Files
helmfile/README.md
T
yxxhero e703b15075 docs: restructure documentation and improve newcomer experience (#2573)
* feat: add --write-output flag to helmfile fetch for air-gapped environments

Add --write-output flag to helmfile fetch that outputs a modified
helmfile.yaml with chart references updated to point to downloaded
local chart paths. Combined with --output-dir, this enables preparing
all charts for deployment in air-gapped environments.

Usage:
  helmfile fetch --output-dir ./charts --write-output > helmfile-airgapped.yaml

Fixes #2571

Signed-off-by: yxxhero <yxxhero@users.noreply.github.com>
Signed-off-by: yxxhero <aiopsclub@163.com>

* docs: restructure documentation and improve newcomer experience

Split the monolithic index.md (1990 lines) into focused topic pages,
update mkdocs.yml navigation, and add missing documentation for
undocumented code features.

Structure changes:
- Extract configuration.md (helmfile.yaml reference)
- Extract cli.md (CLI commands and flags)
- Extract templating.md (template syntax and env vars)
- Extract environments.md (environment configuration)
- Extract releases.md (DAG, needs, selectors)
- Extract hooks.md (lifecycle hooks)
- Extract integrations.md (ArgoCD, Azure ACR, OCI)
- Slim index.md to ~270 line landing page with step-by-step tutorial

Newcomer improvements:
- Add 5-step Getting Started tutorial with explanations
- Reorganize nav: Getting Started now shows core learning path
  (Writing Helmfile → Values → Environments → Releases)
- Add Quick Reference table to configuration.md
- Simplify writing-helmfile.md title

Code-vs-docs gap fixes:
- Document 23 undocumented release fields (valuesTemplate,
  setTemplate, forceNamespace, adopt, trackMode, etc.)
- Document 6 undocumented helmDefaults fields (enableDNS,
  forceConflicts, skipRefresh, takeOwnership, etc.)
- Document print-env command and missing CLI flags
- Document kubectlApply hook field
- Document environment defaults field and merge order
- Document kubedogQPS/kubedogBurst advanced settings
- Document template partials (_*.tpl) auto-loading

Cleanup:
- Fix Docker image version from v0.156.0 to v1.1.0
- Fix heading nesting in advanced-features.md
- Update experimental-features.md with current features
- Fix broken cross-references and anchor links

Signed-off-by: yxxhero <aiopsclub@163.com>

* Revert changes to pkg/app from docs/restructure-and-improve branch

Signed-off-by: yxxhero <aiopsclub@163.com>

* docs: add create subcommand to README and CLI reference

Signed-off-by: yxxhero <aiopsclub@163.com>

---------

Signed-off-by: yxxhero <yxxhero@users.noreply.github.com>
Signed-off-by: yxxhero <aiopsclub@163.com>
2026-05-03 19:33:33 +08:00

