Helm cheatsheet

Repositories

Command	Description
`helm repo add NAME URL`	Add chart repository
`helm repo update`	Refresh repo indexes
`helm search repo KEYWORD`	Search available charts
`helm repo list`	List configured repos

Install and upgrade

Command	Description
`helm install RELEASE CHART -n NS`	Install chart
`helm upgrade --install RELEASE CHART -n NS`	Install or upgrade (idempotent)
`helm upgrade RELEASE CHART -f values.yaml -n NS`	Upgrade with values file
`helm upgrade RELEASE CHART --set key=val -n NS`	Inline value override
`helm uninstall RELEASE -n NS`	Remove release and resources

Release status and history

Command	Description
`helm list -n NS`	Releases in namespace
`helm list -A`	All namespaces
`helm status RELEASE -n NS`	Release state and resources
`helm history RELEASE -n NS`	Revision list
`helm rollback RELEASE REV -n NS`	Roll back to revision
`helm get values RELEASE -n NS`	Effective values
`helm get manifest RELEASE -n NS`	Rendered manifests

Dry-run and render (safe preview)

helm template RELEASE ./chart -f values.yaml -n NS
helm install RELEASE CHART -f values.yaml --dry-run=server -n NS
helm lint ./chart
helm show values bitnami/nginx

OCI charts

helm install RELEASE oci://registry.example.com/charts/myapp --version 1.0.0 -n NS
helm push mychart-1.0.0.tgz oci://registry.example.com/charts

Chart development

Command	Description
`helm create mychart`	Scaffold new chart
`helm package ./mychart`	Build chart tarball
`helm dependency update ./mychart`	Fetch subchart deps
`helm test RELEASE -n NS`	Run chart test hooks

After install — kubectl helpers

# Pods from a Helm release (standard labels)
kubectl get pods -n NS -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=RELEASE

# Logs across release pods (krew stern)
stern -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=RELEASE -n NS

# Ownership tree (krew tree)
kubectl tree deploy -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=RELEASE -n NS

Example values.yaml

replicaCount: 3
image:
  repository: myapp
  tag: "2.1.0"
  pullPolicy: IfNotPresent
service:
  type: ClusterIP
  port: 80
resources:
  limits:
    memory: 256Mi

Pro tips

Prefer helm upgrade --install in CI/CD — safe to re-run
Always helm template or --dry-run=server before risky upgrades
helm history + helm rollback are your fastest undo
Failed release? Check pods with Kubernetes lab tools
Pin chart --version — do not rely on implicit latest from repo

Practice scenarios

Hands-on Helm scenarios on live Linux VMs: helm