Appendix: Cheat sheet

A lookup page for the commands and template functions the tutorial uses. Every flag below was checked against helm <command> --help from Helm 4.3.0. Run source scripts/env.sh first so helm is the project’s Helm 4. Replace NS and REL with your namespace and release name.

Install and upgrade

[host]$ helm install REL ./chart -n NS --create-namespace -f values.yaml --wait --rollback-on-failure --timeout 5m
[host]$ helm upgrade --install REL ./chart -n NS -f values.yaml --wait --rollback-on-failure
[host]$ helm upgrade REL ./chart -n NS --reuse-values --set image.tag=0.1.1
[host]$ helm upgrade REL ./chart -n NS --reset-then-reuse-values -f override.yaml
[host]$ helm install REL oci://registry.example.com/charts/app --version 1.0.0 -n NS

Flag	Meaning
`--rollback-on-failure`	Roll back an upgrade (uninstall an install) on failure. Implies `--wait=watcher`.
`--wait[=watcher\\|hookOnly\\|legacy]`	Wait for readiness. Bare `--wait` is `watcher`. Omitted is `hookOnly`.
`--wait-for-jobs`	With `--wait`, also wait for Jobs to complete.
`--timeout 5m`	Limit for each Kubernetes operation, including hooks.
`--server-side`	`install`: boolean, default `true`. `upgrade`: `true`, `false` or `auto`.
`--force-conflicts`	With server-side apply, take over fields owned by another manager.
`--force-replace`	Update resources by replacement. Client-side only: add `--server-side=false`.
`--take-ownership`	Adopt resources that lack Helm’s ownership annotations. Add `--force-conflicts` when another manager owns differing fields.
`--dry-run=none\\|client\\|server`	Simulate. `server` needs a cluster and resolves kinds and `lookup`, but on 4.3.0 does not schema-validate fields.
`--no-hooks`	Skip hooks.
`--skip-crds`	Do not install `crds/`.
`--skip-schema-validation`	Ignore `values.schema.json`.
`--create-namespace`	Create the release namespace if missing.
`--dependency-update`	Fetch missing dependencies first.
`--post-renderer NAME`, `--post-renderer-args ARG`	Run a `postrenderer/v1` plugin by name.
`--history-max N`	Keep at most N revisions (`upgrade`, `rollback`).
`--cleanup-on-fail`	Delete new resources if the upgrade fails.
`--description TEXT`	Free text stored on the revision.

Values, in precedence order from lowest to highest: chart values.yaml, each -f file in order, then --set, --set-string, --set-json, --set-file and --set-literal.

Inspect and render

[host]$ helm template REL ./chart -n NS -f values.yaml --api-versions route.openshift.io/v1 --kube-version 1.32.0
[host]$ helm template REL ./chart -s templates/deployment.yaml --include-crds --skip-tests
[host]$ helm lint ./chart --strict --with-subcharts -f values.yaml
[host]$ helm show values ./chart
[host]$ helm show chart ./chart
[host]$ helm show crds ./chart
[host]$ helm show readme ./chart
[host]$ helm show all ./chart
[host]$ helm diff upgrade REL ./chart -n NS -f values.yaml
[host]$ helm unittest ./chart

The diff and unittest subcommands are plugins. helm template --dry-run takes client (default) or server.

Releases

[host]$ helm list -n NS
[host]$ helm list -A --failed
[host]$ helm list -n NS -o json
[host]$ helm status REL -n NS
[host]$ helm history REL -n NS --show-rollback-revision
[host]$ helm get values REL -n NS
[host]$ helm get manifest REL -n NS
[host]$ helm get hooks REL -n NS
[host]$ helm get notes REL -n NS
[host]$ helm get metadata REL -n NS
[host]$ helm get all REL -n NS
[host]$ helm rollback REL 2 -n NS --wait
[host]$ helm test REL -n NS --logs
[host]$ helm uninstall REL -n NS --keep-history
[host]$ helm uninstall REL -n NS --ignore-not-found

Charts and repositories

[host]$ helm create mychart
[host]$ helm create mychart --starter pc-fastapi
[host]$ helm dependency update ./chart
[host]$ helm dependency build ./chart
[host]$ helm dependency list ./chart
[host]$ helm package ./chart -d dist --version 1.0.0 --app-version 0.1.0
[host]$ helm package ./chart --sign --key KEYNAME --keyring KEYRING
[host]$ helm verify dist/chart-1.0.0.tgz --keyring KEYRING
[host]$ helm repo add NAME https://example.com/charts
[host]$ helm repo update
[host]$ helm repo index dist --url https://example.com/charts
[host]$ helm search repo NAME/ --versions
[host]$ helm search hub keyword
[host]$ helm pull NAME/chart --version 1.0.0 --untar --untardir tmp

