GlitchTip on Google Cloud Run

GlitchTip is an open-source, Sentry-compatible error-tracking and performance-monitoring platform (Django/Python). Your applications send exceptions and traces to GlitchTip's Sentry-protocol ingest endpoint, and GlitchTip stores, deduplicates, and alerts on them. This module deploys GlitchTip 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 GlitchTip 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

GlitchTip runs as a Python container on Cloud Run v2, served by Granian on port 8080. The all_in_one server role runs the web server, the Celery worker, and Celery beat inside the one container. The deployment wires together a focused set of Google Cloud services:

Capability	Google Cloud service	Notes
Compute	Cloud Run v2	Django/Granian service, 2 vCPU / 4 GiB by default; min_instance_count = 1 keeps the worker/beat alive
Database	Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL 15	Required — GlitchTip does not support MySQL or other engines
Task queue & cache	Cloud SQL (PostgreSQL)	VALKEY_URL = "" routes the Celery queue, cache, and sessions through Postgres; Redis is optional
Object / file storage	Cloud Storage + NFS	A storage data bucket; NFS mounted at /opt/glitchtip/storage for uploaded attachments
Secrets	Secret Manager	Auto-generated Django SECRET_KEY and the initial superuser password; 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. The database engine is fixed by the shared application layer; selecting any other engine breaks startup.
• The image is a thin custom build. GlitchTip is built FROM glitchtip/glitchtip:6.2.0 with a cloud entrypoint that composes DATABASE_URL from the injected DB_* vars (the DB password is a runtime secret, uninterpolatable at plan time) and disables Valkey/Redis before handing off to the image's own ./bin/start.sh.
• No Redis by default. VALKEY_URL = "" means the Celery queue, cache, and sessions all use PostgreSQL. This is correct for a single always-on instance; enable Redis only when you need to scale the worker fleet.
• min_instance_count = 1 and cpu_always_allocated = true. Because the Celery worker and beat run in-process (SERVER_ROLE = all_in_one), scaling to zero or throttling CPU between requests would stop background event processing and scheduled cleanup.
• SECRET_KEY and the superuser password are generated automatically and stored in Secret Manager. SECRET_KEY is injected into the container; the superuser password is consumed only by the glitchtip-migrate job.
• The initial owner is seeded, not self-registered. glitchtip-migrate creates the superuser admin@techequity.cloud; ENABLE_OPEN_USER_REGISTRATION defaults to false.
• Public ingress is the default (ingress_settings = "all") so application SDKs and browsers can reach the ingest endpoint and the dashboard. Enabling IAP blocks unauthenticated event ingestion.
• Event retention is 90 days (GLITCHTIP_MAX_EVENT_LIFE_DAYS = 90); stored events older than that are purged by the background worker.

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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 GlitchTip service

GlitchTip runs as a Cloud Run v2 service. Each deployment creates an immutable revision; traffic can be split across revisions for safe rollouts. Because the worker/beat are in-process, the service is kept warm (min_instance_count = 1, cpu_always_allocated = true).

• 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

GlitchTip stores all application data (projects, issues, events, users, and the Celery queue) in a managed Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL 15 instance. The service connects privately through the Cloud SQL Auth Proxy over a Unix socket; no public IP is exposed. On first deploy the db-init and glitchtip-migrate Jobs create the database and user, run migrations, and create the superuser.

• 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 & NFS

A dedicated Cloud Storage data bucket (storage suffix) is provisioned automatically. GlitchTip's uploaded attachments and source maps are stored on NFS mounted at /opt/glitchtip/storage by default (enable_nfs = true).

• Console: Cloud Storage → Buckets; Filestore/Compute Engine for the NFS server.
• CLI:

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

See App_CloudRun for GCS Fuse, NFS, and CMEK options.

D. Redis / Valkey (optional)

Redis is disabled by default (VALKEY_URL = "" → PostgreSQL-backed queue and cache). Setting enable_redis = true and supplying redis_host points GlitchTip's Celery broker and cache at Redis/Valkey — useful only when you separate the worker fleet from the web tier at higher volumes.

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

  redis-cli -h <redis-host> ping
  # Confirm the queue backend in the running revision:
  gcloud run services describe <service-name> --region "$REGION" \
    --format='value(spec.template.spec.containers[0].env)'

E. Secret Manager

Two secrets are generated automatically: the Django SECRET_KEY (session signing) and the initial superuser password (consumed by the migrate job). 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"

See App_CloudRun for injection and rotation details.

F. Networking & ingress

The service is reachable at its run.app URL by default, which allows the public access required for SDK event ingestion. 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.

G. 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. GlitchTip Application Behaviour

• First-deploy database setup. The db-init Job (postgres:15-alpine) connects through the Cloud SQL Auth Proxy and idempotently creates the application database and user, grants privileges, and re-owns the public schema. It is safe to re-run.
• Migrations + superuser bootstrap. The glitchtip-migrate Job runs on the built GlitchTip image (depends_on = ["db-init"]). It composes DATABASE_URL, runs ./manage.py migrate --noinput, then createsuperuser --noinput using SUPERUSER_EMAIL (admin@techequity.cloud) and the Secret Manager superuser password. A duplicate account is skipped, so re-runs are safe. The initial admin password is in Secret Manager (secret-<prefix>-<app>-superuser-password).
• all_in_one server role. SERVER_ROLE = all_in_one runs the web server, Celery worker, and beat in one container. Keep min_instance_count >= 1 and cpu_always_allocated = true — scaling to zero stops background ingestion and the daily event-retention purge.
• SECRET_KEY should not be rotated casually. It signs sessions/cookies; rotating it logs everyone out.
• Event ingestion needs public ingress. Application SDKs POST events to the ingest endpoint (/api/<project>/store/ and the envelope endpoint). Keep ingress_settings = "all"; enabling IAP blocks SDK ingestion (put IAP only in front of the dashboard if you separate concerns).
• Health path. Startup and liveness probes target / by default. Allow up to several minutes on first boot (the startup probe provides a 60-second initial delay plus a wide, 30-attempt failure window at a 15 s period) while migrations run.
• 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 GlitchTip are listed; every other input is inherited from App_CloudRun with its standard behaviour.

