Chatwoot on GKE Autopilot

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 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 Chatwoot 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

Chatwoot runs as a single Ruby on Rails workload that combines the web server and a background Sidekiq worker in one pod. The deployment wires together a focused set of Google Cloud services:

Capability	Google Cloud service	Notes
Compute	GKE Autopilot	Rails + co-located Sidekiq worker on port 3000, 2 vCPU / 4 GiB by default
Database	Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL 15	Required — the engine is fixed at POSTGRES_15; the vector (pgvector) extension is enabled for Chatwoot's AI/search features
Cache & queue	Redis (Cloud Filestore-hosted NFS VM, or external)	Backs Sidekiq's job queue and ActionCable pub/sub
File persistence	Cloud Filestore (NFS)	Attachments persist under /opt/chatwoot/storage, shared across pods
Object storage	Cloud Storage	A storage bucket suffix provisioned automatically
Secrets	Secret Manager	Auto-generated Rails SECRET_KEY_BASE; database password
Ingress	Cloud Load Balancing	External LoadBalancer with a reserved static IP; optional custom domain + managed certificate

Sensible defaults worth knowing up front:

• PostgreSQL 15 is mandatory. database_type defaults to POSTGRES_15; Chatwoot's schema and pgvector-backed features require it.
• Custom-built image. container_image_source = "custom" — the Common module builds FROM chatwoot/chatwoot:${APP_VERSION} and layers in a cloud entrypoint that maps the Foundation's DB_*/REDIS_* env vars onto Chatwoot's POSTGRES_*/REDIS_URL convention and launches Sidekiq in the background before exec'ing the Rails server. The image runs as root — matching the upstream image, whose /app//app/tmp are root-owned and not group-writable, so Rails' create_tmp_directories step needs root to succeed.
• Cloud SQL is reached via the Auth Proxy sidecar on loopback. enable_cloudsql_volume = true runs a cloud-sql-proxy sidecar listening on 127.0.0.1:5432; the entrypoint maps the injected DB_HOST/DB_IP onto POSTGRES_HOST.
• Two initialization jobs run in sequence. db-init (creates the database, role, and grants — including a cloudsqlsuperuser grant so Chatwoot can create Postgres extensions itself) runs first, then chatwoot-prepare (rails db:chatwoot_prepare) creates/upgrades the schema and seeds defaults. 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). Leave redis_host blank to use the shared NFS-server-hosted Redis IP that the Foundation injects automatically.
• SECRET_KEY_BASE is generated once and shared between the Rails web process and the Sidekiq worker (they run in the same container here, but the value must also stay stable across restarts/redeploys — Rails uses it to sign sessions and encrypt ActiveRecord-encrypted columns).
• Session affinity is ClientIP so a client's requests reach the same pod.
• PodDisruptionBudget is on by default (enable_pod_disruption_budget = true, pdb_min_available = "1").
• ENABLE_ACCOUNT_SIGNUP defaults to "false" — open self-service admin/agent signup is disabled on a freshly deployed helpdesk; flip it via environment_variables if you want public signup.

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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 Chatwoot workload

Chatwoot pods are scheduled on Autopilot, which bills for the CPU/memory the pods actually request. Each pod runs both the Rails web server and a background Sidekiq worker process, so the workload should not be scaled to zero — Sidekiq is what delivers/receives channel messages and processes background jobs.

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

  kubectl get pods,svc -n "$NAMESPACE"
  kubectl logs -n "$NAMESPACE" deploy/<service-name> --tail=100
  kubectl describe pod -n "$NAMESPACE" -l app=<service-name>

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

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. Pods reach it through the Cloud SQL Auth Proxy sidecar on 127.0.0.1:5432; 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 the Secret Manager secret holding the password are all in the Outputs. See App_GKE for the connection model, automated backups, and password rotation.

C. Redis (cache, queue, 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 as REDIS_HOST, and the container entrypoint builds REDIS_URL from it at startup. Point redis_host/redis_port/redis_auth at a dedicated Cloud Memorystore instance for a heavier production workload.

