Installing Helm in Kubernetes - Step-by-Step CLI Walkthrough

Introduction

Helm helps you manage Kubernetes apps by packaging them into charts. Installing Helm lets you easily install, upgrade, and manage these apps on your Kubernetes cluster.

When you want to install a complex app on Kubernetes with one command instead of many manual steps

When you need to upgrade or rollback Kubernetes apps safely and quickly

When you want to share your Kubernetes app setup with others in a reusable way

When you want to manage app dependencies inside Kubernetes easily

When you want to automate app deployment in your CI/CD pipelines

Commands

This command downloads and runs the official Helm install script to install Helm version 3 on your system.

Terminal

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/main/scripts/get-helm-3 | bash

Expected Output

Downloading https://get.helm.sh/helm-v3.12.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz

Preparing to install helm into /usr/local/bin

helm installed into /usr/local/bin/helm

This command checks that Helm was installed correctly by showing the installed Helm client version.

Terminal

helm version

Expected Output

version.BuildInfo{Version:"v3.12.0", GitCommit:"abc123def", GitTreeState:"clean", GoVersion:"go1.20.5"}

This command adds the official stable Helm chart repository so you can install apps from it.

Terminal

helm repo add stable https://charts.helm.sh/stable

Expected Output

"stable" has been added to your repositories

This command updates your local list of charts from all added repositories to get the latest versions.

Terminal

helm repo update

Expected Output

Hang tight while we grab the latest from your chart repositories...

stable: Refreshing repository cache

Update Complete.

Key Concept

If you remember nothing else from installing Helm, remember: Helm is a tool that simplifies installing and managing Kubernetes apps using reusable packages called charts.

Common Mistakes

Running the install script without curl or bash installed

The install script requires curl and bash to download and run; missing these causes failure.

Install curl and bash first using your system package manager before running the Helm install script.

Not running 'helm version' after install

You won't know if Helm installed correctly or which version you have.

Always run 'helm version' to verify the installation succeeded.

Skipping 'helm repo update' after adding a repo

Your local chart list will be outdated, so you might not see the latest charts.

Run 'helm repo update' to refresh your chart list after adding or changing repos.

Summary

Run the official Helm install script to install Helm on your system.

Verify the installation by checking the Helm version.

Add the stable Helm chart repository to access common Kubernetes apps.

Update your local chart list to get the latest app versions.