your own.

This title is part of the ShriIra library and is free to read in full, right here — our small contribution to making world-class knowledge easy to reach.

A note on reading it: open the Contents menu at the top of the reader to jump between chapters, use the Aa menu to set a comfortable text size, theme (light, sepia, or night), and single- or two-page layout. Your place is saved automatically, so you can always pick up where you left off.

We hope it serves you well.

— Shriira Press

Contents

1. Chapter 1 — What Helm Is
2. Chapter 2 — The Package Manager Model
3. Chapter 3 — Chart Anatomy
4. Chapter 4 — Templating and Values
5. Chapter 5 — Functions, Logic, and Helpers
6. Chapter 6 — Dependencies and Subcharts
7. Chapter 7 — Repositories and Distribution
8. Chapter 8 — The Release Lifecycle
9. Chapter 9 — Helm with GitOps and CI/CD
10. Chapter 10 — Security, Best Practices, and Putting It Together