Meilisearch on Google Cloud Run

Meilisearch is a fast, open-source search engine — a single Rust binary that delivers instant, typo-tolerant, faceted search behind a simple REST API. It is widely used as a self-hostable alternative to Algolia. This module deploys Meilisearch 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 Meilisearch 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

Meilisearch runs as a single-binary Rust container on Cloud Run v2. The deployment wires together a focused set of Google Cloud services:

Capability	Google Cloud service	Notes
Compute	Cloud Run v2	Rust binary, 1 vCPU / 1 GiB by default, serverless; one warm instance by default
Persistent storage	Cloud Storage (GCS FUSE)	A dedicated bucket mounted at /meili_data holds all indexes and documents
Database	None	Meilisearch is self-contained — no Cloud SQL, no external database
Cache & queue	None	Meilisearch has no Redis or queue dependency
Secrets	Secret Manager	Auto-generated MEILI_MASTER_KEY (the search admin credential)
Ingress	Cloud Run URL / Cloud Load Balancing	Internal VPC URL by default; optional external HTTPS load balancer + custom domain

Sensible defaults worth knowing up front:

• No database, no Redis. Meilisearch persists everything — indexes, documents, settings, tasks — to the /meili_data directory on the mounted GCS bucket. There is no Cloud SQL instance and no Redis to operate.
• The master key is mandatory. Meilisearch runs in production mode (MEILI_ENV = production), which refuses to start without a ≥16-byte MEILI_MASTER_KEY. The module generates a 32-character key and stores it in Secret Manager (enable_api_key = true).
• Internal ingress by default. ingress_settings = "internal" keeps the search API on the VPC. Exposing it publicly (ingress_settings = "all") is blocked at plan time unless enable_api_key = true, so an unauthenticated Meilisearch can never be published by accident.
• Single instance. min_instance_count = 1 and max_instance_count = 1. Meilisearch is a single-writer store backed by one storage path; multiple instances writing the same path corrupt the index. Keep one instance warm to avoid cold-start index loading, and scale vertically (CPU/memory), not horizontally.
• Gen2 execution environment is required for the GCS FUSE mount.
• Image is pinned to v1.11. The application_version = "latest" default maps to the getmeili/meilisearch:v1.11 build; pin a specific release in production.
• Health at /health. Startup and liveness probes both target /health, which returns {"status":"available"} once the engine is ready.

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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 Meilisearch service

Meilisearch runs as a Cloud Run v2 service. Each deployment creates an immutable revision; traffic can be split across revisions for safe rollouts. Because Meilisearch is single-writer, the service is pinned to exactly one instance.

• 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 Storage — persistent index storage

All Meilisearch data lives in a dedicated Cloud Storage bucket mounted at /meili_data via GCS FUSE (MEILI_DB_PATH = /meili_data). This is what makes the indexes survive restarts and redeploys — there is no separate database.

• Console: Cloud Storage → Buckets.
• CLI:

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

See App_CloudRun for GCS FUSE and CMEK options.

C. Secret Manager — the master key

A single cryptographic secret is generated automatically and stored in Secret Manager: MEILI_MASTER_KEY, the search admin credential. It is injected into the service as an environment variable; it is never written to disk or baked into the image. The master key can create/delete indexes and mint scoped API keys, so treat it as a root credential and issue scoped keys (POST /keys) to applications.

• Console: Security → Secret Manager.
• CLI:

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

See App_CloudRun for injection and rotation details.

D. Networking & ingress

The service is reachable on its internal VPC URL by default (ingress_settings = "internal"), which keeps the search API off the public internet. An external HTTPS load balancer with a custom domain, Cloud CDN, and Cloud Armor can be layered on; publishing publicly requires the master key to be enabled.

• 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.

E. Cloud Logging & Monitoring

Container logs flow to Cloud Logging; Cloud Run metrics flow to Cloud Monitoring, with optional uptime checks and alert policies against /health.

• 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. Meilisearch Application Behaviour

• No initialization job. Meilisearch manages its own storage and needs no database bootstrap, so no db-init job runs. The first request that creates an index lazily initialises the /meili_data directory.
• Production mode requires the master key. With MEILI_ENV = production, Meilisearch will not start unless MEILI_MASTER_KEY is at least 16 bytes. Production mode also disables the built-in web mini-dashboard — interact via the REST API.
• Everything is an API call. Create an index, add documents, and search with the master key (or a scoped key) as a Bearer token:

  URL=$(gcloud run services describe <service-name> --region "$REGION" --format='value(status.url)')
  KEY=$(gcloud secrets versions access latest --secret=<secret-name> --project "$PROJECT")
  
  # Add documents (creates the index on first write):
  curl -X POST "$URL/indexes/movies/documents" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    --data '[{"id":1,"title":"Interstellar"},{"id":2,"title":"Inception"}]'
  
  # Search (note the deliberate typo — Meilisearch is typo-tolerant):
  curl "$URL/indexes/movies/search" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    --data '{"q":"interstellr"}'

• Scoped API keys. Do not ship the master key to browsers or apps. Mint scoped, expiring keys with POST /keys (using the master key) that are limited to specific indexes and actions (e.g. search-only), and distribute those.
• Data durability = the bucket. Because state lives entirely in /meili_data, the GCS bucket is the source of truth. Snapshots/dumps (POST /dumps) written to that path are captured by the module's scheduled backups.
• Health path. Startup and liveness probes target /health, which returns {"status":"available"} when the engine is ready. Confirm the running revision:

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

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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 Meilisearch 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.
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	meilisearch	Base name for resources. Do not change after first deploy.
application_display_name	Meilisearch Vector Database	Human-readable name shown in the Console.
description	Meilisearch Vector Database — high-performance similarity search for AI applications	Service description.
application_version	latest	Meilisearch image tag; latest maps to the pinned v1.11 build. Pin a release in production.
enable_api_key	true	Generate the MEILI_MASTER_KEY in Secret Manager. Required before ingress_settings = "all".

