Activepieces on GKE Autopilot

Activepieces is an open-source, Apache 2.0-licensed no-code workflow automation platform for connecting apps, APIs, and data sources. This module deploys Activepieces on GKE Autopilot on top of the App_GKE foundation, which provisions and manages the shared Google Cloud and Kubernetes infrastructure.

This guide focuses on the cloud services Activepieces uses and how to explore and operate them from the Google Cloud Console and the command line. For the mechanics that are common to every GKE application — Workload Identity, ingress, autoscaling, CI/CD, Cloud Armor, IAP, Binary Authorization, VPC Service Controls, backups, and the deployment lifecycle — refer to the App_GKE foundation guide rather than repeating them here.

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1. Overview

Activepieces runs as a Node.js web workload. The deployment wires together a focused set of Google Cloud services:

Capability	Google Cloud service	Notes
Compute	GKE Autopilot	Node.js pods, 2 vCPU / 2 GiB by default, horizontally autoscaled
Database	Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL 15	Required — Activepieces does not support MySQL or other engines
Object storage	Cloud Storage	A dedicated data bucket provisioned automatically
Cache & queue	Redis (optional)	Required for horizontal scaling; memory queue mode is the default
Secrets	Secret Manager	Auto-generated AP_ENCRYPTION_KEY and AP_JWT_SECRET; database password
Ingress	Cloud Load Balancing	External LoadBalancer, optional custom domain + managed certificate

Sensible defaults worth knowing up front:

• PostgreSQL 15 is mandatory. The database engine is fixed by the shared application layer; selecting any other engine breaks startup.
• Memory queue mode is the default. AP_QUEUE_MODE = MEMORY means all workflow jobs run in-process. This works for a single replica, but scaling beyond one pod requires Redis (enable_redis = true).
• AP_ENCRYPTION_KEY and AP_JWT_SECRET are generated automatically and stored in Secret Manager. These keys must never be rotated after first boot without a maintenance window — rotating AP_ENCRYPTION_KEY corrupts all stored connection credentials, and rotating AP_JWT_SECRET invalidates all active user sessions.
• Session affinity is ClientIP by default. Activepieces uses persistent WebSocket connections for real-time flow updates; requests from the same client must reach the same pod.
• NFS is disabled by default. Unlike file-centric apps, Activepieces stores all workflow state in PostgreSQL. Enable NFS only if co-locating Redis on the NFS server VM.
• The pgvector extension is installed automatically during the first-deploy database setup job, enabling AI-powered workflow pieces.
• Minimum 1 replica is maintained (GKE does not support scale-to-zero) to keep webhook endpoints always reachable.

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2. Google Cloud Services & How to Explore Them

All commands assume you have run gcloud container clusters get-credentials <cluster> --region <region> --project <project> and that PROJECT, REGION, and NAMESPACE are set. The namespace and other identifiers are reported in the deployment Outputs.

A. GKE Autopilot — the Activepieces workload

Activepieces pods are scheduled on Autopilot, which bills for the CPU/memory the pods actually request. Horizontal Pod Autoscaling sizes the deployment between the minimum and maximum replica counts.

• Console: Kubernetes Engine → Workloads → select the Activepieces workload to see pods, revisions, and events. Kubernetes Engine → Services & Ingress shows the external IP.
• CLI:

  kubectl get pods,svc,hpa -n "$NAMESPACE"
  kubectl logs -n "$NAMESPACE" deploy/<service-name> --tail=100
  kubectl describe hpa -n "$NAMESPACE"          # current vs target utilisation

See App_GKE for how Autopilot, scaling, and the workload type (Deployment vs StatefulSet) are managed.

B. Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL 15

Activepieces stores all application data (flows, connections, execution history, users) in a managed Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL 15 instance. Pods reach it privately through the Cloud SQL Auth Proxy sidecar over a Unix socket; no public IP is exposed. On first deploy an initialization Job creates the application database and user and installs the pgvector extension.

• Console: SQL → select the instance for connections, backups, flags, and metrics.
• CLI:

  gcloud sql instances list --project "$PROJECT"
  gcloud sql instances describe <instance-name> --project "$PROJECT"
  # Open an interactive shell to inspect schema/data:
  gcloud sql connect <instance-name> --user=<db-user> --database=<db-name> --project "$PROJECT"

The instance name, database name, user, and the Secret Manager secret holding the password are all surfaced in the Outputs. For the connection model, automated backups, and password rotation, see App_GKE.

