A Helm chart packages Kubernetes YAML manifests, templates, and configuration into an installable application. It acts as an instruction set for creating the application’s resources and can be shared through public or private repositories. section 5.3.1
Use Helm charts to:
- Add and inspect repositories before retrieving charts with helm repo add and helm repo list. section 5.3.1
- Search available charts, compare chart and application versions, and select an application package. section 5.3.1
- Customize templated manifests with a values file, such as values.yaml, instead of rebuilding YAML files from scratch. section 5.3.1
- Install an application with helm install and verify the resulting release using helm ls. section 5.3.1
Install a chart with custom values
Add a repository, search it, then install a chart with customized values: helm repo add metallb https://metallb.github.io/metallb; helm search repo metallb; helm install metallb metallb/metallb --values values.yaml. A successful installation reports STATUS: deployed, and helm ls displays the release, namespace, revision, chart, and application version. section 5.3.1
root@kind-control-plane:/# helm repo add hashicorp https://helm.releases.hashicorp.com "hashicorp" has been added to your repositories root@kind-control-plane:/# helm repo list NAME URL hashicorp https://helm.releases.hashicorp.com
Repository commands show how to register a chart source and confirm that Helm can retrieve charts from it. section 5.3.1
root@kind-control-plane:/# helm install metallb metallb/metallb --values values.yaml NAME: metallb LAST DEPLOYED: Thu Jan 23 04:49:11 2025 NAMESPACE: default STATUS: deployed REVISION: 1 TEST SUITE: None NOTES: MetalLB is now running in the cluster.
Installation output provides a concrete success check for a values-driven Helm release. section 5.3.1
