{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "bskyPostRef": {
    "cid": "bafyreiefanmzye4e6mqopa4o5w2r5v5h2wuj5eh24o5o37nkwlo3gbjmau",
    "uri": "at://did:plc:5sgu76a53rz3n6unbykmovqy/app.bsky.feed.post/3mloguibhvu22"
  },
  "description": "Helm is the package manager for Kubernetes. It packages a set of Kubernetes manifests into a chart, parameterised by values, that can be installed, upgraded, rolled back, and shared via repositories. Helm charts are the standard distribution format for installable Kubernetes applications.\n\n\nCore concepts\n\n * Chart. A directory of YAML templates, a values.yaml, and metadata (Chart.yaml) describing an installable Kubernetes application.\n * Values. User-supplied parameters that fill in template var",
  "path": "/engineering-glossary/helm-kubernetes-package-manager/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-12T18:40:43.000Z",
  "site": "https://sahilkapoor.com",
  "tags": [
    "Kubernetes",
    "ArgoCD",
    "GitOps",
    "Docker"
  ],
  "textContent": "**Helm** is the package manager for Kubernetes. It packages a set of Kubernetes manifests into a **chart** , parameterised by values, that can be installed, upgraded, rolled back, and shared via repositories. Helm charts are the standard distribution format for installable Kubernetes applications.\n\n## Core concepts\n\n  * **Chart.** A directory of YAML templates, a `values.yaml`, and metadata (`Chart.yaml`) describing an installable Kubernetes application.\n  * **Values.** User-supplied parameters that fill in template variables, allowing the same chart to deploy differently per environment.\n  * **Release.** An installed instance of a chart in a cluster, with a name, version, and history.\n  * **Repository.** A web-hosted index of charts (Artifact Hub, Bitnami, ingress-nginx, the Argo repo, OCI registries).\n\n\n\n## Typical commands\n\n  * `helm install <name> <chart>`\n  * `helm upgrade <name> <chart>`\n  * `helm rollback <name> <revision>`\n  * `helm template ... | kubectl apply -f -` (render locally, apply with kubectl)\n  * `helm package` and `helm push` for publishing charts to a registry\n\n\n\n## Helm vs Kustomize vs raw manifests\n\n  * **Helm.** Templating with values; release tracking; rollbacks; package manager workflow. Strongest fit for distributing third-party applications.\n  * **Kustomize.** Overlay-based composition; no templates, pure YAML patches. Strongest fit for internal services under direct team control.\n  * **Raw manifests.** Simplest; ungoverned; hard to scale across environments.\n\n\n\n🔗\n\n**Related Terms**\nKubernetes, ArgoCD, GitOps, Docker.",
  "title": "Helm",
  "updatedAt": "2026-05-13T19:14:42.384Z"
}