Installing Charts

1. Installing Chart from Repository

Example: Install from added repo

helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
helm repo update
helm install myrelease bitnami/nginx --version 18.0.0 -n web --create-namespace

2. Installing from Local Path

Example: Dev install

helm install api ./chart -f values-dev.yaml

3. Installing from URL

SourceCommand
HTTP tarballhelm install api https://example.com/charts/api-1.0.0.tgz
OCI refhelm install api oci://ghcr.io/acme/charts/api --version 1.0.0

4. Installing from Archive

Example: Local .tgz

helm install api ./api-1.0.0.tgz

5. Generating Release Name

CommandResult
helm install --generate-name ./chartAuto-generated name like chart-1700000000

6. Setting Custom Release Name

FormRules
helm install <name> <chart>DNS-1123 label (lowercase, digits, dashes), ≤53 chars

7. Installing in Specific Namespace

FlagBehavior
-n <ns> / --namespaceTarget namespace for release
--create-namespaceCreate namespace if missing

8. Creating Namespace

Example: Combined

helm install api ./chart -n production --create-namespace

9. Using Dry Run Mode

FlagBehavior
--dry-runRender + validate; no cluster changes
--dry-run=server 3.13+Server-side dry run (uses live admission webhooks)
--debugVerbose render output

10. Waiting for Resources

FlagEffect
--waitWait until all resources are Ready
--wait-for-jobsAlso wait for Jobs to complete
--atomic--wait + auto-rollback on failure

11. Setting Wait Timeout

FlagDefault
--timeout 10m5m
FormatGo duration (30s, 5m, 1h)

12. Installing with Values

Example: Combined inputs

helm install api ./chart \
  -f values.yaml -f values-prod.yaml \
  --set image.tag=2.7.0 \
  --set-string flag=true \
  --set-file tls.cert=./certs/tls.crt \
  --set-json 'env=[{"name":"LOG","value":"info"}]'

Related Cheat Sheets

Kubernetes

Using Advanced kubectl Techniques

Kubernetes

Configuring Pod Specifications

Kubernetes

Working with Operators

Helm Charts

Creating Library Charts