OCI

[host]$ helm registry login registry.example.com -u USER --password-stdin
[host]$ helm push dist/chart-1.0.0.tgz oci://registry.example.com/charts
[host]$ helm pull oci://registry.example.com/charts/chart --version 1.0.0
[host]$ helm show values oci://registry.example.com/charts/chart --version 1.0.0
[host]$ helm install REL oci://registry.example.com/charts/chart --version 1.0.0 --plain-http
[host]$ helm registry logout registry.example.com

Plugins

[host]$ helm plugin list
[host]$ helm plugin install ./plugin-dir
[host]$ helm plugin install https://example.com/plugin.git --verify=false
[host]$ helm plugin update NAME
[host]$ helm plugin package ./plugin-dir
[host]$ helm plugin verify ./plugin-dir
[host]$ helm plugin uninstall NAME

Environment and global flags

Item	Meaning
`HELM_CONFIG_HOME`, `HELM_CACHE_HOME`, `HELM_DATA_HOME`, `HELM_PLUGINS`	State directories.
`HELM_DRIVER`	Release storage: `secret`, `configmap`, `memory`, `sql`.
`HELM_NAMESPACE`, `HELM_KUBECONTEXT`	Defaults for `-n` and `--kube-context`.
`HELM_DEBUG`, `--debug`	Verbose output.
`HELM_COLOR`, `NO_COLOR`, `--color`	Color control.
`HELM_MAX_HISTORY`	Default revision limit.
`--kube-context`, `--kubeconfig`, `-n`	Cluster selection.
`--content-cache`	Directory for cached charts.
`helm env`	Print every setting.

Template objects

Object	Use
`.Values`	Merged values.
`.Release.Name`, `.Release.Namespace`, `.Release.Service`	Release identity.
`.Release.IsInstall`, `.Release.IsUpgrade`, `.Release.Revision`	Lifecycle state.
`.Chart.Name`, `.Chart.Version`, `.Chart.AppVersion`	Chart metadata.
`.Capabilities.APIVersions.Has "group/version"`	Is the API served?
`.Capabilities.KubeVersion.Version`	Cluster version.
`.Template.Name`, `.Template.BasePath`	Current template.
`.Files.Get`, `.Files.Glob`, `.Files.AsConfig`, `.Files.AsSecrets`, `.Files.Lines`	Chart files.

Template functions

Function	Example
`default`	`{{ .Values.tag \\| default .Chart.AppVersion }}`
`required`	`{{ required "host is required" .Values.host }}`
`quote`, `squote`	`{{ .Values.name \\| quote }}`
`toYaml`, `toJson`, `fromYaml`	`{{ toYaml .Values.resources \\| nindent 12 }}`
`indent`, `nindent`	`{{ include "x.labels" . \\| nindent 4 }}`
`include`	`{{ include "x.fullname" . }}` returns a string.
`tpl`	`{{ tpl .Values.text . }}` renders a string as a template.
`lookup`	`{{ lookup "v1" "Secret" .Release.Namespace "name" }}` returns empty under `helm template`.
`printf`	`{{ printf "%s-%s" .Release.Name .Chart.Name }}`
`trunc`, `trimSuffix`, `trimPrefix`, `trim`	`{{ .Release.Name \\| trunc 63 \\| trimSuffix "-" }}`
`lower`, `upper`, `title`, `kebabcase`	Case conversion.
`contains`, `hasPrefix`, `hasSuffix`, `regexMatch`	String tests.
`dict`, `list`, `append`, `merge`, `mergeOverwrite`	Build and combine collections.
`hasKey`, `has`, `keys`, `pick`, `omit`, `get`	Map and list access.
`ternary`	`{{ ternary "a" "b" .Values.flag }}`
`coalesce`, `empty`	First non-empty value, emptiness test.
`b64enc`, `b64dec`, `sha256sum`	Encoding and checksums.
`semverCompare`	`{{ semverCompare ">=1.29.0" .Capabilities.KubeVersion.Version }}`
`fail`	`{{ fail "unsupported" }}` stops rendering.
`randAlphaNum`, `genPassword`-style helpers	Random values change on every render, so use `lookup` to keep them.

Flow control: if, else if, else, with, range, define, template, block, end. A leading or trailing - inside the braces trims whitespace. Inside range and with, $ is the root context.