How do you handle Helm charts in a GitOps workflow?

Both Argo CD and Flux CD support Helm natively, but they integrate with it differently. The key GitOps principle is that Helm chart versions and values are declared in Git, not passed as CLI arguments — and the GitOps operator, not a human running helm upgrade, applies them.

Flux CD — HelmRelease CR: A HelmRepository CR registers a Helm chart repository or OCI registry. A HelmRelease CR declares which chart, which version, and which values to use. Flux's helm-controller renders the chart and applies the resulting manifests. Crucially, if someone runs helm upgrade directly, Flux detects the drift and reverts it on the next reconciliation cycle.

# Flux HelmRelease for nginx-ingress
apiVersion: helm.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v2beta2
kind: HelmRelease
metadata:
  name: nginx-ingress
  namespace: ingress-nginx
spec:
  interval: 5m
  chart:
    spec:
      chart: ingress-nginx
      version: "4.9.x"          # minor-version floating; patch updates auto-apply
      sourceRef:
        kind: HelmRepository
        name: ingress-nginx
        namespace: flux-system
  values:
    controller:
      replicaCount: 2
      service:
        type: LoadBalancer
  valuesFrom:
    - kind: ConfigMap
      name: ingress-extra-values   # additional values from a ConfigMap in Git

Argo CD — Application with Helm source: Set source.helm in the Application CR. You can specify valueFiles (paths to values files within the repo) or inline values overrides. Argo CD renders the chart and syncs the output manifests.

Best practices: Always pin chart versions (avoid * or floating ranges in prod). Store values files alongside the HelmRelease in Git, not as inline YAML when values are large. Use valuesFrom in Flux to reference ConfigMaps or Secrets for values that change per environment, keeping the HelmRelease itself environment-agnostic.

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