Chatwoot on Google Cloud Run
Chatwoot is an open-source, multi-channel helpdesk and customer-engagement platform (email, live chat, social, and messaging inboxes, SLA tracking, and reporting) that serves as a GDPR-compliant alternative to Zendesk or Intercom. This module deploys Chatwoot on Cloud Run v2 on top of the App_CloudRun foundation, which provisions and manages the shared Google Cloud infrastructure.
This guide focuses on the cloud services Chatwoot uses and how to explore and operate them from the Google Cloud Console and the command line. For the mechanics common to every Cloud Run application — service identity, ingress and load balancing, scaling and concurrency, CI/CD, Cloud Armor, IAP, Binary Authorization, VPC Service Controls, backups, and the deployment lifecycle — refer to the App_CloudRun foundation guide rather than repeating them here.
1. Overview
Chatwoot runs as a single Ruby on Rails container that combines the web server and a background Sidekiq worker in one process tree. The deployment wires together a focused set of Google Cloud services:
| Capability | Google Cloud service | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Compute | Cloud Run v2 | Rails + co-located Sidekiq worker on port 3000, 2 vCPU / 4 GiB by default |
| Database | Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL 15 | Required — database_type is fixed to POSTGRES_15; the vector (pgvector) extension is enabled for Chatwoot's AI/search features |
| Cache & queue | Redis (NFS-hosted or external) | Backs Sidekiq's job queue and ActionCable pub/sub; enabled by default |
| File persistence | Cloud Filestore (NFS) | Attachments persist under /opt/chatwoot/storage, shared across revisions |
| Object storage | Cloud Storage | A storage-suffixed bucket provisioned automatically by the Common module, plus a default data bucket declared in storage_buckets |
| Secrets | Secret Manager | Auto-generated Rails SECRET_KEY_BASE; database password |
| Ingress | Cloud Run URL / Cloud Load Balancing | Default run.app URL; optional external HTTPS load balancer + custom domain |
Sensible defaults worth knowing up front:
- PostgreSQL 15 is mandatory.
database_typeis hardcoded toPOSTGRES_15by the Common module'sconfigoutput; Chatwoot's schema and pgvector-backed search features require it. - Custom-built image.
container_image_source = "custom"— the Common module buildsFROM chatwoot/chatwoot:${APP_VERSION}and layers in acloud-entrypoint.shthat maps the Foundation'sDB_*/REDIS_*env vars onto Chatwoot'sPOSTGRES_*/REDIS_URLconvention and launches Sidekiq in the background before exec'ing the Rails server. The image runs as root — matching the upstream image, whose/app//app/tmpare root-owned and not group-writable, so Rails'create_tmp_directoriesstep needs root to succeed. - Cloud SQL is reached via a Unix socket, not a TCP loopback. With
enable_cloudsql_volume = true, Cloud Run mounts the Cloud SQL Auth Proxy socket at/cloudsql/<instance>; the entrypoint passes the injectedDB_HOSTstraight through asPOSTGRES_HOST(the Rubypgdriver accepts a directory path as a Unix-socket host). This differs from the GKE variant, where a sidecar proxy listens on127.0.0.1:5432. - Two initialization Jobs run in sequence.
db-init(creates the database, role, and grants — including acloudsqlsuperusergrant so Chatwoot can create Postgres extensions itself) runs first, thenchatwoot-prepare(bundle exec rails db:chatwoot_prepare) creates/upgrades the schema and seeds defaults, using the built Chatwoot app image. There is no in-container migration step; schema setup happens entirely in these two Jobs before the app container needs to serve traffic. - Redis defaults on (
enable_redis = true). Leaveredis_hostblank to use the shared NFS-server-hosted Redis IP that the Foundation injects automatically. SECRET_KEY_BASEis generated once and shared between the Rails web process and the Sidekiq worker (co-located in the same container) — it must stay stable across restarts/redeploys, since Rails uses it to sign sessions and encrypt ActiveRecord-encrypted columns.- NFS is on by default (
enable_nfs = true) so uploaded attachments persist and are shared across revisions at/opt/chatwoot/storage. cpu_always_allocateddefaults tofalse(request-based billing, cold-start). Sidekiq (notifications, webhooks, auto-assignment) and ActionCable's real-time UI updates only run while a request is being served or during the post-request keep-warm window; setcpu_always_allocated = truewithmin_instance_count >= 1to keep background delivery continuous.ENABLE_ACCOUNT_SIGNUPdefaults to"false"— open self-service admin/agent signup is disabled on a freshly deployed helpdesk; flip it viaenvironment_variablesif you want public signup.
2. Google Cloud Services & How to Explore Them
All commands assume PROJECT and REGION are set. Service and resource names
are reported in the deployment Outputs.
A. Cloud Run — the Chatwoot service
Chatwoot runs as a Cloud Run v2 service that autoscales by request load between the minimum and maximum instance counts. Each pod-equivalent revision runs both the Rails web server and a background Sidekiq worker process in the same container, so the service should not spend long periods at zero instances if timely message/notification delivery matters.
- Console: Cloud Run → select the service for revisions, traffic, logs, and metrics.
- CLI:
gcloud run services list --project "$PROJECT" --region "$REGION"
gcloud run services describe <service-name> --project "$PROJECT" --region "$REGION"
gcloud run revisions list --service <service-name> --project "$PROJECT" --region "$REGION"
See App_CloudRun for scaling, concurrency, execution environment, and traffic splitting.
B. Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL 15
Chatwoot stores all application data (conversations, contacts, inboxes,
agents, reports) in a managed Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL 15 instance, including
the vector extension used by its AI/search features. The service connects
privately through the Cloud SQL Auth Proxy over a Unix socket at
/cloudsql/<instance>; no public IP is exposed. On first deploy the
db-init Job creates the application database, role, and grants (including a
cloudsqlsuperuser grant so Chatwoot's own extension-creation calls succeed),
then the chatwoot-prepare Job runs rails db:chatwoot_prepare to build the
schema.
- Console: SQL → select the instance for connections, backups, flags, metrics.
- CLI:
gcloud sql instances list --project "$PROJECT"
gcloud sql instances describe <instance-name> --project "$PROJECT"
gcloud sql connect <instance-name> --user=<db-user> --database=<db-name> --project "$PROJECT"
The instance name, database, user, and password secret are in the Outputs. See App_CloudRun for the connection model, backups, and password rotation.
C. Cloud Storage
A dedicated storage-suffixed Cloud Storage bucket is provisioned
automatically by the Common module, alongside the default data bucket
declared in storage_buckets. Additional buckets can be declared the same
way.
- Console: Cloud Storage → Buckets.
- CLI:
gcloud storage buckets list --project "$PROJECT" --filter="name~chatwoot"
gcloud storage ls gs://<bucket-name>/
See App_CloudRun for GCS Fuse and CMEK options.
D. Redis (queue, cache, and pub/sub)
Sidekiq (Chatwoot's background job queue) and ActionCable (real-time UI
updates) both require Redis. enable_redis = true by default; when
redis_host is left blank, the Foundation injects the shared
NFS-server-hosted Redis IP, and the container entrypoint builds REDIS_URL
from REDIS_HOST/REDIS_PORT/REDIS_AUTH at startup — this is
self-healing regardless of whether redis_host was set explicitly or left
blank.
- Console: Memorystore → Redis (if using a dedicated instance).
- CLI:
redis-cli -h <redis-host> ping
gcloud run services describe <service-name> --region "$REGION" \
--format='value(spec.template.spec.containers[0].env)'
E. Secret Manager
One Chatwoot-specific secret is generated automatically and stored in Secret
Manager: SECRET_KEY_BASE (Rails' session-signing / ActiveRecord-encryption
key, shared identically between the web and Sidekiq processes, and also
injected into the chatwoot-prepare init Job). The database password is
managed separately by the foundation.
- Console: Security → Secret Manager.
- CLI:
gcloud secrets list --project "$PROJECT" --filter="name~chatwoot"
gcloud secrets versions access latest --secret=secret-<resource-prefix>-chatwoot-secret-key-base --project "$PROJECT"
See App_CloudRun for injection and rotation details.
F. Networking & ingress
The service is reachable at its run.app URL by default (ingress_settings = "all"), which allows external channel integrations (webhooks, live-chat
widget embeds) to reach it. An external HTTPS load balancer with a custom
domain, Cloud CDN, and Cloud Armor can be layered on.
- Console: Cloud Run (service URL); Network services → Load balancing.
- CLI:
gcloud run services describe <service-name> --region "$REGION" --format='value(status.url)'
gcloud compute addresses list --project "$PROJECT"
See App_CloudRun.
G. Cloud Logging & Monitoring
Container stdout/stderr (both the Rails and Sidekiq processes, since they share a container) flows to Cloud Logging; Cloud Run and Cloud SQL metrics flow to Cloud Monitoring, with optional uptime checks and alert policies.
- Console: Logging → Logs Explorer; Monitoring → Dashboards / Alerting.
- CLI:
gcloud run services logs read <service-name> --project "$PROJECT" --region "$REGION" --limit 50
3. Chatwoot Application Behaviour
- First-deploy database setup runs as two chained Jobs.
db-init(imagepostgres:15-alpine) connects over the Cloud SQL socket, idempotently creates the database role and database, grants privileges, grantscloudsqlsuperuserto the app role (needed because Cloud SQL's app user is not a real Postgres superuser anddb:chatwoot_prepare'sschema.rbcallsenable_extensionfor several extensions), and pre-createsvector,pg_stat_statements,pg_trgm, andpgcryptodefensively.chatwoot-preparedepends ondb-init(depends_on_jobs = ["db-init"]) and runsbundle exec rails db:chatwoot_prepareusing the built Chatwoot app image, not a generic client image. Both Jobs haveexecute_on_apply = true. - No in-container migrations. Schema creation/upgrade is entirely handled
by the
chatwoot-prepareinitialization Job before the app container is expected to serve traffic — the runtime entrypoint does not runrails db:migrate. chatwoot-prepareprefers TCP over the socket when both are available. Its script explicitly checks whetherDB_HOSTis a socket path (leading/); if so andDB_IP(the instance private IP) is also present, it connects overDB_IPwithPGSSLMODE=requireinstead, because the Cloud SQL Unix socket does not always materialise inside a Cloud Run Job in time. It only falls back to the literal socket path whenDB_IPis unset. The long-running app container's own entrypoint has no such fallback — it passesDB_HOSTstraight through asPOSTGRES_HOST, relying on the socket being present for the service itself.- DB env-var aliasing. The platform injects
DB_HOST(the Cloud SQL socket directory on Cloud Run),DB_PORT,DB_NAME,DB_USER,DB_PASSWORD;cloud-entrypoint.sh(baked into the image) maps these onto Chatwoot'sPOSTGRES_HOST/POSTGRES_PORT/POSTGRES_DATABASE/POSTGRES_USERNAME/POSTGRES_PASSWORDconvention. - Redis URL is self-healing. If
REDIS_URLis not already set, the entrypoint builds it from the injectedREDIS_HOST/REDIS_PORT/REDIS_AUTH— covering both the explicitredis_hostcase and the default NFS-fallback case. - Sidekiq runs co-located, in the background.
cloud-entrypoint.shstartsbundle exec sidekiq -C config/sidekiq.yml &before exec'ing the Rails server; atraponTERM/INTstops Sidekiq alongside the container. Because Sidekiq processes background jobs (channel delivery, notifications, reports) only while the container is running, keepmin_instance_count >= 1(and considercpu_always_allocated = true) if timely delivery matters more than idle cost. ENABLE_ACCOUNT_SIGNUPis off by default. The Common module injectsENABLE_ACCOUNT_SIGNUP = "false"alongsideRAILS_ENV=production,RAILS_LOG_TO_STDOUT=true, andRAILS_MAX_THREADS=5(sized above Cloud Run's default concurrency to avoid "could not obtain a connection from the pool"). Chatwoot's own onboarding UI creates the first admin account interactively on first visit — there is no auto-generated admin credential secret for this module.- Health path. Startup and liveness probes are HTTP
GET /— the login/onboarding page returns 200 with no auth. The defaultstartup_probeallows an initial 60-second delay plus up to 30 retries at a 15-second period (~8 minutes) before failing, to absorbchatwoot-preparerunning ahead of the app container. - Cloud SQL proxy shutdown signal. The init Jobs signal the Cloud SQL Auth Proxy sidecar to exit on completion so the Job pod finishes instead of hanging on a live sidecar.
- Inspect job execution and running config:
gcloud run jobs list --project "$PROJECT" --region "$REGION"
gcloud run jobs executions list --job <db-init-job-name> --project "$PROJECT" --region "$REGION"
gcloud run jobs executions list --job <chatwoot-prepare-job-name> --project "$PROJECT" --region "$REGION"
4. Configuration Variables
Variables are grouped exactly as they appear on the deployment platform. Only settings specific to or notable for Chatwoot are listed; every other input is inherited from App_CloudRun with its standard behaviour.
Group 1 — Project, Identity & Search Integration
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
project_id | (required) | Target Google Cloud project. |
region | us-central1 | Region for the service and regional resources. |
elasticsearch_url | "" | Optional Elasticsearch endpoint (e.g. from Elasticsearch_GKE) for Chatwoot's full-text search. Leave empty to disable. |
elasticsearch_username | "" | Elasticsearch username; leave empty when xpack.security.enabled is false. |
elasticsearch_password_secret | "" | Secret Manager secret ID holding the Elasticsearch password; when set, injected as ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD and the workload SA is granted secretAccessor. |
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. |
Group 3 — Application Identity
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
application_name | chatwoot | Base name for resources. Do not change after first deploy. |
display_name | Chatwoot Helpdesk | Human-readable name shown in the Console. |
description | Chatwoot - Open-source helpdesk and customer support platform | Service description. |
application_version | v4.15.1 | chatwoot/chatwoot image tag used as the custom-build base. Increment to trigger a rebuild. |
Group 4 — Runtime & Scaling
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
deploy_application | true | Set false to provision infrastructure only. |
container_image_source | custom | Custom-built from chatwoot/chatwoot; do not set to prebuilt — it skips the cloud-entrypoint.sh wrapper. |
cpu_limit | 2000m | 2 vCPU — Rails + co-located Sidekiq worker. |
memory_limit | 4Gi | 4 GiB recommended; both processes share the container. |
cpu_always_allocated | false | Cost-first cold-start default; Sidekiq/ActionCable work pauses between requests. Set true (with min_instance_count >= 1) to restore continuous background delivery. |
min_instance_count | 0 | 0 enables scale-to-zero; set 1 to keep the Sidekiq worker warm. |
max_instance_count | 5 | Standard horizontal scaling ceiling. |
container_port | 3000 | Chatwoot's Rails server port. |
execution_environment | gen2 | Gen2 required for NFS and GCS Fuse mounts. |
enable_cloudsql_volume | true | Cloud SQL Auth Proxy Unix socket for Postgres connections. |
enable_image_mirroring | true | Mirror the Chatwoot image into Artifact Registry. |
traffic_split | [] | Split traffic across revisions for staged rollouts. |
Group 5 — Access & Ingress Control
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
ingress_settings | all | all is the default so external channel integrations and the live-chat widget can reach the service. |
vpc_egress_setting | PRIVATE_RANGES_ONLY | Route only RFC 1918 traffic via VPC. |
enable_iap | false | Require Google sign-in. Blocks public channel webhooks and the live-chat widget. |
iap_authorized_users / iap_authorized_groups | [] | Who may access through IAP. |
Group 6 — Environment Variables & Secrets
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
environment_variables | {} | Extra non-secret settings, e.g. { ENABLE_ACCOUNT_SIGNUP = "true" } to open self-service signup. Core RAILS_*/POSTGRES_*/REDIS_* values are set automatically. |
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 7 — Backup & Restore
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
backup_schedule | 0 2 * * * | Automated backup cron (UTC). |
backup_retention_days | 7 | Retention; raise for production/compliance. |
enable_backup_import / backup_source / backup_file / backup_format | restore options | Restore from a backup on deploy. |
Group 8 — CI/CD & Binary Authorization
Standard App_CloudRun Cloud Build / Cloud Deploy integration — see
App_CloudRun. Key inputs: enable_cicd_trigger,
github_repository_url, github_token, enable_cloud_deploy,
enable_binary_authorization.
