Documenso on GKE Autopilot

Documenso is an open-source DocuSign alternative — a Next.js application for sending, signing, and managing e-signature documents on infrastructure you control. This module deploys Documenso 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 Documenso 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

Documenso runs as a single Next.js workload built from a thin custom image on top of the official documenso/documenso image. The deployment wires together a focused set of Google Cloud services:

Capability	Google Cloud service	Notes
Compute	GKE Autopilot	Next.js pods on port 3000, 2 vCPU / 2 GiB by default
Database	Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL 15	Required — the engine is fixed at POSTGRES_15; MySQL is not supported
File persistence	Cloud Filestore (NFS)	Enabled by default, mounted at /mnt/nfs, but not used for document storage (see below)
Object storage	Cloud Storage	An uploads bucket + HMAC service account, provisioned for optional S3-compatible upload transport
Secrets	Secret Manager	Auto-generated NEXTAUTH_SECRET, NEXT_PRIVATE_ENCRYPTION_KEY, NEXT_PRIVATE_ENCRYPTION_SECONDARY_KEY, HMAC keys, and (optionally) SMTP password; database password
Ingress	Cloud Load Balancing / Gateway API	Custom domain enabled by default with a reserved static IP; falls back to a nip.io hostname if no domain is set

Sensible defaults worth knowing up front:

• PostgreSQL 15 is mandatory. database_type = "POSTGRES_15" is the default. Documenso's Next.js + Prisma stack does not support MySQL, but unlike some other modules this is not enforced by a plan-time precondition — changing database_type away from Postgres silently breaks the app rather than failing the plan.
• Custom build, not prebuilt. container_image_source = "custom" builds a thin image FROM docker.io/documenso/documenso:${DOCUMENSO_VERSION} that adds bash, curl, postgresql-client, and openssl, plus a custom entrypoint. The upstream image's own sh start.sh runs Prisma migrations and starts the Next.js server — there is no separate migrate job.
• Cloud SQL is reached via the Auth Proxy sidecar. enable_cloudsql_volume = true runs a cloud-sql-proxy sidecar; the entrypoint assembles NEXT_PRIVATE_DATABASE_URL from the injected DB_* values, branching on Unix socket, 127.0.0.1 proxy, or direct-IP+SSL depending on what is injected.
• Redis is disabled by default and not required. Documenso uses a PostgreSQL-backed local jobs provider (enable_redis = false). Enable it only if you switch Documenso to the bullmq (Redis) jobs provider.
• NFS is enabled by default but Documenso doesn't use it for documents. Documents are stored in PostgreSQL by default (NEXT_PUBLIC_UPLOAD_TRANSPORT = "database"). The Filestore instance this provisions exists mainly as the fallback Redis host required by the plan precondition when enable_redis = true — with Redis off (the default) it is effectively unused overhead.
• A signing certificate is required for actual document signing. NEXT_PRIVATE_SIGNING_TRANSPORT = "local" expects a .p12 certificate. If none is supplied, the entrypoint self-generates a throwaway self-signed certificate so the app still boots — but signing with it is not production-safe.
• webapp_url is empty by default. Until set, NEXTAUTH_URL and NEXT_PUBLIC_WEBAPP_URL default to http://localhost:3000; the entrypoint upgrades them to the platform-injected GKE_SERVICE_URL automatically on boot, but setting webapp_url explicitly is recommended once a stable domain is known.
• Scale-to-zero by default. min_instance_count = 0, max_instance_count = 3.

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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 Documenso workload

Documenso pods are scheduled on Autopilot, which bills for the CPU/memory the pods actually request. The workload is a standard Deployment (not NFS-backed in the sense that matters for rollout strategy, since documents live in Postgres, not on the mounted NFS share).

