What is helm-dashboard?

Helm Dashboard is an open-source browser interface for managing Helm, which is the standard package manager for Kubernetes. Kubernetes is a system for running and scaling containerized applications across servers, and Helm handles installing, updating, and uninstalling software packages (called charts) within it. The official Helm tool is command-line only, with no visual interface, which makes it harder to get an overview of what is installed and what has changed over time. Helm Dashboard fills that gap. With the dashboard you can see every chart currently installed in a Kubernetes cluster, browse the full history of changes made to each one, and compare the configuration between any two past versions side by side. If something breaks after an update, rolling back to a previous working version is a few clicks rather than a series of commands. You can also see the individual Kubernetes resources that each chart created, and switch between multiple clusters from within the same interface. The tool can run in two ways. The most common approach is to install it as a plugin for the existing Helm command-line tool, then launch it with helm dashboard. It opens a local web server and pops open a browser tab. Alternatively, since version 1.0, you can download a standalone binary that does not require Helm or the Kubernetes command-line tool to be installed at all. For teams that want it always available, there is also an official Helm chart to deploy the dashboard inside the Kubernetes cluster itself. The project is made by Komodorio and is not an official part of the Helm project. It collects anonymous usage analytics by default to help improve the tool, with a command-line flag available to opt out.