Kubernetes · Cheatsheet

Helm 3 Cheatsheet

Install, upgrade, rollback, template, debug. Plus chart authoring, dependencies, OCI registries, and the must-have lint/test commands.

Updated 2026-05-21 8 min

Repos & search

helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami	Add a repo
helm repo update	Refresh index
helm search repo nginx	Search added repos
helm search hub prometheus	Search Artifact Hub (all public)
helm repo remove bitnami	Remove

helm install api ./chart -n prod --create-namespace	Install in a namespace
helm upgrade --install api ./chart -f values-prod.yaml	Idempotent — installs or upgrades
helm upgrade api ./chart --set image.tag=1.2.3	Override single value
helm upgrade api ./chart --atomic --timeout 5m	Auto-rollback on failure
helm upgrade api ./chart --wait --wait-for-jobs	Block until pods Ready
helm install api ./chart --dry-run --debug	Render + validate without applying

helm list -A	All releases, all namespaces
helm status api -n prod	Current release status
helm get values api -n prod	User-supplied values
helm get values api -n prod --all	All values (incl. chart defaults)
helm get manifest api -n prod	Rendered YAML
helm history api -n prod	Revision history

helm rollback api 3 -n prod	Roll back to revision 3
helm rollback api 0 -n prod	Roll back to previous
helm uninstall api -n prod	Remove release (keeps history secret)
helm uninstall api -n prod --keep-history	Delete but keep history

helm create my-chart	Scaffold a new chart
helm template api ./chart -f values-prod.yaml	Render locally (no cluster)
helm lint ./chart	Static checks
helm package ./chart -d ./dist	Build .tgz
helm dependency update ./chart	Pull chart dependencies
helm test api -n prod	Run helm test hooks (post-install validation)

helm registry login ghcr.io -u USER	Login to OCI registry
helm push api-1.0.0.tgz oci://ghcr.io/org/charts	Push chart as OCI artifact
helm install api oci://ghcr.io/org/charts/api --version 1.0.0	Install directly from OCI
aws ecr get-login-password \| helm registry login --username AWS --password-stdin <acct>.dkr.ecr.<region>.amazonaws.com	ECR as Helm registry

{{ .Values.image.tag \| default .Chart.AppVersion }}	Fallback to Chart.AppVersion
{{- include "chart.fullname" . }}	Reuse a named template (helpers.tpl)
{{- range .Values.env }}	Iterate a list value
{{- toYaml .Values.resources \| nindent 4 }}	Inline YAML map with indent
{{- if .Capabilities.APIVersions.Has "networking.k8s.io/v1" }}	Cluster capability gate
{{- required ".Values.image.repository is required" .Values.image.repository }}	Fail fast on missing input

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