Deploy with Helm (Direct)

Direct Helm commands are used for local development, debugging, and first-time namespace setup. For persistent production workloads, use ArgoCD (GitOps) instead.

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Prerequisites

# Logged in to Harbor
helm registry login harbor.local -u admin -p Admin12345

# kubectl pointing to the right cluster
kubectl config current-context

# Target namespace exists
kubectl get namespace myteam-staging

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First Install

helm install myapp-staging \
  oci://harbor.local/charts/myapp \
  --version 1.2.0 \
  --namespace myteam-staging \
  --values values-staging.yaml \
  --create-namespace \
  --wait \
  --timeout 5m

Flag	Purpose
myapp-staging	Release name — unique per namespace
--version	Explicit chart version from Harbor
--values	Environment-specific overrides
--wait	Block until all pods are Ready
--timeout	Fail if not ready within 5 minutes

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Upgrade

helm upgrade myapp-staging \
  oci://harbor.local/charts/myapp \
  --version 1.3.0 \
  --namespace myteam-staging \
  --values values-staging.yaml \
  --atomic \
  --wait

--atomic automatically rolls back if the upgrade fails — no broken half-states.

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Install or Upgrade (idempotent)

Use in CI pipelines where you don't know if the release exists yet:

helm upgrade --install myapp-staging \
  oci://harbor.local/charts/myapp \
  --version 1.3.0 \
  --namespace myteam-staging \
  --values values-staging.yaml \
  --atomic \
  --wait

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Override Individual Values at Deploy Time

helm upgrade --install myapp-staging \
  oci://harbor.local/charts/myapp \
  --version 1.3.0 \
  --namespace myteam-staging \
  --values values-staging.yaml \
  --set image.tag=1.3.1-hotfix \
  --set replicaCount=1

--set takes priority over --values. Use for one-off overrides only — do not use in production deploys.

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Inspect a Release

# Status
helm status myapp-staging -n myteam-staging

# Full rendered manifest
helm get manifest myapp-staging -n myteam-staging

# Current values
helm get values myapp-staging -n myteam-staging

# History of all deploys
helm history myapp-staging -n myteam-staging

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Rollback

Rollback to the previous release instantly:

# Rollback to previous version
helm rollback myapp-staging -n myteam-staging

# Rollback to a specific revision
helm rollback myapp-staging 3 -n myteam-staging

# Verify
helm history myapp-staging -n myteam-staging

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Diff Before Upgrade

Install the helm-diff plugin to preview changes before applying:

helm plugin install https://github.com/databus23/helm-diff

helm diff upgrade myapp-staging \
  oci://harbor.local/charts/myapp \
  --version 1.3.0 \
  --namespace myteam-staging \
  --values values-staging.yaml

Shows a git-diff-style view of what will change in the cluster — very useful before production upgrades.

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Uninstall

helm uninstall myapp-staging -n myteam-staging

This removes all resources created by the release. PVCs are not deleted by default — add --cascade=foreground if you want everything including data removed.

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Multi-Environment Deploy Reference

# Staging
helm upgrade --install myapp-staging \
  oci://harbor.local/charts/myapp --version 1.3.0 \
  -n myteam-staging -f values-staging.yaml --atomic --wait

# Production (requires explicit version — never latest)
helm upgrade --install myapp-prod \
  oci://harbor.local/charts/myapp --version 1.3.0 \
  -n myteam-prod -f values-prod.yaml --atomic --wait

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Helm Release Naming Convention

Environment	Release Name	Namespace
Staging	myapp-staging	myteam-staging
Production	myapp-prod	myteam-prod
Dev (local)	myapp-dev	myteam-dev

List all releases across all namespaces:

helm list -A