Group 9 — Custom Initialization & 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_CloudRun.
Group 10 — Load Balancer, CDN & Image Retention
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
enable_cloud_armor | false | Provision Global HTTPS LB + Cloud Armor WAF. |
admin_ip_ranges | [] | CIDR ranges exempted from WAF rules. |
application_domains | [] | Custom domain names for the HTTPS LB. |
enable_cdn | false | Enable Cloud CDN on the HTTPS LB backend. |
max_images_to_retain / delete_untagged_images / image_retention_days | (set) | Artifact Registry cleanup policy. |
Group 11 — Storage & Filesystem
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
create_cloud_storage | true | Create GCS buckets defined in storage_buckets. |
storage_buckets | [{ name_suffix = "data" }] | Additional GCS buckets beyond the Common module's auto-provisioned storage-suffixed bucket. |
enable_nfs | true | NFS is on by default so attachments persist and are shared across revisions. |
nfs_mount_path | /opt/chatwoot/storage | Where Chatwoot stores uploaded attachments. |
gcs_volumes | [] | GCS Fuse volume mounts (requires gen2). |
manage_storage_kms_iam / enable_artifact_registry_cmek | false | CMEK options. |
Group 12 — Database Backend
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
database_type | POSTGRES_15 | Overridden to a fixed value by the Common module's config output regardless of what is set here; Chatwoot requires Postgres 15+ with pgvector. |
db_name | chatwoot | PostgreSQL database name. Immutable after first deploy. |
db_user | chatwoot | Application database user. Password auto-generated in Secret Manager. |
database_password_length | 32 | Generated password length (16–64). |
application_database_name / application_database_user | crappdb / crappuser | Inert Foundation-mirror declarations (satisfy convention mirroring only) — Chatwoot's chatwoot.tf wires db_name/db_user instead, so these are never forwarded to main.tf. |
enable_auto_password_rotation / rotation_propagation_delay_sec | off | DB password rotation. |
Group 13 — Jobs & Scheduled Tasks
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
initialization_jobs | [] | Leave empty to use the Common module's built-in db-init → chatwoot-prepare job chain. |
cron_jobs | [] | Not used — Chatwoot has no platform-scheduled recurring tasks; Sidekiq handles its own scheduling in-process. |
Group 14 — Observability & Health
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
startup_probe | HTTP / , 60s initial delay, 15s period, 30 retries | Startup probe; sized to absorb chatwoot-prepare completing ahead of the app container. |
liveness_probe | HTTP / , 60s initial delay, 30s period, 3 retries | Liveness probe. |
startup_probe_config / health_check_config | HTTP / | Alternative structured probes (service-level); startup_probe/liveness_probe take effect by default. |
uptime_check_config | { enabled=false, path="/" } | Cloud Monitoring uptime check; disabled by default. |
alert_policies | [] | Metric alert policies. |
Group 21 — Redis Cache & Queue
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
enable_redis | true | Required for Sidekiq queueing and ActionCable pub/sub; forwarded to the foundation unconditionally. |
redis_host | "" | Blank uses the shared NFS-server-hosted Redis IP that the Foundation injects. |
redis_port | 6379 | Redis port. |
redis_auth | "" | Optional Redis auth password (sensitive). |
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. |
All other inputs (including the Foundation-mirror-only application_display_name,
application_description, container_build_config, additional_services,
additional_containers, and networking/SQL-instance overrides) follow
standard App_CloudRun behaviour and are inert unless
explicitly wired — Chatwoot's chatwoot.tf does not forward them.
