Helm - ClickHouse Documentation

Chart version 2.xThis page documents the v2.x subchart-based Helm chart. If you are still using the v1.x inline-template chart, see the v1.x Helm guide. For migration steps, see the Upgrade guide.

The Helm chart for ClickStack can be found here and is the recommended method for production deployments. The v2.x chart uses a two-phase installation. Operators and CRDs are installed first via the clickstack-operators chart, followed by the main clickstack chart which creates operator-managed custom resources for ClickHouse, MongoDB, and the OpenTelemetry Collector. By default, the Helm chart provisions all core components, including:

ClickHouse — managed by the ClickHouse Operator via ClickHouseCluster and KeeperCluster custom resources
HyperDX — the observability UI and API
OpenTelemetry (OTel) collector — deployed via the official OpenTelemetry Collector Helm chart as a subchart
MongoDB — managed by the MongoDB Kubernetes Operator (MCK) via a MongoDBCommunity custom resource

However, it can be easily customized to integrate with an existing ClickHouse deployment — for example, one hosted in ClickHouse Cloud. The chart supports standard Kubernetes best practices, including:

Environment-specific configuration via values.yaml
Resource limits and pod-level scaling
TLS and ingress configuration
Secrets management and authentication setup
Additional manifests for deploying arbitrary Kubernetes objects (NetworkPolicy, HPA, ALB Ingress, etc.) alongside the chart

Suitable for

Proof of concepts
Production

Deployment steps

Prerequisites

Helm v3+
Kubernetes cluster (v1.20+ recommended)
kubectl configured to interact with your cluster

Add the ClickStack Helm repository

Add the ClickStack Helm repository:

helm repo add clickstack https://clickhouse.github.io/ClickStack-helm-charts
helm repo update

Install the operators

Install the operator chart first. This registers the CRDs required by the main chart:

helm install clickstack-operators clickstack/clickstack-operators

Wait for the operator pods to become ready before proceeding:

kubectl get pods -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=clickstack-operators

Install ClickStack

Once the operators are running, install the main chart:

helm install my-clickstack clickstack/clickstack

Verify the installation

Verify the installation:

kubectl get pods -l "app.kubernetes.io/name=clickstack"

When all pods are ready, proceed.

Forward ports

Port forwarding allows us to access and set up HyperDX. Users deploying to production should instead expose the service via an ingress or load balancer to ensure proper network access, TLS termination, and scalability. Port forwarding is best suited for local development or one-off administrative tasks, not long-term or high-availability environments.

kubectl port-forward \
  pod/$(kubectl get pod -l app.kubernetes.io/name=clickstack -o jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}') \
  8080:3000

Production Ingress SetupFor production deployments, configure ingress with TLS instead of port forwarding. See the Ingress Configuration guide for detailed setup instructions.

Navigate to the UI

Visit http://localhost:8080 to access the HyperDX UI.Create a user, providing a username and password which meets the requirements.On clicking Create, data sources will be created for the ClickHouse instance deployed with the Helm chart.

Overriding default connectionYou can override the default connection to the integrated ClickHouse instance. For details, see “Using ClickHouse Cloud”.

Customizing values (optional)

You can customize settings by using --set flags. For example:

helm install my-clickstack clickstack/clickstack --set key=value

Alternatively, edit the values.yaml. To retrieve the default values:

helm show values clickstack/clickstack > values.yaml

Example config:

hyperdx:
  frontendUrl: "https://hyperdx.example.com"

  deployment:
    replicas: 2
    resources:
      limits:
        cpu: "2"
        memory: 4Gi
      requests:
        cpu: 500m
        memory: 1Gi

  ingress:
    enabled: true
    host: hyperdx.example.com
    tls:
      enabled: true
      tlsSecretName: "hyperdx-tls"

helm install my-clickstack clickstack/clickstack -f values.yaml

Using secrets (optional)

The v2.x chart uses a unified secret (clickstack-secret) populated from hyperdx.secrets in your values. All sensitive environment variables — including ClickHouse passwords, MongoDB passwords, and the HyperDX API key — flow through this single secret.To override secret values:

hyperdx:
  secrets:
    HYPERDX_API_KEY: "your-api-key"
    CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD: "your-clickhouse-password"
    CLICKHOUSE_APP_PASSWORD: "your-app-password"
    MONGODB_PASSWORD: "your-mongodb-password"

For external secret management (e.g. using a secrets operator), you can reference a pre-existing Kubernetes secret:

hyperdx:
  useExistingConfigSecret: true
  existingConfigSecret: "my-external-secret"
  existingConfigConnectionsKey: "connections.json"
  existingConfigSourcesKey: "sources.json"

API Key ManagementFor detailed API key setup instructions including multiple configuration methods and pod restart procedures, see the API Key Setup guide.

Using ClickHouse Cloud

If using ClickHouse Cloud, disable the built-in ClickHouse instance and provide your Cloud credentials:

# values-clickhouse-cloud.yaml
clickhouse:
  enabled: false

hyperdx:
  secrets:
    CLICKHOUSE_PASSWORD: "your-cloud-password"
    CLICKHOUSE_APP_PASSWORD: "your-cloud-password"

  useExistingConfigSecret: true
  existingConfigSecret: "clickhouse-cloud-config"
  existingConfigConnectionsKey: "connections.json"
  existingConfigSourcesKey: "sources.json"

Create the connection secret separately:

cat <<EOF > connections.json
[
  {
    "name": "ClickHouse Cloud",
    "host": "https://your-cloud-instance.clickhouse.cloud",
    "port": 8443,
    "username": "default",
    "password": "your-cloud-password"
  }
]
EOF

kubectl create secret generic clickhouse-cloud-config \
  --from-file=connections.json=connections.json

rm connections.json

helm install my-clickstack clickstack/clickstack -f values-clickhouse-cloud.yaml

Advanced External ConfigurationsFor production deployments with secret-based configuration, external OTEL collectors, or minimal setups, see the Deployment Options guide.

