Helm

Package manager for Kubernetes that uses charts to define, install, and upgrade even complex applications. Charts bundle manifests, configurations, and dependencies into a single unit that can be versioned, shared, and published, replacing copy-and-paste with repeatable deployments.

Helm is a graduated CNCF project maintained by a community of 400+ contributors. It is the de facto Kubernetes package manager: charts are discoverable on Artifact Hub alongside other cloud-native artifacts. Unlike raw kubectl apply or Kustomize overlays, Helm delivers versioned packages with templating, lifecycle hooks, and one-command rollbacks.

Key features:

• Charts as single point of authority for complex multi-resource applications
• In-place upgrades, custom install and upgrade hooks
• helm rollback to revert to any previous release
• Version, share, host on public or private chart repositories
• Artifact Hub integration for discovery across thousands of charts
• OCI-compatible chart distribution for registries

Teams deploy off-the-shelf apps like PostgreSQL, Prometheus, or Redis onto Kubernetes clusters. Internal platforms are standardized with reusable charts and shared via private registries. CI/CD pipelines use Helm for repeatable rollouts and rollbacks. Platform engineers templatize manifests for different environments using values files and chart dependencies.