FreeScout on Google Cloud Run

FreeScout is a free, self-hosted help desk and shared-mailbox platform built on Laravel (PHP) — it turns shared email inboxes into a collaborative ticket queue with conversations, tags, saved replies, a customer profile, a REST API, and a plugin system. This module deploys FreeScout 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 FreeScout 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.

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1. Overview

FreeScout runs as a single PHP (nginx + php-fpm) container on Cloud Run v2, built as a thin custom image FROM tiredofit/freescout. The deployment wires together a focused set of Google Cloud services:

Capability	Google Cloud service	Notes
Compute	Cloud Run v2	PHP container on port 80, 1 vCPU / 2 GiB by default, serverless autoscaling; scale-to-zero supported
Database	Cloud SQL for MySQL 8.0	Required — FreeScout does not support PostgreSQL or other engines
Persistent files	Cloud Filestore (NFS)	Enabled by default; mounted at /var/lib/freescout for attachments and runtime data
Object storage	Cloud Storage	An uploads bucket (freescout-uploads) provisioned automatically
Cache (optional)	Redis	Optional object cache; disabled by default
Secrets	Secret Manager	Auto-generated Laravel APP_KEY and first-run ADMIN_PASS; 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:

• MySQL 8.0 is mandatory. The database engine is fixed by the shared application layer (MYSQL_8_0); selecting any other engine breaks startup.
• The Laravel APP_KEY is generated automatically and stored in Secret Manager. It encrypts session data and any encrypted database columns (stored mailbox credentials, OAuth tokens). Never rotate it after first boot — doing so permanently invalidates all previously encrypted data.
• A first-run admin is seeded automatically. ADMIN_EMAIL (default admin@techequity.cloud) with the generated ADMIN_PASS secret creates the first administrator on first boot. Change the password in the UI after first login.
• APP_URL / SITE_URL are set to the service URL. FreeScout builds absolute links and its / → dashboard/login flow from APP_URL; the container entrypoint resolves it from the actual CLOUDRUN_SERVICE_URL at runtime.
• Cloud SQL is reached over TCP (private IP), not a socket. enable_cloudsql_volume defaults to false on Cloud Run; the app connects to the injected DB_IP on port 3306. MySQL over the private IP needs no client SSL.
• NFS is enabled by default so attachments and runtime files survive container recycling and scale-to-zero cold starts. Requires the gen2 execution environment.
• Scale-to-zero is enabled (min_instance_count = 0, max_instance_count = 1). Cold starts add several seconds to the first request after idle; set min_instance_count = 1 to keep the service always warm.
• Health is signalled on GET /. There is no dedicated JSON health endpoint; the startup probe is TCP and the liveness probe is GET /.

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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 FreeScout service

FreeScout runs as a Cloud Run v2 service that autoscales by request load between the minimum and maximum instance counts. Each deployment creates an immutable revision; traffic can be split across revisions for safe rollouts.

• Console: Cloud Run → select the service for revisions, traffic, logs, and metrics.
• CLI:

  gcloud run services list --project "$PROJECT" --region "$REGION" \
    --filter="metadata.name~freescout"
  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 MySQL 8.0

FreeScout stores all application data (conversations, mailboxes, users, customers, settings) in a managed Cloud SQL for MySQL 8.0 instance. On Cloud Run the service connects over the instance private IP (TCP, port 3306) — enable_cloudsql_volume defaults to false. On first deploy the db-init Job creates the application database, user, and grants; the app then runs its own schema migrations on start.

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

  gcloud sql instances list --project "$PROJECT" --filter="name~freescout"
  gcloud sql instances describe <instance-name> --project "$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 Filestore (NFS)

FreeScout attachments and runtime files are persisted on an NFS volume mounted at /var/lib/freescout (enabled by default). This keeps uploads durable across revision changes and scale-to-zero. NFS requires the gen2 execution environment.

• Console: Filestore → Instances (a Services_GCP-managed or inline instance).
• CLI:

  gcloud filestore instances list --project "$PROJECT"
  # Confirm the mount in the running revision:
  gcloud run services describe <service-name> --region "$REGION" \
    --format='value(spec.template.spec.volumes)'

See App_CloudRun for the shared-NFS discovery model.