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

  kubectl get pods,svc -n "$NAMESPACE" --selector="app.kubernetes.io/name=documenso" 2>/dev/null \
    || kubectl get pods,svc -n "$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

Documenso stores all application data (users, documents, recipients, audit events) in a managed Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL 15 instance. Pods reach it through the Cloud SQL Auth Proxy sidecar; no public IP is exposed. On first deploy the db-init job creates the application role and database; the Documenso image itself then runs its own Prisma migrations at container startup.

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

  gcloud sql instances list --project "$PROJECT" --filter="name~documenso"
  gcloud sql instances describe <instance-name> --project "$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. Cloud Storage & file persistence

A dedicated Cloud Storage bucket (suffix uploads, CORS-enabled for browser-direct access) and a service account holding an HMAC key are provisioned automatically, granting the storage SA roles/storage.objectAdmin on the bucket. This is opt-in infrastructure: Documenso only writes to it if you set NEXT_PUBLIC_UPLOAD_TRANSPORT=s3 and wire the S3_ACCESS_KEY / S3_SECRET_KEY secret env vars — by default documents are stored in PostgreSQL. Separately, an NFS (Cloud Filestore) volume is mounted at /mnt/nfs but is not written to by the application in its default configuration.

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

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

See App_GKE for CMEK options and GCS Fuse mounts.

D. Secret Manager

Documenso requires three secrets at boot — NEXTAUTH_SECRET, NEXT_PRIVATE_ENCRYPTION_KEY, and NEXT_PRIVATE_ENCRYPTION_SECONDARY_KEY — all Zod-validated by the Next.js app, which will not start without them. Additionally S3_ACCESS_KEY / S3_SECRET_KEY (HMAC credentials, only used if S3 upload transport is enabled) and, when smtp_host is set, NEXT_PRIVATE_SMTP_PASSWORD are generated. 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 "$PROJECT" --filter="name~documenso"
  gcloud secrets versions access latest --secret=<nextauth-secret-name> --project "$PROJECT"

See App_GKE for the Secret Store CSI integration and rotation.

E. Networking & ingress

Unlike many application modules, Documenso defaults enable_custom_domain = true: a Kubernetes Gateway with a reserved static IP is provisioned automatically. If application_domains is left empty, a nip.io hostname based on the auto-generated static IP is used so the app is reachable over HTTPS immediately.

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

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

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

F. 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. Documenso Application Behaviour

• First-deploy database setup. The db-init job runs db-init.sh using postgres:15-alpine. It waits for Cloud SQL to accept connections, then idempotently creates the application role and database (CREATEDB privilege, ownership set on the target database), grants schema privileges, and finally signals the Cloud SQL Auth Proxy sidecar (POST /quitquitquit) to shut down so the job can complete. The job is safe to re-run (execute_on_apply = true, max_retries = 3).
• Migrations run automatically, no separate job. The official Documenso image's own start.sh runs Prisma migrations against NEXT_PRIVATE_DATABASE_URL on every container start, then launches the Next.js standalone server.
• NEXT_PRIVATE_DATABASE_URL is assembled at boot. The custom entrypoint builds it from the platform-injected DB_USER/DB_PASSWORD/DB_HOST/ DB_NAME/DB_PORT, branching on whether DB_HOST is a Unix socket path, a 127.0.0.1 Auth Proxy loopback, or a direct IP (in which case sslmode=require is forced). NEXT_PRIVATE_DIRECT_DATABASE_URL mirrors it.
• No bootstrap admin account. This module does not create a Documenso admin/owner user. The first person to complete sign-up through the app's own web UI becomes the account owner — standard upstream Documenso behaviour, not something this module provisions.
• Signing certificate is a required post-deploy step for real signing. With no certificate supplied, the entrypoint self-generates a throwaway self-signed .p12 at /opt/documenso/cert.p12 so the app boots and non-signing features work, logging a loud warning. For production signing, supply a real certificate via secret_environment_variables mapping NEXT_PRIVATE_SIGNING_LOCAL_FILE_CONTENTS (base64-encoded .p12) and NEXT_PRIVATE_SIGNING_PASSPHRASE.
• Webapp URL resolution. NEXTAUTH_URL / NEXT_PUBLIC_WEBAPP_URL default to http://localhost:3000. If still at that default when the container starts, the entrypoint overwrites both with the platform-injected GKE_SERVICE_URL. Set webapp_url explicitly once a custom domain is registered so OAuth/email links stay stable across redeploys.
• Health path. Startup probe is HTTP GET / on port 3000 with a generous budget (period_seconds = 30, failure_threshold = 20, ≈10 minutes) to absorb cold start plus Prisma migrations; liveness probe is HTTP GET / with a 60s initial delay. Documenso has no dedicated health endpoint.
• Inspect the init job and running config:

