Alauda DevOps Pipelines Docs

Deploy/Upgrade from an OCI-hosted Helm Chart

This guide shows a practical CD path where your Helm chart is already pushed to an OCI registry (e.g., Harbor).

You'll use a Tekton Pipeline to pull/install that chart into your Kubernetes cluster.

You'll Build a reusable Pipeline named helm-oci-deploy that:

  1. Authenticates to your OCI registry
  2. Runs helm upgrade --install directly from the OCI chart reference
  3. Optionally applies extra values files and --set overrides
  4. Works with a Kubeconfig secret or a ServiceAccount

TOC

PrerequisitesStep-by-Step InstructionsStep 1: Create the Registry Credential SecretStep 2: Create Cluster Access CredentialStep 3: Prepare helm imageStep 4: Define the PipelineStep 5: Run It with a PipelineRunTroubleshootingNext Steps

Prerequisites

  • A Kubernetes cluster (you can use minikube for local testing).
  • Tekton Pipelines installed on your cluster.
  • A Helm 3.8+ container image (Helm v3 with OCI support).
  • An OCI registry with the OCI chart reference and version you intend to deploy, e.g.:
    • oci://registry.example.com/charts/myapp
    • Version like 1.2.3 (must exist in the registry)
  • Registry credentials for your OCI registry as a Secret of kubernetes.io/dockerconfigjson type:
    • Create a Kubernetes Secret of type kubernetes.io/dockerconfigjson (example below).
  • Cluster access for Helm (choose one):
    • Mount a Kubeconfig Secret,
    • Run the Task under a ServiceAccount with sufficient RBAC.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Create the Registry Credential Secret

You need a registry credential for your OCI registry as a Secret of kubernetes.io/dockerconfigjson type.

You can refer to the Prepare Registry Credential.

Step 2: Create Cluster Access Credential

You need a cluster access credential for Helm.

You can refer to the Prepare Cluster Access Credential.

Step 3: Prepare helm image

You need a Helm 3.8+ container image (Helm v3 with OCI support) to run the helm command.

You can refer to the Discover Tool Image.

When searching by label, specify the image as helm, for example: -l operator.tekton.dev/tool-image=helm.

Step 4: Define the Pipeline

This Pipeline installs/upgrades a release directly from an OCI chart reference using helm upgrade --install.

Helm 3.8+ supports referencing charts via oci://... with --version. This keeps the step stateless and fast. If you prefer to pre-pull the chart, you can helm pull to a temp dir and install from the .tgz path instead.

You can use --wait to blocks until Kubernetes reports the release's resources are ready (or until the operation times out). Pair it with --timeout to control how long Helm will wait.

It's common to combine with --atomic, which rolls back automatically if the wait fails or times out—so you don't leave a half-upgraded release.

Please replace <helm-image> with your Helm image.

apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1
kind: Pipeline
metadata:
  name: helm-oci-deploy
spec:
  description: Clone repo, package Helm chart, and push to an OCI registry.
  params:
    - name: oci_chart
      type: string
      description: OCI chart ref, e.g. oci://registry.example.com/charts/myapp
    - name: version
      type: string
      description: Chart version to install/upgrade to (must exist in the registry)
    - name: release_name
      type: string
      description: Helm release name
    - name: namespace
      type: string
      description: Target namespace
      default: default
    - name: extra_args
      type: string
      description: Extra helm args (e.g., "--atomic --timeout 5m --set key=val -f values.yaml")
      default: ""
  workspaces:
    - name: registry-creds
      description: Workspace with distribution registry config at config.json (for OCI auth)
      optional: true
    - name: kubeconfig
      description: Workspace containing kubeconfig file at ./kubeconfig
      optional: true
  tasks:
    - name: helm
      taskRef:
        resolver: hub
        params:
          - name: catalog
            value: catalog
          - name: kind
            value: task
          - name: name
            value: run-script
          - name: version
            value: "0.1"
      workspaces:
        - name: config
          workspace: kubeconfig
        - name: secret
          workspace: registry-creds
      params:
        - name: image
          ## Replace with your Helm image
          value: <helm-image>
        - name: script
          value: |
            if [ "$(workspaces.secret.bound)" = "true" ]; then
              echo "Using registry credentials in $(workspaces.secret.path)"
              export HELM_REGISTRY_CONFIG=$(workspaces.secret.path)/.dockerconfigjson
            fi

            if [ "$(workspaces.config.bound)" = "true" ]; then
              echo "Using kubeconfig in $(workspaces.config.path)"
              export KUBECONFIG=$(workspaces.config.path)/kubeconfig
            fi

            echo "Upgrading/Installing release..."
            echo "  Release:   $(params.release_name)"
            echo "  Namespace: $(params.namespace)"
            echo "  Chart:     $(params.oci_chart):$(params.version)"

            # Direct install from OCI (no need to helm pull first)
            helm upgrade --install "$(params.release_name)" "$(params.oci_chart)" \
              --version "$(params.version)" \
              --namespace "$(params.namespace)" --create-namespace \
              $(params.extra_args)

            echo "Done."

Step 5: Run It with a PipelineRun

  • Cluster access for Helm (choose one):
    • Mount a Kubeconfig Secret,
    • Run the Task under a ServiceAccount with sufficient RBAC.

Please choose one of cluster access credentials.

apiVersion: tekton.dev/v1
kind: PipelineRun
metadata:
  generateName: helm-oci-deploy-
spec:
  workspaces:
    - name: registry-creds
      secret:
        secretName: registry-creds

    ## If you choose to use the kubeconfig Secret
    # - name: kubeconfig
    #   secret:
    #     secretName: <kubeconfig-secret-name>

  params:
    - name: oci_chart
      value: oci://registry.example.com/charts/myapp
    - name: version
      value: "1.1.0"
    - name: release_name
      value: myapp
    - name: namespace
      value: my-namespace
  pipelineRef:
    name: helm-oci-deploy

  ## If you choose to use the ServiceAccount
  # taskRunTemplate:
  #   serviceAccountName: <service-account-name>

Troubleshooting

  • helm: command not found: Ensure your image actually contains the Helm binary.
  • unauthorized: authentication required: Ensure the Secret is correct and mounted to registry-creds. Confirm HELM_REGISTRY_CONFIG is set to that path.
  • Error: chart "myapp" version "x.y.z" not found: The version doesn't exist in the OCI repo or the oci_chart path is wrong. Verify the pushed tag/version and path.
  • failed to create resource: (…RBAC…) forbidden: The kubeconfig/ServiceAccount lacks permissions. Grant the necessary roles to create/update the resources the chart manages.

Next Steps