Helm

Helm is the package manager for Kubernetes. It packages a set of Kubernetes manifests into a chart, parameterised by values, that can be installed, upgraded, rolled back, and shared via repositories. Helm charts are the standard distribution format for installable Kubernetes applications.

Core concepts

• Chart. A directory of YAML templates, a values.yaml, and metadata (Chart.yaml) describing an installable Kubernetes application.
• Values. User-supplied parameters that fill in template variables, allowing the same chart to deploy differently per environment.
• Release. An installed instance of a chart in a cluster, with a name, version, and history.
• Repository. A web-hosted index of charts (Artifact Hub, Bitnami, ingress-nginx, the Argo repo, OCI registries).

Typical commands

• helm install <name> <chart>
• helm upgrade <name> <chart>
• helm rollback <name> <revision>
• helm template ... | kubectl apply -f - (render locally, apply with kubectl)
• helm package and helm push for publishing charts to a registry

Helm vs Kustomize vs raw manifests

• Helm. Templating with values; release tracking; rollbacks; package manager workflow. Strongest fit for distributing third-party applications.
• Kustomize. Overlay-based composition; no templates, pure YAML patches. Strongest fit for internal services under direct team control.
• Raw manifests. Simplest; ungoverned; hard to scale across environments.