Group 4 — Runtime & Scaling

Variable	Default	Description
deploy_application	true	Set false to provision infrastructure only.
cpu_limit	1000m	CPU per instance.
memory_limit	1Gi	Memory per instance; Meilisearch holds hot index structures in memory — raise for large indexes.
min_instance_count	1	Keep ≥ 1 to avoid cold-start index loading.
max_instance_count	1	Keep at 1. Meilisearch is single-writer; multiple instances corrupt the index.
container_port	7700	Meilisearch listens on 0.0.0.0:7700.
execution_environment	gen2	Gen2 required for the GCS FUSE mount.
timeout_seconds	300	Maximum request duration (0–3600 seconds); raise for large batch imports.
enable_image_mirroring	true	Mirror the Meilisearch image into Artifact Registry.
container_protocol	http1	HTTP/1.1 by default.
traffic_split	[]	Split traffic across revisions for staged rollouts.

Group 5 — Access & Networking

Variable	Default	Description
ingress_settings	internal	internal (VPC-only, recommended). all (public) requires enable_api_key = true.
vpc_egress_setting	PRIVATE_RANGES_ONLY	Route only RFC 1918 traffic via VPC.
enable_iap	false	Require Google sign-in in front of the service.
iap_authorized_users / iap_authorized_groups	[]	Who may access through IAP.

Group 6 — Environment Variables & Secrets

Variable	Default	Description
environment_variables	{}	Extra MEILI_* settings. Core values (MEILI_DB_PATH, MEILI_HTTP_ADDR, MEILI_ENV, MEILI_NO_ANALYTICS) 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.
enable_backup_import / backup_source / backup_uri / backup_format	restore options	Restore from a backup/dump on deploy (backup_format defaults to tar).

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 / NFS

enable_custom_sql_scripts is not applicable — Meilisearch has no SQL database. nfs_instance_name / nfs_instance_base_name control NFS discovery only if NFS is enabled for a custom job.

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 (requires Cloud Armor).
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	The <prefix>-storage bucket (mounted at /meili_data) is always created.
storage_buckets	[]	Additional GCS buckets beyond the auto-provisioned storage bucket.
enable_nfs	false	Meilisearch uses GCS for storage; enable NFS only for custom init jobs (requires gen2).
nfs_mount_path	/mnt/nfs	Mount path inside the container.
gcs_volumes	[]	Additional GCS FUSE mounts (the storage bucket is added automatically).
manage_storage_kms_iam / enable_artifact_registry_cmek	false	CMEK options.

Group 13 — Jobs & Scheduled Tasks

Variable	Default	Description
initialization_jobs	[]	Meilisearch requires no default init job; provide jobs only for custom data loading.
cron_jobs	[]	Recurring Cloud Run Jobs (e.g., dump snapshots or maintenance).

Group 14 — Observability & Health

Variable	Default	Description
startup_probe	HTTP /health 15s delay	Startup probe; returns {"status":"available"} when ready.
liveness_probe	HTTP /health 30s delay	Liveness probe (same endpoint).
startup_probe_config	HTTP /health	Alternative structured startup probe (foundation interface).
health_check_config	HTTP /health	Alternative structured liveness probe.
uptime_check_config	{ enabled=false, path="/health" }	Cloud Monitoring uptime check.
alert_policies	[]	Metric alert policies.

Group 23 — 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.
meilisearch_url	Internal VPC URL for the Meilisearch REST API (port 7700).
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).
storage_buckets	Created Cloud Storage buckets (including the /meili_data storage bucket).
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 any custom setup jobs.
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 GCS FUSE mounts, IAP with no authorized identities, an out-of-range timeout_seconds/backup_retention_days, or public ingress without the master key. 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
enable_api_key	true	Critical	Disabling it removes the master key; in production mode Meilisearch refuses to start, and if it did run, anyone on the network could read or delete every index.
ingress_settings = "all"	only with enable_api_key = true	Critical	Publishing an unauthenticated Meilisearch exposes all indexes to the internet — blocked at plan time as a guard.
max_instance_count	1	Critical	More than one instance writing the same /meili_data GCS path corrupts the index.
MEILI_MASTER_KEY (auto-generated)	Rotate only with client updates	High	Rotating the key without updating every client breaks all authenticated search and admin calls.
execution_environment	gen2	High	GCS FUSE requires gen2; gen1 fails the plan and, without the mount, indexes would not persist.
min_instance_count	1	Medium	Scale-to-zero (0) adds cold-start index-load latency to the first query after idle.
memory_limit	1Gi+	High	Too little memory for a large index causes OOM kills under query load; size to your dataset.
enable_iap	for a private, human-facing endpoint	Medium	IAP requires Google identity for every request — good for a locked-down dashboard, but it also blocks unauthenticated app/service calls.
backup_retention_days	7 (raise for prod)	Medium	Too short to recover from an accidental index deletion discovered late.
application_version	pin a release	Low	latest maps to v1.11 today, but pinning avoids surprise upgrades on rebuild.

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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. Meilisearch-specific application configuration shared with the GKE variant is described in Meilisearch_Common.