Helm Skill

Helm chart management with safety and minimal footprint.

Chart Repo Policy

Critical: Bitnami Retired

DO NOT use bitnami/* - the public repo was retired. Use bitnamilegacy/* instead.

bash

# WRONG
helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami  # DEAD REPO

# CORRECT
helm repo add bitnamilegacy https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bitnami/charts/archive-full-index/bitnami

Bitnami Image Registry Override

Bitnami charts still work, but their Docker images moved registries. Always override the image registry in values:

yaml

# Global override (most charts)
global:
  imageRegistry: docker.io/bitnami

# Or use the legacy images explicitly
image:
  registry: docker.io
  repository: bitnami/mysql  # or bitnamilegacy/mysql for older versions

Common patterns:

yaml

# mysql chart
image:
  registry: docker.io
  repository: bitnami/mysql

# redis chart
image:
  registry: docker.io
  repository: bitnami/redis

# For charts that need legacy images (check if current bitnami/* works first)
image:
  registry: docker.io
  repository: bitnamilegacy/mysql

Note: Test with current bitnami/* images first; only fall back to bitnamilegacy/* if the image is unavailable.

Preferred Chart Sources

Application	Source
Airflow	`apache-airflow/airflow`
MinIO	`minio/operator` or official MinIO chart
MySQL	Official mysql chart or `bitnamilegacy/mysql`
Redis	`bitnamilegacy/redis`
PostgreSQL	`bitnamilegacy/postgresql`
Ingress	`ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx`

Command Safety

Safe (Read-only)

bash

helm template <chart>    # Render locally
helm lint <chart>        # Validate
helm show values <chart> # View defaults
helm list -A             # List releases
helm status <release>    # Check status
helm get values <rel>    # Current values
helm get manifest <rel>  # Deployed manifests
helm history <release>   # Release history

Destructive (Require Approval)

bash

helm install ...    # Creates resources
helm upgrade ...    # Modifies resources
helm uninstall ...  # Deletes resources
helm rollback ...   # Reverts release

Workflow

1. Validate Before Install

bash

helm lint ./chart                           # Check syntax
helm template ./chart -f values.yaml        # Render and review
helm template ./chart -f values.yaml | kubectl apply --dry-run=client -f -

2. Install/Upgrade

bash

helm upgrade --install <release> <chart> \
  -n <namespace> --create-namespace \
  -f values.yaml \
  --wait --timeout 5m

3. Verify

bash

helm list -n <namespace>
helm status <release> -n <namespace>
kubectl get pods -n <namespace>

Values Management

Override Hierarchy

•Chart defaults (helm show values)
•Base values file (values.yaml)
•Environment overlay (values-dev.yaml, values-prod.yaml)
•CLI --set flags (avoid for secrets)

Values Pattern

yaml

# values-dev.yaml
replicaCount: 1
resources:
  requests:
    memory: 256Mi
    cpu: 100m

# values-prod.yaml  
replicaCount: 3
resources:
  requests:
    memory: 1Gi
    cpu: 500m

Secrets Pattern

•Use External Secrets Operator or Sealed Secrets
•Never commit plaintext secrets in values files
•Reference K8s secrets, don't inline values

Debugging

Release Issues

bash

helm history <release>             # See revisions
helm get values <release>          # Current values
helm get manifest <release>        # What's deployed
helm rollback <release> <rev>      # Revert if needed

Pod Issues

bash

kubectl get pods -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=<release>
kubectl describe pod <pod>
kubectl logs <pod>

Helm vs Kustomize

Use Helm When	Use Kustomize When
Complex app with many options	< 5 manifests
Upstream chart exists	Custom resources
Need templating/conditionals	Simple overlays
Want release management	GitOps with ArgoCD

ArgoCD Integration

yaml

# ArgoCD Application for Helm
apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
spec:
  source:
    repoURL: https://charts.example.com
    chart: myapp
    targetRevision: 1.2.3
    helm:
      valueFiles:
        - values.yaml
        - values-prod.yaml

Quick Reference

bash

# Add repos
helm repo add apache-airflow https://airflow.apache.org
helm repo add minio https://operator.min.io
helm repo add bitnamilegacy https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bitnami/charts/archive-full-index/bitnami
helm repo update

# Search
helm search repo <keyword>
helm search hub <keyword>

# Install from repo
helm upgrade --install myapp repo/chart -f values.yaml -n ns --create-namespace

# Install from local
helm upgrade --install myapp ./chart -f values.yaml -n ns