  kubectl get jobs -n "$NAMESPACE"
  kubectl logs -n "$NAMESPACE" job/<db-init-job-name>
  kubectl exec -n "$NAMESPACE" deploy/<service-name> -- env | grep -E 'DATABASE_URL|WEBAPP_URL|SIGNING'

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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 Documenso 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	documenso	Base name for resources. Do not change after first deploy.
application_version	latest	Sets the DOCUMENSO_VERSION build arg for the custom-build FROM docker.io/documenso/documenso:${DOCUMENSO_VERSION} base image.
description	"Documenso - The Open Source DocuSign Alternative"	Populates the GKE workload description field.
webapp_url	""	Public URL of the instance. Set after first deploy (or a custom domain is registered) so NextAuth callbacks and email links are stable.

Group 4 — Runtime & Scaling

Variable	Default	Description
cpu_limit	2000m	2 vCPU per pod (app-specific override; the generic container_resources variable is inert for this module).
memory_limit	2Gi	Memory per pod.
min_instance_count	0	Scale-to-zero by default.
max_instance_count	3	HPA ceiling.
container_port	3000	Documenso's Next.js server port.
enable_cloudsql_volume	true	Auth Proxy sidecar — required for DB connectivity on GKE.

Group 5 — Environment Variables & Secrets

Variable	Default	Description
smtp_host	""	SMTP server hostname. Leave empty to disable email (invitations, signing notifications).
smtp_port / smtp_secure_enabled	587 / false	Use 465 + true for implicit TLS, otherwise STARTTLS on 587.
smtp_password	""	Auto-generates a Secret Manager value when left empty and smtp_host is set.
mail_from	""	Sender address for outgoing Documenso email.

Group 6 — GKE Backend & Cluster

Variable	Default	Description
service_type	LoadBalancer	External IP/Gateway for the Documenso UI.
workload_type	Deployment	Documenso does not use a StatefulSet/PVC.
session_affinity	ClientIP	Sticky routing so a client reaches the same pod.
network_tags	["nfsserver"]	Required for NFS connectivity when enable_nfs = true (the default).

Group 10 — Observability & Health

Variable	Default	Description
startup_probe	HTTP /, failure_threshold=20, period_seconds=30	Documenso-specific probe forwarded through the Common module's config output; effectively supersedes the generic Foundation startup_probe_config default for this app.
liveness_probe	HTTP /, initial_delay_seconds=60, failure_threshold=3	Same mechanism as startup_probe; supersedes the generic health_check_config default.

Group 13 — Filesystem (NFS)

Variable	Default	Description
enable_nfs	true	Provisions Filestore. Not used for document storage by default — see Overview. Mainly relevant as the fallback Redis host if enable_redis is later enabled.
nfs_mount_path	/mnt/nfs	Mount path inside the container (unused by the app's default configuration).

Group 14 — Cloud Storage

Variable	Default	Description
storage_buckets	one uploads bucket, CORS-enabled	Only consumed if you opt into NEXT_PUBLIC_UPLOAD_TRANSPORT=s3; documents live in Postgres by default.
gcs_volumes	[]	No GCS Fuse volumes mounted by default.

