BLOG14: Helm Chart Basics

BLOG 501: Helm & Kustomize Useful Commands

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HELM — Frequently Used Troubleshooting Commands

1. List installed applications

helm list -A

or for a specific namespace:

helm list -n <namespace>

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2. List added repositories

helm repo list

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3. List all versions of a chart

(From a repo)

helm search repo <chart-name> --versions

Example:

helm search repo nginx --versions

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4. List installed versions of an app

helm history <release-name> -n <namespace>

Example:

helm history website-dev -n hello-dev

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5. Install an app

helm install <release-name> <chart-path> -f values.yaml

Example:

helm install website-dev ./helm-website -f values-dev.yaml

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6. Upgrade an app

helm upgrade <release-name> <chart-path> -f values.yaml

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7. Rollback an app

helm rollback <release-name> <revision> -n <namespace>

Example:

helm rollback website-dev 2 -n hello-dev

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8. Dry run (no apply)

Shows what Helm would install.

Option A — full server-side dry run:

helm install <name> <chart-path> --dry-run --debug

Option B — render templates only (no cluster needed):

helm template <name> <chart-path> -f values.yaml

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9. Uninstall

helm uninstall <release-name> -n <namespace>

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10. Clean old chart repos

helm repo update
helm repo remove <repo-name>

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KUSTOMIZE — Frequently Used Troubleshooting Commands

Kustomize is built into kubectl.

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1. Dry-run (client-side)

Shows generated YAML without applying.

kubectl kustomize <overlay-dir>

Example:

kubectl kustomize dev/

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2. Dry-run apply

Validate against Kubernetes API without applying:

kubectl apply -k dev/ --dry-run=client

or server-side validation:

kubectl apply -k dev/ --dry-run=server

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3. Build (same as dry-run)

Official way (if standalone kustomize is installed):

kustomize build dev/

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4. View final resource names

kubectl kustomize dev/ | grep "name:"

Useful for checking nameSuffix.

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5. Validate patches

kubectl kustomize dev/ | grep -A4 ingress

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6. Apply overlay

kubectl apply -k dev/
kubectl apply -k prod/

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7. Delete overlay

kubectl delete -k dev/
kubectl delete -k prod/

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8. Debug configmap replacement

Check that overlay replaced configmap content:

kubectl kustomize dev/ | grep "index.html" -A5

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9. Validate overlay structure

kustomize cfg tree .

(Requires kustomize binary)

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Top 20 Troubleshooting Commands (Quick Reference)

HELM

Task	Command
List all releases	helm list -A
List repos	helm repo list
Search chart versions	helm search repo <chart> --versions
Install	helm install <name> <chart> -f values.yaml
Upgrade	helm upgrade <name> <chart> -f values.yaml
Rollback	helm rollback <name> <revision> -n <ns>
Template render	helm template <name> <chart>
Dry run	helm install <name> <chart> --dry-run --debug
View release history	helm history <name> -n <ns>
Uninstall	helm uninstall <name> -n <ns>

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KUSTOMIZE

Task	Command
Dry-run build	kubectl kustomize dev/
Client-side dry-run	kubectl apply -k dev/ --dry-run=client
Server-side dry-run	kubectl apply -k dev/ --dry-run=server
Build using kustomize binary	kustomize build dev/
Apply overlay	kubectl apply -k dev/
Delete overlay	kubectl delete -k dev/
Inspect generated YAML	`kubectl kustomize dev/	less`
Check suffix labeling	`kubectl kustomize dev/	grep name:`
Inspect a specific resource	`kubectl kustomize dev/	yq '.items[]	select(.kind=="Ingress")'(ifyq` installed)
Print patches applied	`kustomize build dev/	grep -A3 ingress`

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Helm Terminology Explained

Understanding these four terms is essential to working with Helm:

• Release Name

• Chart Name

• Chart Path

• Registry URI

Let's break them down.

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1️⃣ Release Name

👉 The name you give to your deployed application.

A release is a running instance of a Helm chart in your Kubernetes cluster.

You choose this name when installing:

helm install website-dev ./helm-website

Here:

• Release Name = website-dev

You can have multiple releases from the same chart, like:

• website-dev

• website-prod

• website-test

Each one is independent.

Why important?

Used for:

• upgrades

• rollback

• uninstall

• history

Examples:

helm upgrade website-dev ./helm-website
helm rollback website-dev 2
helm uninstall website-dev

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2️⃣ Chart Name

👉 The name of the Helm package itself.

Inside Chart.yaml:

name: helm-website
version: 1.0.0

Here:

• Chart Name = helm-website

This name identifies your chart as a package, similar to how nginx identifies an apt/yum package.

Example from Helm Hub:

• bitnami/nginx

• ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx

• bitnami/mongodb

These are chart names stored inside chart repositories.

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3️⃣ Chart Path

👉 Where the chart exists on disk (local path) or in a registry (remote path).

Local chart path:

./helm-website
../charts/myapp
charts/nginx

Installation example:

helm install website-dev ./helm-website

Here:

• Chart Path = ./helm-website

Remote chart path (from a repo):

helm install my-nginx bitnami/nginx

Here:

• Chart Name = nginx

• Repo Name = bitnami

• Chart Path = bitnami/nginx

Helm resolves this using the repo URL.

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4️⃣ Registry URI

👉 Where charts are stored and downloaded from.

A Helm repository is like a container registry but for Helm charts.

Example registry URIs:

Repo Name	Registry URI
bitnami	https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
ingress-nginx	https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx
grafana	https://grafana.github.io/helm-charts

You add them using:

helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami

Then you can install charts from that repo:

helm install my-nginx bitnami/nginx

OCI Registry URI (New Helm feature)

Example:

oci://ghcr.io/my-org/my-charts/website

Install:

helm install myapp oci://ghcr.io/my-org/my-charts/website

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**Final Summary

Term	Meaning	Example
Release Name	Name of the running instance of a chart	website-dev
Chart Name	Name of the packaged chart (from Chart.yaml)	helm-website
Chart Path	Location of the chart on disk or repo	./helm-website, bitnami/nginx
Registry URI	URL where charts are stored	https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami