+++
title = "Installing Helm"
weight = "2"

tags = ["setup", "install", "release"]
section = "using-helm"
categories = ["using-helm"]
type = "page"

slug = "install-helm"

[menu.main]
  url = "install-helm"
  parent = "using-helm"

+++

# Installing Helm

There are two parts to Helm: The Helm client (`helm`) and the Helm
server (Tiller). This guide shows how to install the client, and then
proceeds to show two ways to install the server.

## Installing the Helm Client

The Helm client can be installed either from source, or from pre-built binary
releases.

### From the Binary Releases

Every [release](https://github.com/kubernetes/helm/releases) of Helm
provides binary releases for a variety of OSes. These binary versions
can be manually downloaded and installed.

1. Download your [desired version](https://github.com/kubernetes/helm/releases)
2. Unpack it (`tar -zxvf helm-v2.0.0-linux-amd64.tgz`)
3. Find the `helm` binary in the unpacked directory, and move it to its
   desired destination (`mv linux-amd64/helm /usr/local/bin/helm`)

From there, you should be able to run the client: `helm help`.

### From Homebrew (macOS)

Members of the Kubernetes community have contributed a Helm formula build to
Homebrew. This formula is generally up to date.

```
brew install kubernetes-helm
```

(Note: There is also a formula for emacs-helm, which is a different
project.)

## From Script

Helm now has an installer script that will automatically grab the latest version
of the Helm client and [install it locally](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes/helm/master/scripts/get).

You can fetch that script, and then execute it locally. It's well documented so
that you can read through it and understand what it is doing before you run it.

```
$ curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes/helm/master/scripts/get > get_helm.sh
$ chmod 700 get_helm.sh
$ ./get_helm.sh
```

Yes, you can `curl ...| bash` that if you want to live on the edge.

### From Canary Builds

"Canary" builds are versions of the Helm software that are built from
the latest master branch. They are not official releases, and may not be
stable. However, they offer the opportunity to test the cutting edge
features.

Canary Helm binaries are stored in the [Kubernetes Helm GCS bucket](https://kubernetes-helm.storage.googleapis.com).
Here are links to the common builds:

- [Linux AMD64](https://kubernetes-helm.storage.googleapis.com/helm-canary-linux-amd64.tar.gz)
- [macOS AMD64](https://kubernetes-helm.storage.googleapis.com/helm-canary-darwin-amd64.tar.gz)
- [Experimental Windows AMD64](https://kubernetes-helm.storage.googleapis.com/helm-canary-windows-amd64.zip)

### From Source (Linux, macOS)

Building Helm from source is slightly more work, but is the best way to
go if you want to test the latest (pre-release) Helm version.

You must have a working Go environment with
[glide](https://github.com/Masterminds/glide) and Mercurial installed.

```console
$ cd $GOPATH
$ mkdir -p src/k8s.io
$ cd src/k8s.io
$ git clone https://github.com/kubernetes/helm.git
$ cd helm
$ make bootstrap build
```

The `bootstrap` target will attempt to install dependencies, rebuild the
`vendor/` tree, and validate configuration.

The `build` target will compile `helm` and place it in `bin/helm`.
Tiller is also compiled, and is placed in `bin/tiller`.

## Installing Tiller

Tiller, the server portion of Helm, typically runs inside of your
Kubernetes cluster. But for development, it can also be run locally, and
configured to talk to a remote Kubernetes cluster.

### Easy In-Cluster Installation

The easiest way to install `tiller` into the cluster is simply to run
`helm init`. This will validate that `helm`'s local environment is set
up correctly (and set it up if necessary). Then it will connect to
whatever cluster `kubectl` connects to by default (`kubectl config
view`). Once it connects, it will install `tiller` into the
`kube-system` namespace.

After `helm init`, you should be able to run `kubectl get po --namespace
kube-system` and see Tiller running.

You can explicitly tell `helm init` to...

- Install the canary build with the `--canary-image` flag
- Install a particular image (version) with `--tiller-image`
- Install to a particular cluster with `--kube-context`
- Install into a particular namespace with `--tiller-namespace`

Once Tiller is installed, running `helm version` should show you both
the client and server version. (If it shows only the client version,
`helm` cannot yet connect to the server. Use `kubectl` to see if any
`tiller` pods are running.)

If Helm will look for Tiller in the `kube-system` namespace unless
`--tiller-namespace` or `TILLER_NAMESPACE` is set.

### Installing Tiller Canary Builds

Canary images are built from the `master` branch. They may not be
stable, but they offer you the chance to test out the latest features.

The easiest way to install a canary image is to use `helm init` with the
`--canary-image` flag:

```console
$ helm init --canary-image
```

This will use the most recently built container image. You can always
uninstall Tiller by deleting the Tiller deployment from the
`kube-system` namespace using `kubectl`.

### Running Tiller Locally

For development, it is sometimes easier to work on Tiller locally, and
configure it to connect to a remote Kubernetes cluster.

The process of building Tiller is explained above.

Once `tiller` has been built, simply start it:

```console
$ bin/tiller
Tiller running on :44134
```

When Tiller is running locally, it will attempt to connect to the
Kubernetes cluster that is configured by `kubectl`. (Run `kubectl config
view` to see which cluster that is.)

You must tell `helm` to connect to this new local Tiller host instead of
connecting to the one in-cluster. There are two ways to do this. The
first is to specify the `--host` option on the command line. The second
is to set the `$HELM_HOST` environment variable.

```console
$ export HELM_HOST=localhost:44134
$ helm version # Should connect to localhost.
Client: &version.Version{SemVer:"v2.0.0-alpha.4", GitCommit:"db...", GitTreeState:"dirty"}
Server: &version.Version{SemVer:"v2.0.0-alpha.4", GitCommit:"a5...", GitTreeState:"dirty"}
```

Importantly, even when running locally, Tiller will store release
configuration in ConfigMaps inside of Kubernetes.

## Upgrading Tiller

As of Helm 2.2.0, Tiller can be upgraded using `helm init --upgrade`.

For older versions of Helm, or for manual upgrades, you can use `kubectl` to modify
the Tiller image:

```console
$ export TILLER_TAG=v2.0.0-beta.1        # Or whatever version you want
$ kubectl --namespace=kube-system set image deployments/tiller-deploy tiller=gcr.io/kubernetes-helm/tiller:$TILLER_TAG
deployment "tiller-deploy" image updated
```

Setting `TILLER_TAG=canary` will get the latest snapshot of master.

## Deleting or Reinstalling Tiller

Because Tiller stores its data in Kubernetes ConfigMaps, you can safely
delete and re-install Tiller without worrying about losing any data. The
recommended way of deleting Tiller is with `kubectl delete deployment
tiller-deploy --namespace kube-system`, or more concisely `helm reset`.

Tiller can then be re-installed from the client with:

```console
$ helm init
```

## Conclusion

In most cases, installation is as simple as getting a pre-built `helm` binary
and running `helm init`. This document covers additional cases for those
who want to do more sophisticated things with Helm.

Once you have the Helm Client and Tiller successfully installed, you can
move on to using Helm to manage charts.
