Flux HelmRelease "upgrade ... has no deployed releases" in CI

By Daniel Zoghalchali·Latchkey

helm-controller tried to upgrade a release whose last install failed, leaving it in a "failed" state with no successful revision. Helm refuses to upgrade a release that has no deployed revision to upgrade from.

What this error means

A HelmRelease reports "False" with "upgrade failed: <name> has no deployed releases" after an earlier install did not complete cleanly.

Helm upgrade failed: "web" has no deployed releases

Common causes

The initial install failed and was not remediated

The first install errored, leaving the release stuck in a failed state, so subsequent reconciles attempt an upgrade with no deployed base.

Remediation is disabled so the failed release lingers

Without uninstall-on-failure remediation, the failed release stays and blocks upgrades until it is cleared.

How to fix it

Clear the failed release and reinstall

1. Enable install remediation so a failed install is rolled back or uninstalled.
2. Suspend and resume the HelmRelease, or uninstall the stuck release, to force a fresh install.
3. Reconcile and confirm the release reaches deployed.

flux suspend helmrelease web
flux resume helmrelease web
flux reconcile helmrelease web --with-source

Configure remediation to auto-clear failures

Set install remediation so a failed install does not leave a state that blocks later upgrades.

spec:
  install:
    remediation:
      retries: 3
      remediateLastFailure: true

How to prevent it

• Enable install remediation so failed installs are cleaned up automatically.
• Fix the original install failure before expecting upgrades to succeed.
• Reconcile with source so a fresh install uses the intended chart.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

References

• Terraform documentation
• GitHub Actions documentation