Helm — де-факто package manager для Kubernetes (CNCF graduated 2020). Chart = packaged set YAML templates + default values, installable через helm install. Solves: template repetition, multi-environment configs (values-prod.yaml vs values-dev.yaml), versioning. Alternatives: Kustomize (simpler but без packaging), raw manifests (ранняя стадия).
Ниже: подробности, пример, смежные термины, FAQ.
# Install chart
helm install my-release bitnami/postgresql \
--set primary.persistence.size=100Gi \
--set auth.postgresPassword=secret
# values-prod.yaml override
helm upgrade my-release bitnami/postgresql \
-f values-prod.yamlHelm — packaging + templating. Kustomize — overlay-based без templates. Для distribution (public charts) — Helm. Для simple mono-repo — Kustomize.
Helm 2 имел Tiller (server component) — security issues. Helm 3 — tiller-less, RBAC-aware. Все используют Helm 3 с 2020.
Artifact Hub (artifacthub.io) — 12k+ charts. Bitnami, Prometheus, Grafana, cert-manager — основные maintainers.