Helm uses a packaging format called charts (a collection of Kubernetes resource files).

Helm charts can be downloaded and saved locally using the helm pull command.

This short note shows how to download a Helm chart from a repository and save it locally.

Cool Tip: List Helm charts and repositories using helm command! Read more →

Download Helm Chart Locally

Add a Helm chart repository, from which you want to download a chart:

$ helm repo add <REPO_NAME> <REPO_URL>
- example -
$ helm repo add nginx-stable https://helm.nginx.com/stable

Update a cache:

$ helm repo update

To download a Helm chart tarball, execute:

$ helm pull <REPO_NAME>/<PATH_TO_CHART>
- example -
$ helm pull nginx-stable/nginx-ingress

You can optionally unpack the tarball on the fly by adding the --untar option:

$ helm pull <REPO_NAME>/<PATH_TO_CHART> --untar

To download a specific version of the Helm chart:

$ helm pull <REPO_NAME>/<PATH_TO_CHART> --version <CHART_VERSION>
- example -
$ helm pull nginx-stable/nginx-ingress --version 0.10.5

To list all the available Helm cart versions:

$ helm search repo -l
- or -
$ helm search repo -l <SEARCH_STRING>
- example -
$ helm search repo -l nginx-ingress
- sample output -
NAME                        CHART VERSION  APP VERSION    DESCRIPTION
nginx-stable/nginx-ingress  0.15.1         2.4.1          NGINX Ingress Controller
nginx-stable/nginx-ingress  0.15.0         2.4.0          NGINX Ingress Controller
nginx-stable/nginx-ingress  0.14.1         2.3.1          NGINX Ingress Controller
nginx-stable/nginx-ingress  0.14.0         2.3.0          NGINX Ingress Controller
nginx-stable/nginx-ingress  0.13.2         2.2.2          NGINX Ingress Controller
...