Installing Helm

Install the Helm command-line tool with a package manager or the official install script, then verify the version.

Helm is a single command-line binary. You install it on your own machine (or CI runner); it talks to your cluster using the same kubeconfig that kubectl uses.

Common install methods

  • macOS — brew install helm
  • Windows — choco install kubernetes-helm or scoop install helm
  • Linux — use the official script, or a distro package such as apt/dnf.

After installing, confirm it works with helm version. Because Helm reuses your kube context, make sure kubectl already points at the right cluster.

Example

Example · bash
# Official install script (Linux/macOS)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/main/scripts/get-helm-3 | bash

# Verify the installation
helm version

# Check which cluster Helm will talk to
kubectl config current-context

When to use it

  • A developer installs Helm on a macOS laptop using Homebrew so they can manage charts locally before pushing to CI.
  • A GitHub Actions workflow installs the Helm binary in an Ubuntu runner using the official install script to deploy charts during a release pipeline.
  • A team documents the exact Helm version in their CONTRIBUTING guide so all contributors run helm version to confirm they meet the minimum required version.

More examples

Install via Homebrew macOS

Installs the latest stable Helm release through Homebrew and confirms the binary works by printing its version.

Example · bash
brew install helm
helm version

Install with official script

Downloads and runs the official Helm installer script, which detects the OS and arch and installs the appropriate binary.

Example · bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/main/scripts/get-helm-3 | bash
helm version --short

Pin version in CI pipeline

Pins a specific Helm version for reproducible CI pipelines by downloading the tarball directly from the Helm release server.

Example · bash
HELM_VERSION=v3.14.0
curl -fsSL https://get.helm.sh/helm-${HELM_VERSION}-linux-amd64.tar.gz | tar -xz
mv linux-amd64/helm /usr/local/bin/helm
helm version --short

Related

helm introhelm repo add

Discussion

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