Production notes

By default, this chart installs ClickHouse, MongoDB, and the OTel collector. For production, it is recommended that you manage ClickHouse and the OTel collector separately. To disable ClickHouse and the OTel collector:

clickhouse:
  enabled: false

otel-collector:
  enabled: false

Production Best PracticesFor production deployments including high availability configuration, resource management, ingress/TLS setup, and cloud-specific configurations (GKE, EKS, AKS), see:

Configuration Guide - Ingress, TLS, and secrets management
Cloud Deployments - Cloud-specific settings and production checklist

Task configuration

By default, there is one task in the chart setup as a cronjob, responsible for checking whether alerts should fire. In v2.x, task configuration has moved under hyperdx.tasks:

Parameter	Description	Default
`hyperdx.tasks.enabled`	Enable/Disable cron tasks in the cluster. By default, the HyperDX image will run cron tasks in the process. Change to true if you’d rather use a separate cron task in the cluster.	`false`
`hyperdx.tasks.checkAlerts.schedule`	Cron schedule for the check-alerts task	`/1 * * *`
`hyperdx.tasks.checkAlerts.resources`	Resource requests and limits for the check-alerts task	See `values.yaml`

Upgrading the chart

To upgrade to a newer version:

helm upgrade my-clickstack clickstack/clickstack -f values.yaml

To check available chart versions:

helm search repo clickstack

Upgrading from v1.xIf you are upgrading from the v1.x inline-template chart, see the Upgrade guide for migration instructions. This is a breaking change — an in-place helm upgrade is not supported.

Uninstalling ClickStack

Uninstall in reverse order:

helm uninstall my-clickstack            # Remove app + CRs first
helm uninstall clickstack-operators     # Remove operators + CRDs

Note: PersistentVolumeClaims created by the MongoDB and ClickHouse operators are not removed by helm uninstall. This is by design to prevent accidental data loss. To clean up PVCs, refer to:

MongoDB Kubernetes Operator docs

Troubleshooting

Checking logs

kubectl logs -l app.kubernetes.io/name=clickstack

Debugging a failed install

helm install my-clickstack clickstack/clickstack --debug --dry-run

Verifying deployment

kubectl get pods -l app.kubernetes.io/name=clickstack

Additional Troubleshooting ResourcesFor ingress-specific issues, TLS problems, or cloud deployment troubleshooting, see:

Ingress Troubleshooting - Asset serving, path rewrites, browser issues
Cloud Deployments - GKE OpAMP issues and cloud-specific problems

Schema choice: Map vs JSON

ClickStack stores attributes as Map(LowCardinality(String), String) columns by default. This is the recommended schema for observability workloads. Combined with bucketed map serialization and text indexes on map keys and values, it provides selective lookups without the per-key ingest overhead of dynamic JSON subcolumns. A JSON-typed schema is available in beta for evaluation on workloads with a small, stable attribute key-set. It is not recommended as the default. See Map vs JSON type for the full comparison and the env vars required to enable JSON support.

Deployment guides

Deployment options - External ClickHouse, OTEL collector, and minimal deployments
Configuration guide - API keys, secrets, and ingress setup
Cloud deployments - GKE, EKS, AKS configurations and production best practices
Upgrade guide - Migrating from v1.x to v2.x
Additional manifests - Deploying custom Kubernetes objects alongside the chart

v1.x documentation

Helm (v1.x) - v1.x deployment guide
Configuration (v1.x) - v1.x configuration
Deployment options (v1.x) - v1.x deployment options
Cloud deployments (v1.x) - v1.x cloud configurations

Additional resources

ClickStack getting started guide - Introduction to ClickStack
ClickStack Helm charts repository - Chart source code and values reference
Kubernetes documentation - Kubernetes reference
Helm documentation - Helm reference

​Suitable for

​Deployment steps

​Prerequisites

​Add the ClickStack Helm repository

​Install the operators

​Install ClickStack

​Verify the installation

​Forward ports

​Navigate to the UI

​Customizing values (optional)

​Using secrets (optional)

​Using ClickHouse Cloud

​Production notes

​Task configuration

​Upgrading the chart

​Uninstalling ClickStack

​Troubleshooting

​Checking logs

​Debugging a failed install

​Verifying deployment

​Schema choice: Map vs JSON

​Related documentation

​Deployment guides

​v1.x documentation

​Additional resources

Suitable for

Deployment steps

Prerequisites

Add the ClickStack Helm repository

Install the operators

Install ClickStack

Verify the installation

Forward ports

Navigate to the UI

Customizing values (optional)

Using secrets (optional)

Using ClickHouse Cloud

Production notes

Task configuration

Upgrading the chart

Uninstalling ClickStack

Troubleshooting

Checking logs

Debugging a failed install

Verifying deployment

Schema choice: Map vs JSON

Related documentation

Deployment guides

v1.x documentation

Additional resources