Jonatan Matajonmatum.com
conceptsnotesexperimentsessays
© 2026 Jonatan Mata. All rights reserved.v2.1.1
Concepts

Helm

Package manager for Kubernetes that simplifies installation and management of complex applications through reusable and configurable charts.

seed#helm#kubernetes#packaging#charts#k8s#devops

What it is

Helm is the package manager for Kubernetes. A Helm "chart" packages all K8s manifests needed to deploy an application, with configurable values that allow customizing the deployment without modifying templates.

Key concepts

ConceptFunctionExample
ChartPackage of K8s manifests with templatesnginx-ingress, prometheus
ReleaseDeployed instance of a chartmy-app-production
ValuesConfiguration that customizes the chartvalues.yaml with replicas, image, resources
RepositoryCollection of published chartsArtifact Hub, OCI registries

Essential commands

helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
helm install my-db bitnami/postgresql --set auth.postgresPassword=secret
helm upgrade my-db bitnami/postgresql --set resources.requests.memory=512Mi
helm rollback my-db 1

When to use Helm

  • Deploy third-party applications on K8s
  • Standardize internal deployments
  • Manage per-environment configuration
  • Quick rollbacks

Why it matters

Helm is the standard package manager for Kubernetes. Charts allow packaging, versioning, and distributing complex applications as a unit, with configurable values per environment. It is the most widely adopted way to manage Kubernetes deployments.

References

  • Helm Documentation — Official documentation.
  • Artifact Hub — Chart catalog.
  • Chart Best Practices — Helm, 2024. Best practices for creating charts.

Related content

  • Kubernetes

    Container orchestration platform that automates deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications at scale, becoming the de facto standard for cloud native.

  • Infrastructure as Code

    Practice of defining and managing infrastructure through versioned configuration files instead of manual processes. Foundation of modern operations automation.

  • GitOps

    Operational practice using Git as single source of truth for infrastructure and configuration, with automatic reconciliation between desired and actual state.

Concepts