The helm/charts repository is an archived project that formerly served as the canonical source for Helm charts, which are packages containing pre-configured Kubernetes application templates. The repository is now obsolete and no longer under active development, having transitioned to a maintenance-only status that formally ended in November 2020. The project is written in Go and classified across multiple domains including helm, charts, kubernetes, deployment, templates, cluster resources, packaging, configuration, and container orchestration.
The repository historically maintained two primary chart collections: stable charts that met specific technical requirements for production use, and incubator charts that were works in progress not yet meeting stability criteria. Charts in the stable directory were packaged and versioned through GitHub Pages, with the repository serving as the source for the official Helm chart repository. The incubator folder allowed charts to be shared and refined before promotion to stable status. The README explicitly notes that the Artifact Hub now serves as the canonical aggregator for distributed chart repositories, replacing this project's role.
The deprecation timeline documented in the repository shows a structured transition beginning in November 2019 when Helm 3 was publicly released and new chart submissions were halted. By August 2020, the stable and incubator repositories were delisted from the Helm Hub, with chart owners encouraged to accept only security fixes. The formal end of support came in November 2020, after which the repositories were marked obsolete and subject to garbage collection, though the git repository itself was preserved as an archive.
The project established governance structures for chart maintenance, with individual charts maintained by one or more GitHub users listed as maintainers in Chart.yaml files. Maintainers required read-only collaborator status on the repository and needed OWNERS files specifying reviewers and approvers. The repository implemented a trusted collaborator system allowing regular contributors to have pull request tests run automatically, with two paths to achieving this status: public Kubernetes GitHub organization membership or sponsorship from chart maintainers listed in the root OWNERS file.
The review process included automated end-to-end testing through the pull-charts-e2e test run, which was required before merging. The repository followed the same workflow, licensing, and contributor agreements as the main Kubernetes project. Stale pull requests and issues without activity for 30 days automatically became stale, then rotten after another 30 days, and were automatically closed after 60 days total of inactivity.
The repository supported the latest and previous minor versions of Kubernetes, with charts potentially working on earlier versions depending on API version compatibility. Installation was straightforward using helm install commands, with separate commands for enabling the stable and incubator repositories in Helm 3. The project maintained documentation linking to the Helm documentation and chart guides, and provided community support through the Kubernetes Slack instance in the Helm Charts channel. A mirror repository was noted for users in China to address accessibility issues with upstream image and chart hosting locations.
