Memos on GKE Autopilot

Memos is an open-source, MIT-licensed, self-hosted note-taking service built for quick markdown capture — a single ~20MB Go binary with a React frontend. This module deploys Memos 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 Memos uses and how to explore and operate them from the Google Cloud Console and the command line. For the mechanics 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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What Memos costs on RAD, and how that compares

Running Memos in your own GCP project costs about $104.74/month in Google Cloud charges; RAD's module fee is a one-time 75 credits (or 67.5 credits in a RAD-managed project), covering setup and support -- not the ongoing cloud bill, which Google bills you directly in your own project or RAD meters hourly in credits in a RAD-managed one. If a lower running cost matters more than the deployment target, see the Cloud Run guide for the lower-cost option; otherwise, if you deploy into a RAD-managed project you can pause the whole thing for free when you are not using it -- see Pause it for free below.

What you pay on RAD

	Your own project	RAD-managed project
Module fee	75 credits, once	67.5 credits, once (10% lower)
Build time	metered in credits as the build runs (a few credits, typically)	same
Google Cloud running cost	~$104.74/month, billed to your own billing account at Google's list price	~92 credits/day, metered hourly by RAD at list price plus margin

Default running cost in your own project

Resource	US$/month (Google list price, us-central1)
GKE Autopilot pod, 1x vCPU / 0.5 GiB	$34.29
Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL, 1 vCPU / 3.75 GB, zonal, 10 GB SSD	$51.02
NFS/cache file server (small VM)	$13.43
Cloud NAT and networking	$5.00
Cloud Storage (add-ons, backups)	$1.00
GKE cluster management fee	shared across every GKE app in the project; $0 if this is your only cluster, else ~$73
Total	$104.74

How it compares

• There is no verified official managed SaaS for Memos to compare against, so the honest baseline is a bare VPS: a smaller box is enough -- Hetzner CX11-class or a DigitalOcean 1 vCPU/1-2GB Droplet runs $6-12/month -- but it still needs someone to patch it, back it up and watch it, which RAD's managed Cloud SQL, Secret Manager and monitoring cover for you.
• RAD is not meant to be cheaper than a VPS in cash terms, and usually is not -- for a personal, low-traffic note-taking service, the real argument is what RAD manages for you (backups, patching, secrets, monitoring) rather than the sticker price.
• Either way, this is a personal, low-traffic note-taking service, so the running cost above is what actually drives the bill, not the module fee -- and that running cost is the one you can pause (see below).

Pause it for free: delete a RAD-managed project, restore it when you need it

This is the headline for a RAD-managed project. Deleting a RAD-managed project first unlinks its billing, then asks Google to delete the project outright -- Google's own 30-day recoverable soft delete. Unlike deleting one module, this does not tear down Cloud SQL, any VM or the compute resource one by one: the whole project simply stops, and nothing is charged while it waits, because billing is already unlinked.

Restoring, within 30 days and only by the project's owner, asks Google to undelete the project and reattaches its billing account, then asks you to run Update on each deployment to confirm everything came back. Because nothing was individually destroyed, that Update finds the same resources already there -- it is a check, not a rebuild, and an Update never charges the module fee again. This costs only a handful of credits (under US$1) in total for a typical 2-3-deployment chain.

What this needs: you must own the project (not one RAD only manages billing for), you must restore it yourself within 30 days -- after that Google deletes it for good -- and restoring is admitted like creating a new project, so your purchased credit balance must still clear the tier's floor (100 credits for the sandbox tier most study/demo use fits). Google says most services are fully working again within 36 hours of a restore.

One real gap: nightly backups are written to a bucket inside the project, and that bucket has Cloud Storage's soft-delete explicitly turned off, so it is very likely gone as soon as you delete the project -- even though the project itself is recoverable for 30 days. If you have customised the app and want to keep that work, copy a backup out (to Google Drive, or a bucket outside the project) before deleting. For a default install with nothing irreplaceable in it, this does not matter.

Pay only while you use it, the other way: delete and redeploy

In your own project (or once you are past the 30-day restore window above), the alternative is to delete Memos outright and redeploy it later. A redeploy costs the module fee again, plus the builds -- roughly 75 + 3-6 credits of build time.