Group 15 — Redis Cache

Variable	Default	Description
enable_redis	false	Documenso uses a PostgreSQL-backed local jobs provider and does not require Redis.
redis_host / redis_port / redis_auth	"" / 6379 / ""	Only relevant if you switch Documenso to the bullmq jobs provider.

Group 16 — Database Backend

Variable	Default	Description
database_type	POSTGRES_15	Not enforced at plan time — changing this away from Postgres breaks Documenso's Prisma schema at runtime rather than failing the plan.
db_name	documenso	The database actually created and injected as DB_NAME.
db_user	documenso	The role actually created and injected as DB_USER; password auto-generated in Secret Manager.

application_database_name (default documensodb) and application_database_user (default documensouser) are also declared on this module but are not forwarded to the Foundation — main.tf wires db_name/db_user (above) instead. Setting the application_database_* variables has no effect.

Group 19 — Custom Domain, Static IP & Networking

Variable	Default	Description
enable_custom_domain	true	Provisions a Gateway + static IP by default (unlike most other modules, which default this off).
application_domains	[]	If empty, a nip.io hostname based on the auto-generated static IP is used.
reserve_static_ip	true	Keeps the external address stable across redeploys.

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 Documenso.
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 (via the Auth Proxy) / port.
storage_buckets	Created Cloud Storage buckets (the uploads bucket).
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) 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 StatefulSet forced alongside a stateless setting, IAP with no authorized identities, quota_memory_* given as bare integers, an out-of-range container_port/backup_retention_days. This module's own validation.tf additionally blocks min_instance_count > max_instance_count, enable_redis = true with neither redis_host nor enable_nfs, enable_iap = true without both OAuth credentials, and enable_cloudsql_volume = true with database_type = "NONE". Invalid configuration fails the plan with a clear, named error before any resource is created — but database_type away from Postgres is not one of the checks, so that mistake is only caught at runtime.

Setting	Sensible value	Risk	Consequence if wrong
database_type	POSTGRES_15	Critical	Not plan-validated — switching to MySQL/SQL Server breaks Prisma and every query at runtime, not at plan time.
Signing certificate (NEXT_PRIVATE_SIGNING_LOCAL_FILE_CONTENTS)	Supply a real .p12 post-deploy	Critical	Without it, the entrypoint self-signs a throwaway cert — documents "sign" but the signature is untrusted by PDF readers; not production-safe.
NEXT_PRIVATE_ENCRYPTION_KEY / _SECONDARY_KEY (auto-generated)	Never change directly	Critical	These encrypt Documenso data; rotate only via the secondary-key slot, never by regenerating the primary in place.
webapp_url	Set once the URL/domain is known	High	Left unset, NEXTAUTH_URL/NEXT_PUBLIC_WEBAPP_URL track whatever GKE_SERVICE_URL resolves to at each boot; an explicit value keeps auth callbacks and email links stable across redeploys.
enable_cloudsql_volume	true	High	The Auth Proxy sidecar is required for the entrypoint's default DB connectivity path on GKE.
db_name / db_user	Set once	High	Renaming after first deploy points the app at a different (empty) role/database — application_database_name/application_database_user are inert decoys; changing those has no effect.
quota_memory_requests / _limits	binary units (4Gi, 8192Mi)	Critical	Bare integers are treated as bytes and block all pod scheduling in the namespace.
enable_nfs	true (default) or false if Redis stays disabled	Medium	Filestore is billed whether or not the app writes to it; with enable_redis = false (the default) the NFS mount is unused overhead.
smtp_host	Set for production	Medium	Left empty, no NEXT_PRIVATE_SMTP_* variables are injected — no invitation or signing-notification emails are sent.
enable_custom_domain / reserve_static_ip	true (defaults)	Medium	Without a stable IP or domain, the nip.io fallback can shift, breaking webapp_url/OAuth callbacks across redeploys.
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. Documenso-specific application configuration shared with the Cloud Run variant (secrets, the db-init job, and the custom entrypoint) is described in Documenso_Common (module source: modules/Documenso_Common).