Complete Helm keyboard shortcuts and commands reference — 58 shortcuts across 9 categories. Quick reference cheat sheet for Windows & Mac.
Helm packages Kubernetes manifests as charts and installs them as releases, and its command set maps cleanly onto that: find a chart, see its defaults, render it, install it, upgrade it, roll it back. The table has the ten commands that cover a normal day; the notes explain the order that avoids surprises in production.
| Shortcut | Action | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| helm completion | generate autocompletion scripts for the specified shell | Generate autocompletion scripts for the specified shell. |
| helm create | create a new chart with the given name | Create a new chart with the given name. |
| helm dependency | manage a chart's dependencies | Manage a chart's dependencies. |
| helm env | helm client environment information | Helm client environment information. |
| helm get | download extended information of a named release | Download extended information of a named release. |
| helm history | fetch release history | Fetch release history. |
| helm install | install a chart | Install a chart. |
| helm lint | examine a chart for possible issues | Examine a chart for possible issues. |
| helm list | list releases | List releases. |
| helm package | package a chart directory into a chart archive | Package a chart directory into a chart archive. |
| helm plugin | install, list, or uninstall Helm plugins | Install, list, or uninstall helm plugins. |
| helm pull | download a chart from a repository and (optionally) unpack it in local directory | Download a chart from a repository and (optionally) unpack it in local directory. |
| helm push | push a chart to remote | Push a chart to remote. |
| helm registry | login to or logout from a registry | Login to or logout from a registry. |
| helm repo | add, list, remove, update, and index chart repositories | Add, list, remove, update, and index chart repositories. |
| helm rollback | roll back a release to a previous revision | Roll back a release to a previous revision. |
| helm search | search for a keyword in charts | Search for a keyword in charts. |
| helm show | show information of a chart | Show information of a chart. |
| helm status | display the status of the named release | Display the status of the named release. |
| helm template | locally render templates | Locally render templates. |
| helm test | run tests for a release | Run tests for a release. |
| helm uninstall | uninstall a release | Uninstall a release. |
| helm upgrade | upgrade a release | Upgrade a release. |
| helm verify | verify that a chart at the given path has been signed and is valid | Verify that a chart at the given path has been signed and is valid. |
| helm version | print the helm version information | Print the helm version information. |
| Shortcut | Action | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| helm dependency build | rebuild the charts/ directory based on the Chart.lock file | Rebuild the charts/ directory based on the chart.lock file. |
| helm dependency list | list the dependencies for the given chart | List the dependencies for the given chart. |
| helm dependency update | update charts/ based on the contents of Chart.yaml | Update charts/ based on the contents of chart.yaml. |
| Shortcut | Action | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| helm get all | download all information for a named release | Download all information for a named release. |
| helm get hooks | download all hooks for a named release | Download all hooks for a named release. |
| helm get manifest | download the manifest for a named release | Download the manifest for a named release. |
| helm get metadata | This command fetches metadata for a given release | This command fetches metadata for a given release. |
| helm get notes | download the notes for a named release | Download the notes for a named release. |
| helm get values | download the values file for a named release | Download the values file for a named release. |
| Shortcut | Action | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| helm plugin install | install a Helm plugin | Install a helm plugin. |
| helm plugin list | list installed Helm plugins | List installed helm plugins. |
| helm plugin package | package a plugin directory into a plugin archive | Package a plugin directory into a plugin archive. |
| helm plugin uninstall | uninstall one or more Helm plugins | Uninstall one or more helm plugins. |
| helm plugin update | update one or more Helm plugins | Update one or more helm plugins. |
| helm plugin verify | verify that a plugin at the given path has been signed and is valid | Verify that a plugin at the given path has been signed and is valid. |
| Shortcut | Action | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| helm registry login | login to a registry | Login to a registry. |
| helm registry logout | logout from a registry | Logout from a registry. |
| Shortcut | Action | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| helm repo add | add a chart repository | Add a chart repository. |
| helm repo index | generate an index file given a directory containing packaged charts | Generate an index file given a directory containing packaged charts. |
| helm repo list | list chart repositories | List chart repositories. |
| helm repo remove | remove one or more chart repositories | Remove one or more chart repositories. |
| helm repo update | update information of available charts locally from chart repositories | Update information of available charts locally from chart repositories. |
| Shortcut | Action | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| helm search hub | search for charts in the Artifact Hub or your own hub instance | Search for charts in the artifact hub or your own hub instance. |
| helm search repo | search repositories for a keyword in charts | Search repositories for a keyword in charts. |
| Shortcut | Action | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| helm show all | show all information of the chart | Show all information of the chart. |
| helm show chart | show the chart's definition | Show the chart's definition. |
| helm show crds | show the chart's CRDs | Show the chart's crds. |
| helm show readme | show the chart's README | Show the chart's readme. |
| helm show values | show the chart's values | Show the chart's values. |
| Shortcut | Action | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| helm completion bash | generate autocompletion script for bash | Generate autocompletion script for bash. |
| helm completion fish | generate autocompletion script for fish | Generate autocompletion script for fish. |
| helm completion powershell | generate autocompletion script for powershell | Generate autocompletion script for powershell. |
| helm completion zsh | generate autocompletion script for zsh | Generate autocompletion script for zsh. |
The most essential Helm shortcuts are: helm install [name] [chart] (Install chart), helm upgrade [name] [chart] (Upgrade), helm uninstall [name] (Uninstall).
The Helm shortcut for install chart is helm install [name] [chart].
Print the Helm cheat sheet and keep it next to your keyboard for the first week, then switch to active recall: open Shortcut Speedrun and practice Helm shortcuts against the clock until they're automatic.
Yes — use My Stack to combine Helm shortcuts with any other platform on this site into one printable reference, which is useful if your daily workflow spans several tools.
helm repo add [name] [URL] registers a chart repository and helm repo update refreshes the index — run it before searching, or you will install a stale version. helm search repo [keyword] lists matching charts and versions across added repositories. Before installing anything, helm show values [chart] prints the chart's default values file, which is the document to read and override; save it to a file and edit rather than passing dozens of --set flags.
helm template [name] [chart] renders the manifests locally with your values without touching the cluster, and piping it to kubectl diff or reading it is the safest pre-flight there is. helm install [name] [chart] creates the release; helm upgrade [name] [chart] applies changed values or a new chart version, and upgrade --install does both in one command for CI pipelines. Add --dry-run to either for a server-side render with the cluster's API validation.
helm list shows releases in the current namespace with revision numbers and status; -A covers all namespaces. Every upgrade creates a revision, and helm rollback [name] [rev] returns to one — with helm history showing what each revision changed — which is the fast path out of a bad deploy. helm uninstall [name] removes the release and its resources; add --keep-history if you may want to roll back later.
Open your assistant with this page preloaded as the source — great for follow-up questions like "which of these work in other apps?"