Deleting saves money only once Memos would otherwise sit unused long enough to clear that redeploy cost against its own daily running cost -- against the own-project total above, that works out to about 2 days or more. Most of the running cost here is usually the database and the shared file/cache VM; they stop only when nothing else in the project uses them, so deleting this app while something else shares the project saves only this app's own compute part.

Keep data first: nightly backups go to a bucket inside the deployment and are deleted with it, so copy the latest backup out before deleting if you want to keep it.

Lab sessions and Managed Environments

• Lab sessions, for training: a trainer runs a session for a class. Each participant gets the app in their own Google Cloud project for 15 minutes to 24 hours, within an allowance the trainer sets. Either the trainer funds every place, or each participant pays for their own. Everything is deleted when the session ends and unused credits go back to the trainer.
• Managed Environments, for consultancies: a partner runs the app for a client from a ring-fenced wallet it funds, and settles with the client directly. If the wallet runs low, billing pauses and the data is kept, so nobody receives an unexpected charge. At the end the partner hands the project over and the deployments become the client's own.
• Credits can be bought in more than 20 currencies, including XAF, XOF, NGN, GHS, KES and ZAR, by card, bank transfer or mobile money.

Sources (8 October 2026): Google Cloud Billing Catalog API list prices; radmodules.dev/pricing for RAD's own fees and daily-credit estimates; https://cloud.google.com/resource-manager/docs/delete-restore-projects for the pause/restore mechanics.

1. Overview

Memos runs as a single Go web workload. The deployment wires together a deliberately small set of Google Cloud services — Memos has no queue, no cache, and no background workers:

Capability	Google Cloud service	Notes
Compute	GKE Autopilot	Go pod, 1 vCPU / 512 MiB by default, horizontally autoscaled
Database	Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL 15	Required — this module standardizes on Postgres via a single MEMOS_DSN connection URL
Object storage	none	Not provisioned by this module — see the attachments note below
Cache & queue	none	Memos has no queue or cache dependency
Secrets	Secret Manager	Only the database password (managed by the Foundation); Memos itself has no app-level secret
Ingress	Cloud Load Balancing	External LoadBalancer, optional custom domain + managed certificate

Sensible defaults worth knowing up front:

• PostgreSQL is the standardized engine. Memos_Common fixes database_type = "POSTGRES_15".
• No admin-bootstrap secret exists. The first account created through the web UI becomes the host/admin — there is no DEFAULTUSER-style env var and nothing to retrieve from Secret Manager for first login.
• workload_type = "Deployment", not StatefulSet. Memos keeps no local state that must survive a pod restart beyond what's already in Cloud SQL — no PVC, no NFS mount required.
• Session affinity is not required. Memos has no in-process WebSocket state tied to a specific pod (unlike Activepieces or Gotify's live-push patterns), so the default session_affinity = "None" is correct.
• min_instance_count = 0 / max_instance_count = 1. GKE Autopilot bills per running pod; the HPA can scale to zero replicas when idle.
• The database DSN is computed at container start, not baked into the image. memos-entrypoint.sh reads the platform-injected DB_* variables — on GKE, DB_HOST arrives as 127.0.0.1 (the cloud-sql-proxy sidecar) — and builds the single MEMOS_DSN connection URL Memos expects.
• No object storage is provisioned. This module does not declare a GCS bucket, volume, or PVC for uploaded file attachments. Text notes persist fully in PostgreSQL, but binary attachments would live on the pod's ephemeral filesystem and would not survive a pod restart.

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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 Memos workload

Memos pods are scheduled on Autopilot, which bills for the CPU/memory the pods actually request. Horizontal Pod Autoscaling sizes the deployment between the minimum and maximum replica counts.

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

  kubectl get pods,svc,hpa -n "$NAMESPACE"
  kubectl logs -n "$NAMESPACE" deploy/<service-name> --tail=100
  kubectl describe hpa -n "$NAMESPACE"          # current vs target utilisation

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

B. Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL 15

Memos stores all application data (notes, tags, users, resources metadata) in a managed Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL 15 instance. Pods reach it privately through the Cloud SQL Auth Proxy sidecar over 127.0.0.1; no public IP is exposed. On first deploy an initialization Job creates the application database and user.

• Console: SQL → select the instance for connections, backups, flags, and 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_GKE for the connection model, backups, and password rotation.

C. Secret Manager

Only the database password secret exists for this module — managed entirely by the Foundation, not by Memos_Common. Memos generates its own internal session-signing key and stores it in its own database on first boot.

