helm-publish

A GitHub Action that packages a Helm chart and publishes it to a Helm repository hosted on GitHub Pages.

• Packages the chart using helm package
• Merges into the existing index.yaml (all previous versions are preserved)
• Supports storing index.yaml and .tgz files in separate directories
• Retries push on concurrent conflicts

Versioning

The chart version is read from version in Chart.yaml by default. Use the version input to override it at publish time — typically driven by a git tag.

Use Chart.yaml version as-is

- uses: Vr00mm/helm-publish@v1
  with:
    chart-path: ./charts/my-app
    # version not set → uses whatever is in Chart.yaml

Override version from a git tag

When you tag your repo v1.2.3, strip the v prefix and pass it to the action:

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - 'v*'

jobs:
  release:
    steps:
      - uses: Vr00mm/helm-publish@v1
        with:
          chart-path: ./charts/my-app
          version: ${{ github.ref_name }}  # e.g. tag v1.2.3 → chart version 1.2.3

Note: if your tag is v1.2.3 and you want to strip the v:

version: ${{ github.ref_name }}          # produces 1.2.3 directly (helm accepts vX.Y.Z)
# or explicitly strip the v:
# run: echo "version=${GITHUB_REF_NAME#v}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
# version: ${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}

Every published version is preserved in index.yaml — users can install any past version:

helm install my-app vr00mm/my-app --version 1.2.3

Usage

- uses: Vr00mm/helm-publish@v1
  with:
    chart-path: ./charts/my-app
    token: ${{ secrets.PAGES_TOKEN }}
    pages-repo: Vr00mm/vr00mm.github.io
    pages-url: https://vr00mm.github.io

Inputs

Input	Required	Default	Description
chart-path	yes		Path to the Helm chart directory (must contain Chart.yaml)
token	yes		GitHub token with contents: write on the pages repository
pages-repo	yes		Repository hosting the Helm repo (owner/repo)
pages-url	yes		Base URL of the GitHub Pages site (e.g. https://owner.github.io)
version	no	from Chart.yaml	Chart version override
pages-branch	no	master	Branch of the pages repository
charts-dir	no	.	Subdirectory where .tgz files are stored. Use . for root.
index-dir	no	same as charts-dir	Subdirectory where index.yaml is written. Set to . to keep the index at root while charts live in a subdirectory.

Outputs

Output	Description
chart-package	Filename of the packaged .tgz chart

Prerequisites

1. GitHub Pages repository

You need a repository with GitHub Pages enabled (e.g. owner/owner.github.io or any repo with a gh-pages branch).

2. PAGES_TOKEN secret

Create a fine-grained personal access token at https://github.com/settings/personal-access-tokens/new:

• Repository access: your pages repo only
• Permissions: Contents → Read and write

Add it as a secret named PAGES_TOKEN in the repository that calls this action.

Examples

Basic — index and charts at root

- uses: Vr00mm/helm-publish@v1
  with:
    chart-path: ./charts/my-app
    token: ${{ secrets.PAGES_TOKEN }}
    pages-repo: Vr00mm/vr00mm.github.io
    pages-url: https://vr00mm.github.io

Users add the repo:

helm repo add vr00mm https://vr00mm.github.io
helm repo update
helm search repo vr00mm

Split layout — index at root, charts in subdirectory

- uses: Vr00mm/helm-publish@v1
  with:
    chart-path: ./charts/my-app
    token: ${{ secrets.PAGES_TOKEN }}
    pages-repo: Vr00mm/vr00mm.github.io
    pages-url: https://vr00mm.github.io
    charts-dir: charts
    index-dir: .

Users still add the repo the same way:

helm repo add vr00mm https://vr00mm.github.io

Version override (e.g. from a git tag)

- name: Publish Helm chart
  uses: Vr00mm/helm-publish@v1
  with:
    chart-path: ./charts/my-app
    version: ${{ github.ref_name }}   # e.g. 1.2.3 from tag v1.2.3
    token: ${{ secrets.PAGES_TOKEN }}
    pages-repo: Vr00mm/vr00mm.github.io
    pages-url: https://vr00mm.github.io
    charts-dir: charts
    index-dir: .

Full release workflow example

name: Release

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - 'v*'

jobs:
  release:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6

      - name: Publish Helm chart
        uses: Vr00mm/helm-publish@v1
        with:
          chart-path: ./charts/my-app
          version: ${{ github.ref_name }}
          token: ${{ secrets.PAGES_TOKEN }}
          pages-repo: Vr00mm/vr00mm.github.io
          pages-url: https://vr00mm.github.io
          charts-dir: charts
          index-dir: .