Group 1 — Project & Identity

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

Group 2 — Deployment Environment

Variable	Default	Description
tenant_deployment_id	demo	Short suffix that makes resource names unique per environment (use cr to run alongside the GKE variant).
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	glitchtip	Base name for resources. Do not change after first deploy.
display_name	GlitchTip Error Tracking	Human-readable name shown in the platform UI.
description	GlitchTip - Open-source Sentry-compatible error tracking platform	Brief description of the application's purpose.
application_version	6.2.0	GlitchTip image tag; drives the FROM glitchtip/glitchtip:<tag> build.

Group 4 — Runtime & Scaling

Variable	Default	Description
deploy_application	true	Set false to provision infrastructure only.
container_image_source	custom	GlitchTip is a thin custom build; keep custom.
cpu_limit	2000m	CPU per instance.
memory_limit	4Gi	Memory per instance.
cpu_always_allocated	true	Required — the in-process Celery worker/beat must run between requests.
min_instance_count	1	Keep ≥ 1 so the worker/beat stay alive.
max_instance_count	5	Autoscaling upper bound.
container_port	8080	GlitchTip is served by Granian on port 8080.
execution_environment	gen2	Gen2 required for NFS and GCS Fuse mounts.
enable_cloudsql_volume	true	Cloud SQL Auth Proxy socket.
enable_image_mirroring	true	Mirror the base image into Artifact Registry.

Group 5 — Access & Ingress Control

Variable	Default	Description
ingress_settings	all	Required for public SDK event ingestion.
vpc_egress_setting	PRIVATE_RANGES_ONLY	Route only RFC 1918 traffic via the VPC.
enable_iap	false	Require Google sign-in. Blocks unauthenticated event ingestion.
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. Do not set SECRET_KEY, DATABASE_URL, or VALKEY_URL here.
secret_environment_variables	{}	Map of env var → Secret Manager secret name.
secret_propagation_delay	30	Seconds to wait after secret creation.
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 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.

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	7 / true / 30	Artifact Registry cleanup policy.

Group 11 — Storage & Filesystem

Variable	Default	Description
create_cloud_storage	true	Create GCS buckets defined in storage_buckets.
storage_buckets	(data bucket)	A storage data bucket is declared by GlitchTip_Common.
enable_nfs	true	NFS attachment storage mounted at nfs_mount_path.
nfs_mount_path	/opt/glitchtip/storage	Mount path inside the container.
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	Fixed — GlitchTip requires PostgreSQL 15.
db_name	glitchtip	PostgreSQL database name. Immutable after first deploy.
db_user	glitchtip	Application database user. Password auto-generated in Secret Manager.
database_password_length	32	Generated password length (16–64).
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 built-in db-init + glitchtip-migrate jobs.
cron_jobs	[]	Optional Cloud Scheduler + Cloud Run Jobs.

Group 14 — Observability & Health

Variable	Default	Description
startup_probe	HTTP / 60s delay, 30 × 15s failure window	Startup probe. Allow several minutes on first boot.
liveness_probe	HTTP / 60s delay	Liveness probe.
startup_probe_config / health_check_config	HTTP /, same timings	Alternative structured probes.
uptime_check_config	disabled (enabled=false, path /)	Cloud Monitoring uptime check.
alert_policies	[]	Metric alert policies.

Group 21 — Redis Cache & Queue

Variable	Default	Description
enable_redis	false	Use Redis/Valkey for the queue and cache instead of PostgreSQL.
redis_host	""	Redis endpoint. Must be set explicitly on Cloud Run.
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.

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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, glitchtip-migrate).
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 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
db_name / db_user	Set once	Critical	Immutable after first deploy; renaming recreates the DB/user and destroys all stored events and projects.
SECRET_KEY (auto-generated)	Never rotate casually	High	Rotating it invalidates all sessions, logging every user out.
min_instance_count	1	High	Scaling to zero stops the in-process Celery worker/beat — event ingestion queues stall and the retention purge never runs.
cpu_always_allocated	true	High	Request-based billing throttles CPU to ~0 between requests, starving the worker/beat.
enable_backup_import	false unless restoring	Critical	Enabling without a valid backup file fails the import job.
ingress_settings	all	High	Setting to internal blocks external SDK event ingestion.
enable_iap	only for a dashboard-only deployment	High	IAP blocks all unauthenticated requests, including SDK event POSTs.
ENABLE_OPEN_USER_REGISTRATION (fixed false)	n/a	High	Not exposed as a variable on this variant — GlitchTip_Common always sets it false, so signup stays admin-invite-only.
database_type	POSTGRES_15	High	GlitchTip requires PostgreSQL; any other engine breaks startup (fixed by GlitchTip_Common).
memory_limit	4Gi	Medium	Below ~1 GiB the Django + worker + beat processes risk OOM under event bursts.
container_port	module default	Medium	GlitchTip serves on 8080; overriding the port without matching Granian's bind breaks health probes.
GLITCHTIP_MAX_EVENT_LIFE_DAYS (fixed 90)	n/a	Low	Not exposed as a variable on this variant; too high would grow the database unbounded, too low would discard events you may still need.
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. GlitchTip-specific application configuration shared with the GKE variant is described in GlitchTip_Common.