C. Cloud Storage

A dedicated Cloud Storage data bucket is provisioned automatically for Activepieces file storage. The workload service account is granted access. Additional buckets can be declared via storage_buckets.

• Console: Cloud Storage → Buckets.
• CLI:

  gcloud storage buckets list --project "$PROJECT"
  gcloud storage ls gs://<data-bucket>/          # bucket name is in the Outputs

See App_GKE for CMEK options and GCS Fuse mounts.

D. Redis (queue mode)

Redis is disabled by default (AP_QUEUE_MODE = MEMORY). When enable_redis = true is set, the queue backend switches to AP_QUEUE_MODE = REDIS, which is required before scaling beyond one replica. When redis_host is left empty and enable_nfs is true, the NFS server VM's IP is used as the Redis endpoint.

• Console: Memorystore → Redis (if using a managed instance).
• CLI:

  redis-cli -h <redis-host> ping
  redis-cli -h <redis-host> info keyspace
  # Confirm queue mode injected into the running pod:
  kubectl exec -n "$NAMESPACE" deploy/<service-name> -- env | grep AP_QUEUE_MODE

E. Secret Manager

Two cryptographic secrets are generated automatically and stored in Secret Manager: AP_ENCRYPTION_KEY (used to encrypt all stored connection credentials) and AP_JWT_SECRET (used to sign user session tokens). The database password is managed separately by the foundation.

• Console: Security → Secret Manager.
• CLI:

  gcloud secrets list --project "$PROJECT"
  gcloud secrets versions access latest --secret=<secret-name> --project "$PROJECT"

The database password secret name is in the Outputs. See App_GKE for the Secret Store CSI integration and rotation.

F. Networking & ingress

By default the workload is exposed through an external Cloud Load Balancing IP. A custom domain with a Google-managed certificate can be enabled, and a static IP can be reserved so the address survives redeploys.

• Console: Network services → Load balancing; VPC network → IP addresses.
• CLI:

  kubectl get ingress,svc -n "$NAMESPACE"
  gcloud compute addresses list --project "$PROJECT"

See App_GKE for custom domains, Cloud CDN, and static IP details.

G. Cloud Logging & Monitoring

Pod stdout/stderr flow to Cloud Logging; GKE and Cloud SQL metrics flow to Cloud Monitoring. Optional uptime checks and alert policies are available.

• Console: Logging → Logs Explorer; Monitoring → Dashboards / Alerting.
• CLI:

  gcloud logging read 'resource.type="k8s_container" AND resource.labels.namespace_name="'"$NAMESPACE"'"' \
    --project "$PROJECT" --limit 50

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3. Activepieces Application Behaviour

• First-deploy database setup. An initialization Job runs db-init.sh using postgres:15-alpine. It connects through the Cloud SQL Auth Proxy and idempotently creates the application database and user, grants privileges, and installs the pgvector extension for AI-powered flow pieces. The job is safe to re-run.
• Database migrations on start. Activepieces applies its own schema migrations automatically on every startup, so upgrading the application version applies schema changes without a separate migration step.
• AP_ENCRYPTION_KEY and AP_JWT_SECRET are immutable after first boot. These keys are generated once and written to Secret Manager. Changing AP_ENCRYPTION_KEY permanently corrupts all stored connection credentials. Changing AP_JWT_SECRET invalidates all active user sessions. Only rotate during a planned maintenance window.
• Webhook endpoints require an external IP. The default service_type = LoadBalancer exposes an external IP for incoming webhook calls. Set AP_FRONTEND_URL and AP_WEBHOOK_URL_PREFIX to the external URL after the LoadBalancer IP is assigned:

  kubectl patch deploy <service-name> -n "$NAMESPACE" \
    -p '{"spec":{"template":{"spec":{"containers":[{"name":"activepieces","env":[
      {"name":"AP_FRONTEND_URL","value":"https://activepieces.example.com"},
      {"name":"AP_WEBHOOK_URL_PREFIX","value":"https://activepieces.example.com"}
    ]}]}}}}'

  Or set environment_variables in the module configuration before deploying.
• Sign-up is open by default. AP_SIGN_UP_ENABLED = "true" is injected automatically. After creating the initial administrator account, disable sign-up by adding AP_SIGN_UP_ENABLED = "false" to environment_variables.
• Health path. Startup and liveness probes target the root / by default. The /api/v1/flags endpoint responds only when the server is fully initialised and connected to PostgreSQL — consider setting path = "/api/v1/flags" for more accurate health signalling.

