UPGRADE FAILED: another operation (install/upgrade/rollback) is in progress

A previous helm operation was interrupted (CI timeout, manual cancel) and left the release stuck in pending-install or pending-upgrade - helm locks the release until that state clears. Check helm history [release] for the last DEPLOYED revision and helm rollback [release] [revision] to it. If nothing ever deployed, helm uninstall and install fresh. Then retry.

The error

Error: UPGRADE FAILED: another operation (install/upgrade/rollback) is in progress

What to do

1. Confirm the stuck state:

helm status [release] -n [namespace]

Expected: STATUS shows pending-upgrade or pending-install.

2. Find the last good revision:

helm history [release] -n [namespace]

Expected: Revision list; note the highest DEPLOYED revision number.

3. Roll back to it:

helm rollback [release] [revision] -n [namespace]

Expected: Prints Rollback was a success!.

4. Re-run the upgrade. Expected: Proceeds instead of the lock error.

5. If no revision ever reached DEPLOYED: helm uninstall [release] -n [namespace], then install fresh. Expected: Clean slate.

When this applies

• the exact another operation ... is in progress message
• CI pipelines with timeouts that kill helm mid-upgrade
• manual Ctrl-C during helm upgrade

When it does NOT apply

• UPGRADE FAILED for chart or RBAC reasons (no pending state)
• two operators genuinely racing (coordinate instead)

Works with

helm 3.x

Error: INSTALLATION FAILED: another operation (install/upgrade/rollback) is in progress

Same lock, hit by install instead of upgrade. Same rollback/uninstall fix.

Why it happens

Helm stores release state as a secret and marks it pending while an operation runs. An interrupted operation never clears the mark, so every later operation sees the lock.

Edge cases

• Set CI job timeouts longer than the helm timeout plus recovery time - a job killed mid-upgrade creates exactly this state.
• --atomic upgrades roll back automatically on failure, which avoids the stuck state in most cases.

Resolved from

gh:bcgov/common-hosted-workflow (failed-deployment guide) - https://github.com/bcgov/common-hosted-workflow/blob/HEAD/docs/ci-cd/cd/failed-deployment.md

Asked: Every helm upgrade fails with another operation (install/upgrade/rollback) is in progress after a cancelled CI run. Verified answer: Roll back to the last DEPLOYED revision (or uninstall if nothing ever deployed) to clear the pending lock. Source: https://github.com/bcgov/common-hosted-workflow/blob/HEAD/docs/ci-cd/cd/failed-deployment.md (thread gh:bcgov/common-hosted-workflow (failed-deployment guide)). Tool: helm.