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

  kubectl exec -n "$NAMESPACE" deploy/<service-name> -- env | grep -E '^REDIS_'
  gcloud redis instances list --project "$PROJECT" --region "$REGION"

See App_GKE for how the NFS-hosted Redis fallback and Memorystore integration are wired.

D. Cloud Storage & file persistence (NFS)

A dedicated Cloud Storage bucket (suffix storage) is provisioned automatically and the workload service account is granted access. Separately, Chatwoot's attachments live on NFS (Cloud Filestore) at /opt/chatwoot/storage, shared across pods.

• Console: Cloud Storage → Buckets; Filestore → Instances.
• CLI:

  gcloud storage buckets list --project "$PROJECT" --filter="name~storage"
  gcloud filestore instances list --project "$PROJECT"
  kubectl get pvc -n "$NAMESPACE"

See App_GKE for CMEK options and GCS Fuse mounts.

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). The database password is managed separately by the foundation. On GKE, secrets are projected into pods via the Secret Store CSI driver.

• 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_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 (service_type = LoadBalancer, reserve_static_ip = true so the address survives redeploys). A custom domain with a Google-managed certificate can be enabled.

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

  kubectl get svc,ingress -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 (both the Rails and Sidekiq processes, since they share a container) 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

See App_GKE for uptime check gating and alert policy wiring.

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3. Chatwoot Application Behaviour

• First-deploy database setup runs as two chained Jobs. db-init (image postgres:15-alpine) connects to Cloud SQL, idempotently creates the database role and database, grants privileges, grants cloudsqlsuperuser to the app role (needed because Cloud SQL's app user is not a real Postgres superuser and db:chatwoot_prepare's schema.rb calls enable_extension for several extensions), and pre-creates vector, pg_stat_statements, pg_trgm, and pgcrypto defensively. chatwoot-prepare then depends on db-init and runs bundle exec rails db:chatwoot_prepare using the built Chatwoot app image (not a generic client image) so the full Rails toolchain and config are present. Both jobs run on execute_on_apply = true.
• No in-container migrations. Schema creation/upgrade is entirely handled by the chatwoot-prepare initialization Job before the app container is expected to serve traffic — the runtime entrypoint does not run rails db:migrate.
• DB env-var aliasing. The platform injects DB_HOST (the proxy sidecar, 127.0.0.1 on GKE), DB_PORT, DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD; the cloud entrypoint (cloud-entrypoint.sh, baked into the image) maps these onto Chatwoot's POSTGRES_HOST/POSTGRES_PORT/POSTGRES_DATABASE/ POSTGRES_USERNAME/POSTGRES_PASSWORD convention.
• Redis URL is self-healing. If REDIS_URL is not already set, the entrypoint builds it from the injected REDIS_HOST/REDIS_PORT/REDIS_AUTH — this covers both the explicit redis_host case and the default NFS-fallback case, so leaving redis_host blank still produces a working REDIS_URL at container start.
• Sidekiq runs co-located, in the background. cloud-entrypoint.sh starts bundle exec sidekiq -C config/sidekiq.yml & before exec'ing the Rails server; a trap on TERM/INT stops Sidekiq alongside the container. Because Sidekiq processes background jobs (channel delivery, notifications, reports) only while a pod is alive, keep min_instance_count >= 1 in production.
• Admin/first-run account. Chatwoot's own onboarding UI creates the first admin account interactively at /installation/onboarding 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 readiness probe set by the Common module (initial_delay_seconds = 30) also targets /. Allow time on first boot — chatwoot-prepare must finish before the app container even starts.
• Cloud SQL proxy shutdown signal. Both init Jobs wget/curl-POST to the proxy sidecar's --quitquitquit endpoint (127.0.0.1:9091/quitquitquit) on exit so the Job pod completes instead of hanging on a live sidecar.
• Inspect the init jobs and running config:

  kubectl get jobs -n "$NAMESPACE"
  kubectl logs -n "$NAMESPACE" job/<db-init-job-name>
  kubectl logs -n "$NAMESPACE" job/<chatwoot-prepare-job-name>
  kubectl exec -n "$NAMESPACE" deploy/<service-name> -- env | grep -E 'POSTGRES_|REDIS_'

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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 Chatwoot are listed; every other input is inherited from App_GKE with its standard behaviour and defaults.