5. Outputs
Returned on a successful deployment — the quickest way to locate and explore the running resources.
| Output | Description |
|---|---|
service_name | Cloud Run service name. |
service_url | Default run.app URL of the service. |
service_location | Region the service runs in. |
stage_services | Stage-specific service URLs (Cloud Deploy). |
load_balancer_ip / load_balancer_url | External HTTPS load balancer IP / URL (when enabled). |
database_instance_name | Cloud SQL instance name. |
database_name / database_user | Application database name / user. |
database_password_secret | Secret Manager secret holding the DB password. |
database_host / database_port | DB endpoint (Cloud SQL socket directory) / 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 / uptime_check_names | Monitoring status, channels, uptime checks. |
initialization_jobs | Names of the setup jobs (db-init, chatwoot-prepare). |
deployment_id / tenant_id / resource_prefix | Naming identifiers. |
project_id / project_number | Project identifiers. |
cicd_enabled / github_repository_url / github_repository_owner / github_repository_name / cicd_configuration | CI/CD status and details. |
artifact_registry_repository / cloudbuild_trigger_name / cloudbuild_trigger_id | Registry and build trigger. |
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. |
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_CloudRun foundation engine, which validates values and combinations at plan time — a
gen1runtime with NFS/GCS mounts, an out-of-rangeredis_port/backup_retention_days, an invaliddatabase_type. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
database_type | POSTGRES_15 (fixed by Common) | Critical | Chatwoot's schema and pgvector-backed search require Postgres 15+; any other engine breaks chatwoot-prepare. |
db_name / db_user | Set once | Critical | Immutable after first deploy; renaming recreates the DB/user and orphans all data. |
SECRET_KEY_BASE (auto-generated) | Never change | Critical | Rotating it invalidates every signed session/cookie and makes ActiveRecord-encrypted columns permanently unreadable; Sidekiq will also fail to decrypt in-flight jobs. |
enable_redis | true (forwarded unconditionally) | Critical | Sidekiq (background jobs, channel delivery) and ActionCable (real-time UI) both require Redis; disabling it silently breaks message delivery even though the web UI loads. |
container_image_source | custom | High | Chatwoot is a Docker Hub prebuilt image wrapped in a custom entrypoint (env mapping + Sidekiq launch); switching to prebuilt skips that wrapper and the container won't map DB_*/REDIS_* correctly. |
chatwoot-prepare job order | Runs after db-init (depends_on_jobs = ["db-init"]) | High | Running schema prep before the database/role/extension grants exist fails the Job (must be superuser on CREATE EXTENSION, or the DB/role missing entirely). |
enable_cloudsql_volume | true | High | The Cloud SQL Auth Proxy Unix socket is required for the long-running app container's DB connectivity on Cloud Run. |
enable_nfs | true | High | Disabling it makes uploaded attachments ephemeral — lost on the next revision. |
min_instance_count | 1 for production | High | Below 1, the co-located Sidekiq worker is not running between requests, so background jobs (channel polling, notifications, reports) stall. |
cpu_always_allocated | true for production (with min_instance_count >= 1) | Medium/High | The false cost-first default only allocates CPU while serving a request; Sidekiq and ActionCable work pauses outside that window and the keep-warm tail. |
ingress_settings | all | High | Setting to internal blocks external channel webhooks and the public live-chat widget. |
enable_iap | only when public channels not needed | High | IAP blocks all unauthenticated requests, including channel webhooks and the live-chat widget. |
ENABLE_ACCOUNT_SIGNUP (default "false") | Leave false, enable briefly for first admin if needed | Medium | Leaving public self-service signup enabled on an internet-facing helpdesk lets anyone register an agent/admin account. |
backup_retention_days | 7 (raise for prod) | Medium | Too short for compliance retention of conversation/customer data. |
enable_cloud_armor | enable for production | Medium | The agent console and public channel endpoints are reachable without WAF protection. |
For the foundation behaviour referenced throughout — service identity,
scaling and concurrency, ingress and load balancing, CI/CD, Cloud Armor, IAP,
Binary Authorization, VPC-SC, backups, and image mirroring — see
App_CloudRun. Chatwoot-specific application
configuration shared with the GKE variant lives in the Chatwoot_Common
module (modules/Chatwoot_Common); a dedicated Chatwoot_Common.md guide has
not been published yet — see Chatwoot_GKE for the parallel
GKE-side wiring notes.