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4. Configuration Variables

Variables are grouped exactly as they appear on the deployment platform. Only settings specific to or notable for Activepieces are listed; every other input is inherited from App_GKE with its standard behaviour and defaults.

Group 1 — Project & Identity

Variable	Default	Description
project_id	(required)	Target Google Cloud project.
region	us-central1	Region for the workload and regional resources.

Group 2 — Deployment Environment

Variable	Default	Description
tenant_deployment_id	demo	Short suffix that makes resource names unique per environment.
support_users	[]	Emails granted project access and monitoring alerts.
resource_labels	{}	Labels applied to all resources for cost/ownership tracking.

Group 3 — Application Identity

Variable	Default	Description
application_name	activepieces	Base name for resources. Do not change after first deploy.
application_version	latest	Activepieces image version tag; pin to a specific release (e.g. 0.20.0) in production.

Group 4 — Runtime & Scaling

Variable	Default	Description
deploy_application	true	Set false to provision infrastructure only.
min_instance_count	1	Minimum replicas; keep at 1 to ensure webhook endpoints are always reachable.
max_instance_count	3	Maximum replicas. Only increase when enable_redis = true.
timeout_seconds	300	Maximum request duration (0–3600 seconds).
enable_cloudsql_volume	true	Cloud SQL Auth Proxy sidecar for socket connections.
enable_image_mirroring	true	Mirror the Activepieces image into Artifact Registry before deployment.

Group 5 — Environment Variables & Secrets

Variable	Default	Description
environment_variables	{}	Extra non-secret settings. Core AP_* values are set automatically — do not set AP_ENCRYPTION_KEY, AP_JWT_SECRET, or AP_POSTGRES_* here.
secret_environment_variables	{}	Map of env var → Secret Manager secret name.
secret_propagation_delay	30	Seconds to wait after secret creation before proceeding.
secret_rotation_period	2592000s	Secret Manager rotation notification frequency.

Group 6 — GKE Backend & Cluster

Variable	Default	Description
service_type	LoadBalancer	How the Kubernetes Service is exposed.
workload_type	Deployment	Deployment (default stateless) or StatefulSet (with per-pod PVCs).
session_affinity	ClientIP	Sticky routing required for WebSocket connections and UI sessions.
network_tags	["nfsserver"]	Node/pod network tags; nfsserver is required when enable_nfs = true.
termination_grace_period_seconds	30	Seconds to wait after SIGTERM before SIGKILL.
enable_network_segmentation	false	Create Kubernetes NetworkPolicy resources.

Group 7 — StatefulSet

Variable	Default	Description
stateful_pvc_enabled	false	Enable PVC templates. Not recommended — Activepieces stores all state in PostgreSQL.
stateful_pvc_size	10Gi	Per-pod PVC storage size.
stateful_pvc_mount_path	/data	Container mount path for the PVC.
stateful_pvc_storage_class	standard-rwo	Kubernetes StorageClass for PVCs.
stateful_headless_service	true	Create a headless Service for stable pod DNS names.
stateful_pod_management_policy	OrderedReady	Pod creation order: OrderedReady or Parallel.
stateful_update_strategy	RollingUpdate	Update strategy: RollingUpdate or OnDelete.

Group 9 — Reliability Policies

Variable	Default	Description
enable_pod_disruption_budget	true	Protect availability during node upgrades.
pdb_min_available	1	Minimum pods available during voluntary disruptions.

Group 10 — Observability & Health

Variable	Default	Description
startup_probe	HTTP / 60s delay	Startup probe. Consider setting path = "/api/v1/flags" for accurate first-boot signalling.
liveness_probe	HTTP / 30s delay	Liveness probe.
startup_probe_config	TCP 240s	App_GKE-level infrastructure probe.
health_check_config	HTTP /	App_GKE-level liveness probe.
uptime_check_config	disabled	Optional Cloud Monitoring uptime check.
alert_policies	[]	Optional metric alert policies.

Group 11 — Jobs & Scheduled Tasks

Variable	Default	Description
initialization_jobs	[]	Leave empty to use the built-in db-init job.
cron_jobs	[]	Scheduled Kubernetes CronJobs.
additional_services	[]	Sidecar or helper services deployed alongside Activepieces.