164 lines
7.4 KiB
Markdown

<!-- markdownlint-configure-file {
"MD013": {
"code_blocks": false,
"tables": false
},
"MD033": false,
"MD041": false
} -->
<div align="center" markdown="1">
# Helmfile
[![Tests](https://github.com/helmfile/helmfile/actions/workflows/ci.yaml/badge.svg?branch=main)](https://github.com/helmfile/helmfile/actions/workflows/ci.yaml?query=branch%3Amain)
[![Container Image Repository on GHCR](https://ghcr-badge.egpl.dev/helmfile/helmfile/latest_tag?trim=major&label=latest "Docker Repository on ghcr")](https://github.com/helmfile/helmfile/pkgs/container/helmfile)
[![Go Report Card](https://goreportcard.com/badge/github.com/helmfile/helmfile)](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/helmfile/helmfile)
[![Slack Community #helmfile](https://slack.sweetops.com/badge.svg)](https://slack.sweetops.com)
[![Documentation](https://readthedocs.org/projects/helmfile/badge/?version=latest&style=flat)](https://helmfile.readthedocs.io/en/latest/)
[![Gurubase](https://img.shields.io/badge/Gurubase-Ask%20Helmfile%20Guru-006BFF)](https://gurubase.io/g/helmfile)
[![zread](https://img.shields.io/badge/Ask_Zread-_.svg?style=flat&color=00b0aa&labelColor=000000&logo=data%3Aimage%2Fsvg%2Bxml%3Bbase64%2CPHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMTYiIGhlaWdodD0iMTYiIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCAxNiAxNiIgZmlsbD0ibm9uZSIgeG1sbnM9Imh0dHA6Ly93d3cudzMub3JnLzIwMDAvc3ZnIj4KPHBhdGggZD0iTTQuOTYxNTYgMS42MDAxSDIuMjQxNTZDMS44ODgxIDEuNjAwMSAxLjYwMTU2IDEuODg2NjQgMS42MDE1NiAyLjI0MDFWNC45NjAxQzEuNjAxNTYgNS4zMTM1NiAxLjg4ODEgNS42MDAxIDIuMjQxNTYgNS42MDAxSDQuOTYxNTZDNS4zMTUwMiA1LjYwMDEgNS42MDE1NiA1LjMxMzU2IDUuNjAxNTYgNC45NjAxVjIuMjQwMUM1LjYwMTU2IDEuODg2NjQgNS4zMTUwMiAxLjYwMDEgNC45NjE1NiAxLjYwMDFaIiBmaWxsPSIjZmZmIi8%2BCjxwYXRoIGQ9Ik00Ljk2MTU2IDEwLjM5OTlIMi4yNDE1NkMxLjg4ODEgMTAuMzk5OSAxLjYwMTU2IDEwLjY4NjQgMS42MDE1NiAxMS4wMzk5VjEzLjc1OTlDMS42MDE1NiAxNC4xMTM0IDEuODg4MSAxNC4zOTk5IDIuMjQxNTYgMTQuMzk5OUg0Ljk2MTU2QzUuMzE1MDIgMTQuMzk5OSA1LjYwMTU2IDE0LjExMzQgNS42MDE1NiAxMy43NTk5VjExLjAzOTlDNS42MDE1NiAxMC42ODY0IDUuMzE1MDIgMTAuMzk5OSA0Ljk2MTU2IDEwLjM5OTlaIiBmaWxsPSIjZmZmIi8%2BCjxwYXRoIGQ9Ik0xMy43NTg0IDEuNjAwMUgxMS4wMzg0QzEwLjY4NSAxLjYwMDEgMTAuMzk4NCAxLjg4NjY0IDEwLjM5ODQgMi4yNDAxVjQuOTYwMUMxMC4zOTg0IDUuMzEzNTYgMTAuNjg1IDUuNjAwMSAxMS4wMzg0IDUuNjAwMUgxMy43NTg0QzE0LjExMTkgNS42MDAxIDE0LjM5ODQgNS4zMTM1NiAxNC4zOTg0IDQuOTYwMVYyLjI0MDFDMTQuMzk4NCAxLjg4NjY0IDE0LjExMTkgMS42MDAxIDEzLjc1ODQgMS42MDAxWiIgZmlsbD0iI2ZmZiIvPgo8cGF0aCBkPSJNNCAxMkwxMiA0TDQgMTJaIiBmaWxsPSIjZmZmIi8%2BCjxwYXRoIGQ9Ik00IDEyTDEyIDQiIHN0cm9rZT0iI2ZmZiIgc3Ryb2tlLXdpZHRoPSIxLjUiIHN0cm9rZS1saW5lY2FwPSJyb3VuZCIvPgo8L3N2Zz4K&logoColor=ffffff)](https://zread.ai/helmfile/helmfile)
Deploy Kubernetes Helm Charts
<br />
</div>
English | [简体中文](./README-zh_CN.md)
## About
Helmfile is a declarative spec for deploying helm charts. It lets you...
* Keep a directory of chart value files and maintain changes in version control.
* Apply CI/CD to configuration changes.
* Periodically sync to avoid skew in environments.
To avoid upgrades for each iteration of `helm`, the `helmfile` executable delegates to `helm` - as a result, the following must be installed
- [helm](https://helm.sh/docs/intro/install/)
- [helm-diff](https://github.com/databus23/helm-diff)
## Highlights
**Declarative**: Write, version-control, apply the desired state file for visibility and reproducibility.
**Modules**: Modularize common patterns of your infrastructure, distribute it via Git, S3, etc. to be reused across the entire company (See [#648](https://github.com/roboll/helmfile/pull/648))
**Versatility**: Manage your cluster consisting of charts, [kustomizations](https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize), and directories of Kubernetes resources, turning everything to Helm releases (See [#673](https://github.com/roboll/helmfile/pull/673))
**Patch**: JSON/Strategic-Merge Patch Kubernetes resources before `helm-install`ing, without forking upstream charts (See [#673](https://github.com/roboll/helmfile/pull/673))
## Status
May 2025 Update
