>fluxcd-helm-controller

fluxcd-helm-controller

Reconciles Helm chart releases in Kubernetes by automating installs, upgrades, and rollbacks.

fluxcd

source-controller

kustomize-controller

argo-cd

What is fluxcd-helm-controller?

The fluxcd-helm-controller image is part of the Flux GitOps toolkit. It manages Helm releases declaratively, ensuring that the Helm charts installed in a cluster match the desired state stored in Git, Helm repositories, or OCI registries.

It works with source-controller to fetch charts from repositories, then installs or upgrades them as specified in HelmRelease custom resources. The helm-controller also handles rollbacks, remediation, and advanced Helm features like value overrides and dependency management.

This makes it possible to manage Helm charts in a fully GitOps-driven workflow, giving teams consistent, auditable, and automated delivery of Helm-based applications.

How to use this image

The fluxcd-helm-controller image is typically deployed as part of a Flux installation in Kubernetes.

Examples:

# Install Flux with helm-controller included
kubectl create ns flux-system
flux install --components=helm-controller

# Create a HelmRelease pointing to a HelmRepository source
kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: helm.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v2beta2
kind: HelmRelease
metadata:
  name: podinfo
  namespace: flux-system
spec:
  interval: 5m
  chart:
    spec:
      chart: podinfo
      version: "6.5.0"
      sourceRef:
        kind: HelmRepository
        name: podinfo
  values:
    replicaCount: 2
EOF

The helm-controller will reconcile this release, ensuring the chart is installed and kept up to date, rolling back or retrying if issues occur.

Image variants

The fluxcd-helm-controller image is typically released under ghcr.io/fluxcd/helm-controller and published in these forms:

helm-controller:<version>

Version-pinned images (e.g., helm-controller:v0.37.0) are recommended for production use.

helm-controller:latest

Tracks the most recent stable release. Useful for testing but not ideal for production.

helm-controller:main / nightly

Built from the development branch. Intended for contributors or teams testing upcoming features.

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