The Helm team is proud to announce the first stable release of Helm 4.
new features
There are many new features in Helm 4, but some of them should be highlighted here:
- Redesigned plugin system that supports Web Assembly based plugins
- Post-renderers are now plugins
- Server Side Apply is now supported
- Based on Kstatus, better resource overview to support waiting
- Local content-based caching (e.g. for charts)
- Logging via Slog enabling logging SDK to integrate with modern loggers
- Reproducible creation of chart archives
- Updated SDK API including support for multiple Chart API versions (new experimental v3 Chart API version coming soon)
For full release notes, please visit: https://hem.sh/docs/overview/
Compatibility with Helm v3
Helm v4 is a major version with backward incompatible changes including flags and output to the Helm CLI and SDK.
Please evaluate the changes to your workflow. The changes are not as extensive as from Helm v2 to v3, with the goal that most workflows remain consistent between Helm v3 and v4.
Helm Charts API version v2 (most charts today) will continue to be supported in Helm v4. Existing charts should continue to be installed, upgraded, and otherwise functional. Please test the installation and upgrade of the chart to make sure it works as expected. Changes (e.g., implemented server side) may affect the experience.
community
The community continues to grow, and we’d love to see you there!
- Join the discussion in Kubernetes Slack:
- For questions and just to hang out
- For discussing PR, code and bugs
- Visit the Public Developer Call: Thursday, 9:30am Pacific via Zoom
- Test, debug, and contribute charts: ArtifactHub/packages
Installation and Upgrade
Download Helm v4.0.0. Common platform binaries are here:
The quickstart guide will help you proceed from there. For upgrade instructions Or check the detailed installation notes, install guide. You can also use the script to install it on any system bash,
what will happen next
- 3.19.3 and 4.0.1 are the next patch releases and will be on December 10, 2025
- 3.20.0 and 4.1.0 are the next minor releases and will be due on January 21, 2026
Thank you!
The Helm project has enjoyed code contributions from many community members. Many more community members have helped by filing issues and working with us to identify and eliminate bugs while adding new features. The #helm-users Slack channel has long been a friendly and open forum to get help and learn more about Helm. We can’t thank you enough for making this a supportive, friendly and welcoming community for everyone.
❤️ Helm Team