helm/charts/openclaw/2026.02.1/PUBLISHING.md

Publishing the Openclaw Helm Chart

This guide covers how to publish the Helm chart to make it available for users.

Quick Start (Automated)

The chart is automatically published to GitHub Pages when you:

1. Update charts/openclaw/Chart.yaml version
2. Commit and push to main branch
3. GitHub Actions automatically packages and publishes

Publishing Methods

Option 1: GitHub Pages (Recommended)

Initial Setup

1. Enable GitHub Pages:

   • Go to repository Settings → Pages
   • Source: Deploy from a branch
   • Branch: gh-pages → / (root)
   • Click Save

2. Create gh-pages branch (first time only):

   # Create empty gh-pages branch
   git checkout --orphan gh-pages
   git rm -rf .
   echo "# Openclaw Helm Charts" > README.md
   git add README.md
   git commit -m "Initial gh-pages"
   git push origin gh-pages
   git checkout main
   

3. The workflow will automatically:

   • Package the chart
   • Create a GitHub release
   • Update the chart repository index
   • Publish to GitHub Pages

Manual Publishing (if needed)

# 1. Package the chart
helm package charts/openclaw -d .cr-release-packages

# 2. Create index
helm repo index .cr-release-packages --url https://openclaw.github.io/openclaw

# 3. Commit to gh-pages branch
git checkout gh-pages
cp .cr-release-packages/* .
git add .
git commit -m "Release chart version X.Y.Z"
git push origin gh-pages
git checkout main

Usage for End Users

Once published, users can install via:

# Add repo
helm repo add openclaw https://openclaw.github.io/openclaw
helm repo update

# Install
helm install my-openclaw openclaw/openclaw

Option 2: OCI Registry (GitHub Container Registry)

Modern approach using OCI registries:

Setup

# Login to GHCR
echo $GITHUB_TOKEN | helm registry login ghcr.io -u USERNAME --password-stdin

# Package chart
helm package charts/openclaw

# Push to GHCR
helm push openclaw-1.0.0.tgz oci://ghcr.io/openclaw

Automate in GitHub Actions

- name: Login to GHCR
  uses: docker/login-action@v3
  with:
    registry: ghcr.io
    username: ${{ github.actor }}
    password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

- name: Push chart to GHCR
  run: |
    helm package charts/openclaw
    helm push openclaw-*.tgz oci://ghcr.io/${{ github.repository_owner }}    

Usage for End Users

# Install directly from OCI
helm install my-openclaw oci://ghcr.io/openclaw/openclaw --version 1.0.0

Option 3: Artifact Hub

Make your chart discoverable on Artifact Hub.

Prerequisites

• Chart published to GitHub Pages or OCI registry
• Artifact Hub metadata file

Add Artifact Hub metadata

Create charts/openclaw/artifacthub-repo.yml:

repositoryID: <your-repo-id>
owners:
  - name: Openclaw Team
    email: team@openclaw.com

Submit to Artifact Hub

1. Go to https://artifacthub.io
2. Sign in with GitHub
3. Add repository
4. Provide repository URL: https://openclaw.github.io/openclaw
5. Wait for verification

Option 4: ChartMuseum (Self-Hosted)

For private/internal charts:

# Run ChartMuseum
docker run -d \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -v $(pwd)/charts:/charts \
  ghcr.io/helm/chartmuseum:latest \
  --storage local \
  --storage-local-rootdir /charts

# Upload chart
curl --data-binary "@openclaw-1.0.0.tgz" http://localhost:8080/api/charts

Versioning

Follow Semantic Versioning:

• Chart version (version in Chart.yaml): Chart changes
• App version (appVersion in Chart.yaml): Openclaw version

Bumping Versions

# Update chart version
vim charts/openclaw/Chart.yaml
# Change version: 1.0.0 → 1.1.0

# Update app version (when openclaw version changes)
vim charts/openclaw/Chart.yaml
# Change appVersion: "2026.1.25" → "2026.1.26"

Version Guidelines

• Major (1.0.0 → 2.0.0): Breaking changes to values.yaml or behavior
• Minor (1.0.0 → 1.1.0): New features, non-breaking changes
• Patch (1.0.0 → 1.0.1): Bug fixes, documentation

Release Checklist

• Update version in Chart.yaml
• Update appVersion if openclaw version changed
• Update CHANGELOG.md (if you have one)
• Test chart locally: ./scripts/test-helm-local.sh
• Lint chart: helm lint charts/openclaw
• Commit changes
• Push to main (triggers automated release)
• Verify GitHub Pages deployment
• Test installation from published repo

Testing Published Chart

# Add your published repo
helm repo add openclaw https://openclaw.github.io/openclaw
helm repo update

# Search for chart
helm search repo openclaw

# Install from published repo
helm install test openclaw/openclaw --dry-run --debug

Troubleshooting

Chart not appearing after publish

1. Check GitHub Actions logs
2. Verify gh-pages branch exists
3. Check GitHub Pages settings are enabled
4. Wait 5-10 minutes for GitHub Pages to deploy

Users getting "not found" error

# Check index.yaml exists
curl https://openclaw.github.io/openclaw/index.yaml

# Verify chart package exists
curl https://openclaw.github.io/openclaw/openclaw-1.0.0.tgz

Permission denied during publishing

Ensure GitHub Actions has write permissions:

• Settings → Actions → General → Workflow permissions
• Select "Read and write permissions"

Advanced: Multi-Chart Repository

If you add more charts:

charts/
  openclaw/
  openclaw-operator/
  openclaw-monitoring/

The helm/chart-releaser-action automatically handles multiple charts.

References

• Helm Chart Repository Guide
• Chart Releaser Action
• Artifact Hub
• OCI Registry Support