Group 12 — CI/CD & GitHub Integration

Standard App_GKE Cloud Build / Cloud Deploy integration — see App_GKE. Key inputs: enable_cicd_trigger, github_repository_url, github_token, enable_cloud_deploy.

Group 13 — Filesystem (NFS)

Variable	Default	Description
enable_nfs	false	NFS is off by default. Enable only if co-locating Redis on the NFS server VM.
nfs_mount_path	/mnt/nfs	Mount path inside the container.

Group 14 — Cloud Storage & Artifact Registry

Variable	Default	Description
create_cloud_storage	true	Create additional GCS buckets beyond the auto-provisioned data bucket.
storage_buckets	[]	Additional buckets to provision.
gcs_volumes	[]	GCS Fuse volume mounts via the CSI driver.
manage_storage_kms_iam / enable_artifact_registry_cmek	false	CMEK options.
max_images_to_retain	7	Maximum recent Artifact Registry images to keep.
delete_untagged_images	true	Automatically delete untagged images.
image_retention_days	30	Days after which images are eligible for deletion.

Group 15 — Redis Cache & Queue

Variable	Default	Description
enable_redis	false	Switch AP_QUEUE_MODE from MEMORY to REDIS. Required when max_instance_count > 1.
redis_host	""	Redis endpoint. Leave empty to use the NFS server IP (requires enable_nfs = true).
redis_port	6379	Redis port.
redis_auth	""	Optional Redis auth password (sensitive).

Group 16 — Database Backend

Variable	Default	Description
db_name	activepieces_db	PostgreSQL database name. Immutable after first deploy.
db_user	ap_user	Application database user. Immutable after first deploy.
database_password_length	32	Generated password length (16–64).
enable_auto_password_rotation	false	Zero-downtime DB password rotation.
rotation_propagation_delay_sec	90	Seconds to wait after rotation before rolling-restarting pods.

Group 17 — Backup & Maintenance

Variable	Default	Description
backup_schedule	0 2 * * *	Automated backup cron (UTC).
backup_retention_days	7	Retention; raise to 30–90 for production/compliance.
enable_backup_import / backup_source / backup_uri / backup_format	restore options	Restore from a backup on deploy.

Group 18 — Custom SQL Scripts

enable_custom_sql_scripts, custom_sql_scripts_bucket, custom_sql_scripts_path, custom_sql_scripts_use_root — run SQL from a GCS bucket after provisioning. See App_GKE.

Group 19 — Custom Domain, Static IP & Networking

Variable	Default	Description
enable_custom_domain	true	Provision Ingress for custom hostnames + managed certificate.
application_domains	[]	Hostnames to serve.
reserve_static_ip	true	Stable external IP across redeploys.

Group 20 — Identity-Aware Proxy (IAP)

Warning: Enabling IAP requires Google identity authentication for all inbound requests, including webhook callbacks from external services. Only enable IAP when public webhooks are not needed.

Variable	Default	Description
enable_iap	false	Require Google sign-in in front of Activepieces.
iap_authorized_users / iap_authorized_groups	[]	Who may access.
iap_oauth_client_id / iap_oauth_client_secret	""	Required when IAP is enabled (sensitive).

Group 21 — Cloud Armor

Variable	Default	Description
enable_cloud_armor	false	Attach a Cloud Armor (WAF) policy to the Ingress backend.
admin_ip_ranges	[]	CIDRs allowed privileged access.
cloud_armor_policy_name	default-waf-policy	Policy name.
enable_cdn	false	Enable Cloud CDN on the GKE Ingress backend.

Group 22 — VPC Service Controls & Audit Logging

Variable	Default	Description
enable_vpc_sc	false	Enforce a VPC-SC perimeter (requires organization_id).
vpc_cidr_ranges / vpc_sc_dry_run	(set)	Access level CIDRs / dry-run mode.
enable_audit_logging	false	Detailed Cloud Audit Logs.

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5. Outputs

These values are returned on a successful deployment and are the quickest way to locate and explore the running resources.

