Direct answer

An upgrade requires an existing deployed revision. Install the release, use --install, or recover a successful revision first.

Where this error appears

Helm upgrade

Root cause

The release name exists only in failed or pending history, or the command is using the wrong namespace.

Minimal reproduction

helm upgrade demo ./chart -n wrong-namespace

Corrected example

helm upgrade --install demo ./chart -n default --create-namespace

Verify the fix

helm list -A && helm status demo -n default

Things to check

  • Release names are namespace-scoped.
  • Check all namespaces before creating a duplicate release.

Authoritative reference

Confirm version-specific behavior in helm upgrade。