Adding a Helm repository in OpenShift is a common step to manage and deploy Helm charts in your OpenShift cluster. OpenShift supports Helm CLI out of the box, and also provides an Operator (Helm Chart Repository CRD
) to centrally manage chart repositories visible in the OpenShift Web Console’s Developer Catalog.
Below, you’ll find two ways:
- A. Using the Helm CLI (User-level, CLI only)
- B. Adding a Helm Chart Repository for the OpenShift Web Console (Admin-level, visible in Catalog)
A. Add a Helm Repository via CLI (User-level, CLI only)
This lets you use any public Helm repo (e.g., Bitnami, Jetstack) in your terminal, similar to Kubernetes.
Step 1. Install the Helm CLI
- Download: https://helm.sh/docs/intro/install/
- On OpenShift nodes (optional), but most users install locally.
Step 2. Add a Repository
helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
- Replace
bitnami
and URL with your desired repo.
Step 3. Update Repositories
helm repo update
Step 4. List Charts
helm search repo bitnami
Step 5. Install a Chart into OpenShift
Make sure you’re logged into your OpenShift cluster:
oc login ... # login if needed
helm install my-mongodb bitnami/mongodb --namespace=my-namespace
Code language: PHP (php)
That’s it!
You can now install, upgrade, or uninstall Helm charts using the CLI.

B. Add Helm Chart Repository for the OpenShift Web Console Catalog (Admin-level)
This is required if you want all users to browse and deploy charts from a repo using the OpenShift Web Console (Developer Catalog).
Step 1. Log in as a cluster-admin
oc login -u kubeadmin -p <password> https://api.<cluster-domain>:6443
Code language: HTML, XML (xml)
Step 2. Create a Project (Optional)
oc new-project devopsschool-dev
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
Step 3. Apply the ProjectHelmChartRepository YAML
Create a file called bitnami-helm-repo.yaml
:
apiVersion: helm.openshift.io/v1beta1
kind: ProjectHelmChartRepository
metadata:
name: bitnami
namespace: devopsschool-dev
spec:
name: bitnami
description: Bitnami Helm chart repository
connectionConfig:
url: https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
You can use any name/namespace. The
url:
should be your chart repo URL.
Step 4. Apply the YAML
oc apply -f bitnami-helm-repo.yaml
Code language: CSS (css)
Step 5. Check in the Web Console
- Go to Developer → +Add → Helm Chart
- You should see the Bitnami charts available for install!
Troubleshooting & Tips
- You need the Helm Operator installed by default in OpenShift 4.x+.
- To add a repo cluster-wide (all namespaces), use a
HelmChartRepository
resource, notProjectHelmChartRepository
. - For private repositories, add authentication fields under
connectionConfig
.
Summary Table
Method | Scope | Use Case |
---|---|---|
Helm CLI | Per-user (CLI only) | Quick install, dev/test, CI/CD |
ProjectHelmChartRepository | Namespace (Web UI & CLI) | Org-wide, dev teams, UI Catalog |
HelmChartRepository | Cluster-wide | All projects, company-wide |
References

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