Output	Description
service_name	Kubernetes Service name.
namespace	Namespace the workload runs in.
service_cluster_ip	In-cluster ClusterIP.
stage_service_cluster_ips	Map of ClusterIPs for stage-specific services.
service_external_ip	External LoadBalancer IP (when a static IP is reserved).
service_url	URL to reach Activepieces.
database_instance_name	Cloud SQL instance name.
database_name	Application database name.
database_user	Application database user.
database_password_secret	Secret Manager secret holding the DB password.
database_host / database_port	DB endpoint (127.0.0.1 via the Auth Proxy) / port.
storage_buckets	Created Cloud Storage buckets.
network_name / network_exists / regions	VPC network, presence, available regions.
container_image / container_registry	Deployed image and Artifact Registry repo.
monitoring_enabled / monitoring_notification_channels	Monitoring status and channels.
initialization_jobs / db_import_job	Names of the setup and (optional) import jobs.
deployment_id / tenant_id / resource_prefix	Naming identifiers.
project_id / project_number	Project identifiers.
cicd_enabled / cicd_configuration	CI/CD status and details (repo, trigger, registry).
github_repository_url / github_repository_owner / github_repository_name	CI/CD GitHub details.
artifact_registry_repository / cloudbuild_trigger_name / cloudbuild_trigger_id	Registry and build trigger.
kubernetes_ready	Whether the cluster/workload is ready.
vpc_sc_enabled / vpc_sc_perimeter_name / vpc_sc_dry_run_mode	VPC-SC status.
audit_logging_enabled / artifact_registry_cmek_enabled	Audit logging and CMEK status.

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6. Configuration Pitfalls & Sensible Defaults

Risk: Critical (data loss / outage / security) — High (service degraded) — Medium (cost or partial degradation) — Low (minor).

Inherited plan-time validation. This module passes its configuration through the App_GKE foundation engine, which validates values and combinations at plan time — a read replica without its primary, IAP with no authorized identities, a gen1 runtime with NFS/GCS mounts, a database_type that does not match an enabled extension, an out-of-range redis_port/backup_retention_days. Invalid configuration fails the plan with a clear, named error before any resource is created, so most mistakes below are caught up front rather than at apply or runtime.

Setting	Sensible value	Risk	Consequence if wrong
AP_ENCRYPTION_KEY (auto-generated)	Never rotate after first boot	Critical	Rotating it permanently corrupts all stored connection credentials — they cannot be decrypted.
AP_JWT_SECRET (auto-generated)	Only rotate in a maintenance window	Critical	Rotating it invalidates all active user sessions, forcing immediate re-login for everyone.
db_name / db_user	Set once	Critical	Immutable after first deploy; renaming recreates the DB/user and destroys all data.
enable_backup_import	false unless restoring	Critical	Enabling without a valid backup_uri fails the import job.
AP_FRONTEND_URL / AP_WEBHOOK_URL_PREFIX	External LoadBalancer URL	Critical	Incorrect URL breaks all webhook integrations and OAuth callbacks.
max_instance_count	1 unless Redis enabled	High	Scaling beyond 1 in memory queue mode splits the job queue across pods, causing duplicate executions and lost runs.
enable_redis	true before scaling	High	Without Redis, each pod maintains its own in-memory queue — inconsistent execution with more than 1 replica.
redis_host	"" (NFS) or explicit	High	When Redis is on but NFS is off and no host is set, the Redis connection string is blank and the app fails to start.
memory_limit	2Gi	High	Values below 1 GiB cause OOM kills during concurrent flow executions.
session_affinity	ClientIP	High	Without stickiness, WebSocket reconnections route to different pods, disrupting real-time flow updates in the UI.
min_instance_count	1	High	GKE requires min ≥ 1; the validation guard rejects invalid values. Keeping 1 ensures webhooks are always available.
enable_cloudsql_volume	true	High	The Auth Proxy sidecar is required for PostgreSQL connectivity; disabling it is blocked by a plan-time validation guard.
AP_SIGN_UP_ENABLED (auto-injected "true")	Disable after first admin	High	Leaving sign-up open allows anyone with the URL to create an account.
enable_iap	only when webhooks not needed	High	IAP blocks all unauthenticated requests, including external webhook callbacks.
quota_memory_requests / _limits	binary units (4Gi, 8192Mi)	Critical	Bare integers are bytes and block all pod scheduling in the namespace.
enable_pod_disruption_budget	true	Medium	Disabling allows GKE to evict all pods simultaneously during maintenance.
backup_retention_days	7 (raise for prod)	Medium	Too short for compliance retention.

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For the foundation behaviour referenced throughout — IAM and Workload Identity, autoscaling, ingress and certificates, CI/CD, Cloud Armor, IAP, Binary Authorization, VPC-SC, backups, and image mirroring — see App_GKE. Activepieces-specific application configuration shared with the Cloud Run variant is described in Activepieces_Common.