D. Cloud Storage

A dedicated Cloud Storage uploads bucket (freescout-uploads) is provisioned automatically. Additional buckets can be declared via storage_buckets.

• Console: Cloud Storage → Buckets.
• CLI:

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

See App_CloudRun for GCS Fuse and CMEK options.

E. Redis (optional object cache)

Redis is disabled by default. When enable_redis = true, REDIS_HOST/REDIS_PORT are injected into the container as an object-cache backend. 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
  gcloud run services describe <service-name> --region "$REGION" \
    --format='value(spec.template.spec.containers[0].env)'

F. Secret Manager

Two secrets are generated automatically and stored in Secret Manager: the Laravel APP_KEY (encrypts session data and encrypted DB columns) and ADMIN_PASS (the seeded first-run admin password). The database password is managed separately by the foundation.

• Console: Security → Secret Manager.
• CLI:

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

See App_CloudRun for injection and rotation details.

G. Networking & ingress

The service is reachable at its run.app URL by default (ingress_settings = "all"), which allows public access to the help-desk UI. An external HTTPS load balancer with a custom domain, Cloud CDN, and Cloud Armor can be layered on; ingress settings and VPC egress control connectivity.

• 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.

H. Cloud Logging & Monitoring

Container logs flow 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

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3. FreeScout Application Behaviour

• First-deploy database setup. An initialization Job runs db-init.sh using mysql:8.0-debian. It connects to Cloud SQL (socket if mounted, otherwise TCP via DB_IP), idempotently creates the application database and user, grants privileges, and verifies the app user can connect. The job runs on apply and is safe to re-run.
• Migrations run on container start. There is no separate migration job — the tiredofit image runs php artisan migrate --force on every container start, so upgrading application_version applies schema changes on the next boot.
• First-run admin is seeded. On first boot the image creates the admin defined by ADMIN_EMAIL / ADMIN_FIRST_NAME / ADMIN_LAST_NAME with the ADMIN_PASS secret. Log in and change the password immediately.
• APP_KEY is immutable after first boot. The Laravel key is generated once and written to Secret Manager. Changing it permanently invalidates all previously encrypted data (encrypted mailbox credentials, OAuth tokens, encrypted cookies). Only rotate in a planned maintenance window with a full re-configuration.
• APP_URL must match the browser host. FreeScout builds absolute links and its / routing from APP_URL; the entrypoint sets it from the injected CLOUDRUN_SERVICE_URL. If you front the service with a custom domain, set APP_URL/SITE_URL (via environment_variables) to that host so links and redirects resolve correctly. Inspect the running revision:

  gcloud run services describe <service-name> \
    --region "$REGION" --project "$PROJECT" --format='value(status.url)'

• Health path. The startup probe is TCP on the container port (30 s delay, 20 failures) and the liveness probe is HTTP GET / (300 s initial delay). Allow several minutes on first boot while migrations run before the service reports healthy.
• Inspect job execution:

  gcloud run jobs list --project "$PROJECT" --region "$REGION"
  gcloud run jobs executions list --job <job-name> --project "$PROJECT" --region "$REGION"

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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 FreeScout are listed; every other input is inherited from App_CloudRun with its standard behaviour.

Group 3 — Application Identity

Variable	Default	Description
application_name	freescout	Base name for resources. Do not change after first deploy.
display_name	FreeScout	Human-readable name shown in the Console.
application_version	latest	Base-image tag for the thin build (latest pins to php8.3-1.17.159); set an explicit tag such as 1.8.170 in production.
php_memory_limit	512M	PHP memory limit; raise for heavy attachment processing.
upload_max_filesize / post_max_size	64M	Maximum attachment upload / POST size.

Group 4 — Runtime & Scaling

Variable	Default	Description
deploy_application	true	Set false to provision infrastructure only.
container_image_source	custom	FreeScout deploys as a thin custom build; leave as custom.
cpu_limit	1000m	CPU per instance; minimum 1 vCPU.
memory_limit	2Gi	Memory per instance; minimum 512 Mi (gen2 floor), 2 GiB recommended.
min_instance_count	0	0 enables scale-to-zero; set 1 to avoid cold starts.
max_instance_count	1	Keep at 1 unless shared NFS and session handling are confirmed multi-instance-safe.
container_port	80	FreeScout (nginx/php-fpm) listens on port 80.
execution_environment	gen2	Gen2 required for NFS and GCS Fuse mounts.
enable_cloudsql_volume	false	Cloud Run connects to MySQL over TCP (private IP); leave false.