Group 3 — Application Identity

Variable	Default	Description
application_name	chatwoot	Base name for resources. Do not change after first deploy.
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
container_resources.cpu_limit	2000m	2 vCPU — Rails + co-located Sidekiq worker.
container_resources.memory_limit	4Gi	4 GiB minimum recommended; both processes share the container.
min_instance_count	1	Keep at 1 so the Sidekiq worker (and ActionCable) stay alive.
max_instance_count	5	Standard horizontal scaling ceiling.
container_port	3000	Chatwoot's Rails server port.
container_image_source	custom	Custom-built from chatwoot/chatwoot; do not set to prebuilt.
enable_cloudsql_volume	true	Auth Proxy sidecar (loopback) — required on GKE.

Group 6 — GKE Backend & Cluster

Variable	Default	Description
service_type	LoadBalancer	External IP for the Chatwoot UI.
workload_type	null → Deployment	Standard Deployment (no PVC needed by default).
session_affinity	ClientIP	Sticky routing so a client reaches the same pod.

Group 9 — Reliability

Variable	Default	Description
enable_pod_disruption_budget	true	Limits simultaneous voluntary pod evictions.
pdb_min_available	"1"	Keeps at least one pod (and its Sidekiq worker) available during disruptions.

Group 13 — Filesystem (NFS)

Variable	Default	Description
enable_nfs	true	NFS is on by default so attachments persist and are shared.
nfs_mount_path	/opt/chatwoot/storage	Where Chatwoot stores uploaded attachments.

Group 15 — Redis

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 TCP port.
redis_auth	""	Redis AUTH password, if the target instance requires one.

Group 16 — Database Backend

Variable	Default	Description
database_type	POSTGRES_15	Fixed by the Common module's config output (also hardcoded in the Common config.database_type); Chatwoot requires PostgreSQL 15+ with pgvector.
application_database_name	chatwoot	Database name. Immutable after first deploy.
application_database_user	chatwoot	Application database user; password auto-generated in Secret Manager.
enable_postgres_extensions	true (Common default)	Enables vector post-provisioning; db-init.sh also pre-creates it defensively.

Group 1 — Search & Optional Integrations

Variable	Default	Description
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 granted secretAccessor.

Group 19 — Custom Domain, Static IP & Networking

Variable	Default	Description
reserve_static_ip	true	Stable external IP across redeploys.
application_domains	[]	Custom hostnames + managed certificate.

All other inputs follow standard App_GKE behaviour.

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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 Chatwoot.
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 (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 (db-init, chatwoot-prepare) 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 — mismatched workload-type/PVC settings, IAP enabled with no authorized identities, quota_memory_* given as bare integers, an out-of-range container_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
database_type	POSTGRES_15 (fixed by Common)	Critical	Chatwoot's schema and pgvector-backed search require Postgres 15+; any other engine breaks chatwoot-prepare.
application_database_name / application_database_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.
min_instance_count	1	High	Below 1, the co-located Sidekiq worker is not running between requests, so background jobs (channel polling, notifications, reports) stall between cold starts.
enable_nfs	true	High	Disabling it makes uploaded attachments ephemeral — lost on pod recreation.
enable_cloudsql_volume	true	High	The Auth Proxy sidecar on 127.0.0.1:5432 is required for DB connectivity on GKE.
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).
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.
pdb_min_available	"1"	Medium	Voluntary node maintenance/upgrades could otherwise evict the only pod running Sidekiq, pausing background processing.
quota_memory_requests / _limits	binary units (4Gi, 8192Mi)	Critical	Bare integers are treated as bytes and block all pod scheduling in the namespace.
reserve_static_ip	true	Medium	Without it, the external IP can change across redeploys, breaking DNS and any configured webhook/channel callback URLs.
ENABLE_ACCOUNT_SIGNUP	"false" (default)	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.

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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. Chatwoot-specific application configuration shared with the Cloud Run variant is described in the Chatwoot_Common module (modules/Chatwoot_Common); a dedicated Chatwoot_Common.md guide has not been published yet.