* Helmfile v1.0 and v1.1 has been released. We recommend upgrading directly to v1.1 if you are still using v0.x.
* If you haven't already upgraded, please go over this v1 proposal [here](docs/proposals/towards-1.0.md) to see a small list of breaking changes.
## Installation
**1: Binary Installation**
download one of [releases](https://github.com/helmfile/helmfile/releases)
**2: Package Manager**
* Archlinux: install via `pacman -S helmfile`
* openSUSE: install via `zypper in helmfile` assuming you are on Tumbleweed; if you are on Leap you must add the [kubic](https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/kubic/) repo for your distribution version once before that command, e.g. `zypper ar https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/kubic/openSUSE_Leap_\$releasever kubic`
* Windows (using [scoop](https://scoop.sh/)): `scoop install helmfile`
* macOS (using [homebrew](https://brew.sh/)): `brew install helmfile`
* Linux/macOS/Windows (using [mise](https://mise.jdx.dev)): `mise use -g helmfile@latest`
**3: Container**
For more details, see [run as a container](https://helmfile.readthedocs.io/en/latest/#running-as-a-container)
> Make sure to run `helmfile init` once after installation. Helmfile uses the [helm-diff](https://github.com/databus23/helm-diff) plugin.
**4: Build from source**
requirements: [Go](https://golang.org/dl/)
` go install github.com/helmfile/helmfile@latest `
## Getting Started
Let's start with a simple `helmfile` and gradually improve it to fit your use-case!
Generate a project scaffold with best-practice directory structure:
```console
helmfile create my-project && cd my-project
```
Or create a `helmfile.yaml` manually. Suppose the `helmfile.yaml` representing the desired state of your helm releases looks like:
```yaml
repositories:
- name: prometheus-community
url: https://prometheus-community.github.io/helm-charts
releases:
- name: prom-norbac-ubuntu
namespace: prometheus
chart: prometheus-community/prometheus
set:
- name: rbac.create
value: false
```
Sync your Kubernetes cluster state to the desired one by running:
```console
helmfile apply
```
Congratulations! You now have your first Prometheus deployment running inside
your cluster.
Iterate on the `helmfile.yaml` by referencing:
* [Configuration](https://helmfile.readthedocs.io/en/latest/#configuration)
* [CLI reference](https://helmfile.readthedocs.io/en/latest/#cli-reference)
* [Helmfile Best Practices Guide](https://helmfile.readthedocs.io/en/latest/writing-helmfile/)
## More complex examples
See: [multi-env-helmfile](https://github.com/helmfile/multi-env-helmfile)
## Docs
Please read [complete documentation](https://helmfile.readthedocs.io/)
## Contributing
Welcome to contribute together to make helmfile better: [contributing doc](https://helmfile.readthedocs.io/en/latest/contributing/)
## Attribution
We use:
* [semtag](https://github.com/pnikosis/semtag) for automated semver tagging.
I greatly appreciate the author(pnikosis)'s effort on creating it and their
kindness to share it!
## Users
Helmfile has been used by many users in production:
* [gitlab.com](https://gitlab.com)
* [reddit.com](https://reddit.com)
* [Jenkins](https://jenkins.io)
* ...
For more users, please see: [Users](https://helmfile.readthedocs.io/en/latest/users/)
## License
[MIT](https://github.com/helmfile/helmfile/blob/main/LICENSE)
## Star History
[![Star History Chart](https://api.star-history.com/svg?repos=helmfile/helmfile&type=Date)](https://star-history.com/#helmfile/helmfile&Date)