Group 5 — Access & Ingress Control

Variable	Default	Description
ingress_settings	all	Public access to the help-desk UI.
enable_iap	false	Require Google sign-in in front of FreeScout (Cloud Run native IAP).
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. MAIL_*, or a custom APP_URL for a custom domain). Core DB and admin values are set automatically.
secret_environment_variables	{}	Map of env var → Secret Manager secret name. APP_KEY and ADMIN_PASS are wired automatically — do not set them here.
secret_propagation_delay	30	Seconds to wait after secret creation.

Group 11 — Storage & Filesystem

Variable	Default	Description
enable_nfs	true	NFS is on by default — persists attachments/runtime files.
nfs_mount_path	/var/lib/freescout	Mount path inside the container.
create_cloud_storage	true	Create the declared GCS buckets.
storage_buckets	[{ name_suffix = "data" }]	Additional GCS buckets beyond the auto-provisioned uploads bucket.
gcs_volumes	[]	GCS Fuse volume mounts (requires gen2).

Group 12 — Database Backend

Variable	Default	Description
database_type	MYSQL_8_0	Fixed MySQL 8.0; do not change engine.
db_name	freescout	MySQL database name (injected as DB_DATABASE). Immutable after first deploy.
db_user	freescout	Application DB user (injected as DB_USERNAME). Immutable after first deploy.
database_password_length	32	Generated password length (16–64).

Group 14 — Observability & Health

Variable	Default	Description
startup_probe	TCP / 30 s delay, 20 failures	Generous window for first-boot migrations.
liveness_probe	HTTP GET / 300 s delay	GET / returns 200 once booted; no dedicated health endpoint.
uptime_check_config	{ enabled = false, path = "/" }	Optional Cloud Monitoring uptime check.
alert_policies	[]	Metric alert policies.

Group 21 — Redis Cache

Variable	Default	Description
enable_redis	false	Enable a Redis object cache.
redis_host	""	Redis endpoint. Leave empty to use the NFS server IP (requires enable_nfs = true).
redis_port	6379	Redis port.

All other inputs follow standard App_CloudRun behaviour.

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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 / port.
storage_buckets	Created Cloud Storage buckets.
network_name / network_exists / regions	VPC network, presence, 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).
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.

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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_CloudRun foundation engine, which validates values and combinations at plan time — a gen1 runtime with NFS/GCS mounts, a database_type that does not match the app, an out-of-range container_port/backup_retention_days, IAP with no authorized identities. 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
APP_KEY (auto-generated)	Never rotate after first boot	Critical	Rotating it permanently invalidates all previously encrypted data — encrypted mailbox credentials and OAuth tokens can no longer be decrypted.
database_type	MYSQL_8_0	Critical	FreeScout is MySQL-only; a Postgres/other engine breaks startup.
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.
APP_URL / SITE_URL	Actual service/domain URL	High	A wrong host breaks absolute links, the / routing, and password-reset / email links.
enable_nfs	true	High	Disabling loses all attachments and runtime files on container recycle / scale-to-zero.
enable_cloudsql_volume	false (Cloud Run)	High	Forcing the socket without a real socket file leaves the app with no TCP host — connection fails.
memory_limit	2Gi (≥512Mi)	High	Below the gen2 512 Mi floor is rejected at plan time; too low OOM-kills under load.
max_instance_count	1	High	Scaling beyond 1 without confirmed shared-storage/session handling can cause inconsistent state across instances.
enable_iap	only for private deployments	High	IAP blocks all unauthenticated requests, including inbound email-webhook style integrations.
ADMIN_PASS (auto-generated)	Change in UI after first login	Medium	The generated password is in Secret Manager; rotate it in-app for a human-owned credential.
min_instance_count	1 for production	Medium	Scale-to-zero (0) adds cold-start delay on the first request after idle.
application_version	Pin in production	Medium	latest can move the base image under you between deploys.
backup_retention_days	7 (raise for prod)	Medium	Too short for compliance retention.

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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. FreeScout-specific application configuration shared with the GKE variant is described in FreeScout_Common.