Helm - Kestrel AI

The Helm integration enables workflow blocks that manage Helm releases on your Kubernetes clusters. The operator executes Helm commands directly using the helm binary installed in the operator pod. No additional setup is required — Helm is available on all clusters where the Kestrel Operator is deployed.

Prerequisites

Kestrel Operator deployed in your cluster (see Kubernetes)
For private chart repositories: Helm repo credentials configured in the operator (via init container or Helm values)

Setup

Helm is automatically available when the Kestrel Operator is deployed. No manual configuration is needed for public charts. For private Helm repositories or OCI registries, configure access via the operator’s Helm values:

operator:
  helm:
    repositories:
      - name: my-private-repo
        url: https://charts.example.com
        username: "${HELM_USER}"
        password: "${HELM_PASS}"

Workflow Blocks

Helm Upgrade

Deploy a new version of an existing release with updated chart version or values. The most common use case for CI/CD automation. Fields:

Cluster — target cluster
Release Name — name of the Helm release (e.g., my-app)
Namespace — Kubernetes namespace
Chart — chart reference (e.g., bitnami/nginx, oci://ghcr.io/org/chart)
Set Values — inline --set values (e.g., image.tag={{signal.commit_sha}},replicas=3)
Values YAML — full YAML values content (from previous step output or inline)
Chart Version — version constraint (leave empty for latest)
Wait for Rollout — wait until all resources are ready (default: true)
Timeout — max time to wait (default: 5m)

Outputs: release_name, namespace, revision, status, summary

Helm Install

Install a new Helm release from a chart repository or OCI registry. Fields: Same as Upgrade, plus:

Create Namespace — create the namespace if it doesn’t exist (default: true)

Outputs: release_name, namespace, revision, status, summary

Helm Rollback

Rollback a Helm release to a previous revision. Fields:

Cluster — target cluster
Release Name — name of the release to rollback
Namespace — Kubernetes namespace
Revision — revision number (leave empty to rollback to previous)
Wait / Timeout

Outputs: release_name, revision, status, summary

Helm Uninstall

Remove a Helm release and all associated Kubernetes resources. Fields:

Cluster — target cluster
Release Name — name of the release to remove
Namespace — Kubernetes namespace

Outputs: release_name, status, summary

Helm Status

Get the current status of a Helm release. Useful for condition gates and health checks. Fields:

Cluster — target cluster
Release Name — name of the release
Namespace — Kubernetes namespace

Outputs: release_name, namespace, revision, status, chart, app_version, summary

Example Workflows

Deploy on GitHub Action Success

When a CI build completes, upgrade the Helm release with the new image tag:

Trigger: GitHub Action Completed (workflow: build-and-push)
→ Helm Upgrade (release: my-app, chart: oci://ghcr.io/org/app, set: image.tag={{signal.commit_sha}})
→ Slack Notify (#deploys, "Deployed {{signal.commit_sha}} to production")

Rollback on Pod Crash

When pods start crashing after a deploy, automatically rollback:

Trigger: Pod CrashLoopBackOff
→ Helm Status (release: my-app) 
→ Condition: status == "deployed" (only rollback if it was a Helm-managed deploy)
  → True: Helm Rollback (release: my-app)
  → True: Slack Notify (#incidents, "Rolled back my-app due to crashes")

Supported Chart Sources

Source	Example	Notes
Public repos	`bitnami/nginx`	Must be added with `helm repo add` first
OCI registries	`oci://ghcr.io/org/chart`	Requires registry access from operator pod
Inline values	Via “Values YAML” field	YAML content piped to `helm ... -f -`

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
”release not found”	Verify the release name and namespace are correct
”chart not found”	Ensure the chart repository is accessible from the operator pod
”timeout waiting for condition”	Increase the timeout or check pod health separately
OCI registry auth errors	Ensure the operator pod has registry credentials (imagePullSecrets or helm registry login)

​Prerequisites

​Setup

​Workflow Blocks

​Helm Upgrade

​Helm Install

​Helm Rollback

​Helm Uninstall

​Helm Status

​Example Workflows

​Deploy on GitHub Action Success

​Rollback on Pod Crash

​Supported Chart Sources

​Troubleshooting