Helm in Practice

Helm Data Paths and Plugins

The environment variable HELM_DATA_HOME specifies the location for storing Helm data. This directory is where Helm keeps persistent data that is generally not configuration and not cache. The key items often stored under the $HELM_DATA_HOME directory include plugins.

Helm plugins are typically installed and stored within a subdirectory of HELM_DATA_HOME (e.g., $HELM_DATA_HOME/plugins). To see how this looks in practice, you can run the following commands to install some plugins:

# Install the Helm Diff plugin
helm plugin install \
    https://github.com/databus23/helm-diff \
    --verify=false

# Install the Helm Unittest plugin
helm plugin install \
    https://github.com/helm-unittest/helm-unittest \
    --verify=false