• Console: Security → Secret Manager.
• CLI:

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

D. Networking & ingress

The service is exposed via a Kubernetes Service (LoadBalancer by default) with an external IP. A Gateway/Ingress with a custom domain and managed TLS certificate can be layered on.

• Console: Kubernetes Engine → Services & Ingress; Network services → Load balancing.
• CLI:

  kubectl get svc -n "$NAMESPACE" -o wide
  gcloud compute addresses list --project "$PROJECT"

See App_GKE.

E. Cloud Logging & Monitoring

Container logs flow to Cloud Logging; GKE and Cloud SQL metrics flow to Cloud Monitoring, with optional uptime checks and alert policies.

• Console: Logging → Logs Explorer; Monitoring → Dashboards / Alerting.
• CLI:

  kubectl logs -n "$NAMESPACE" deploy/<service-name> --tail=100 -f

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3. Memos Application Behaviour

• First-deploy database setup. An initialization Job runs create-db-and-user.sh using postgres:15-alpine. It connects through the cloud-sql-proxy sidecar and idempotently creates the application role and database. The job is safe to re-run.
• Schema migrations on start. Memos applies its own internal GORM auto-migrate schema setup on every pod start — no separate migration job is needed.
• No admin-bootstrap credential to retrieve. The first account created through the web UI's sign-up form becomes the host/admin.
• Database DSN is computed, not static. memos-entrypoint.sh builds MEMOS_DSN from DB_HOST/DB_PORT/DB_USER/DB_NAME/DB_PASSWORD at container start — the loopback branch (DB_HOST=127.0.0.1, sslmode=disable) is taken on GKE, since the cloud-sql-proxy sidecar already terminates TLS. See Memos_Common for the full branching logic.
• Health path. Startup and liveness probes target / — Memos's public login/landing page, reachable without authentication.
• Inspect job execution:

  kubectl get jobs -n "$NAMESPACE"
  kubectl logs -n "$NAMESPACE" job/<job-name>

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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 Memos are listed; every other input is inherited from App_GKE with its standard behaviour.

Group 1 — Project & Identity

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

Group 2 — Deployment Environment

Variable	Default	Description
tenant_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	memos	Base name for resources. Do not change after first deploy.
application_display_name	Memos	Human-readable name shown in the Console.
application_description	Memos note-taking service on GKE	Workload description.
application_version	latest	Deployment-tracking tag. Memos_Common maps "latest" to the pinned MEMOS_VERSION = "0.28.0" Dockerfile build arg.

Group 4 — Runtime & Scaling

Variable	Default	Description
deploy_application	true	Set false to provision infrastructure only.
container_image_source	custom	Builds the wrapper image with the computed-DSN entrypoint.
cpu_limit	1000m	CPU per pod.
memory_limit	512Mi	Memory per pod — sufficient for Memos's small footprint.
min_instance_count	0	HPA minReplicas.
max_instance_count	1	HPA maxReplicas; raise for higher concurrent load.
container_port	5230	Memos's native default port — no remapping performed.
enable_cloudsql_volume	true	cloud-sql-proxy sidecar for socket connections.
enable_image_mirroring	true	Mirror the Memos image into Artifact Registry.
session_affinity	None	No pod-level session required.

Group 5 — Access & Ingress Control

Standard App_GKE service exposure and IAP settings — see App_GKE. Key inputs: service_type (LoadBalancer by default), enable_iap, iap_authorized_users.

Group 6 — Environment Variables & Secrets

Variable	Default	Description
environment_variables	{}	Extra non-secret settings. Any MEMOS_* value Memos documents can be set here. The database connection (MEMOS_DSN, MEMOS_DRIVER) is computed automatically — do not set them here.
secret_environment_variables	{}	Map of env var → Secret Manager secret name.

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	false	Restore from a backup on deploy.

Group 8 — CI/CD & Binary Authorization

Standard App_GKE Cloud Build integration — see App_GKE.

Group 11 — Storage & Filesystem

Variable	Default	Description
storage_buckets	[]	No bucket provisioned by default.
enable_nfs	true	Not used — Memos keeps no state outside PostgreSQL in this module's wiring.
stateful_pvc_enabled	null	Unset, so App_GKE's own resolution logic applies (no PVC). Memos is stateless at the pod level; no block PVC needed.
gcs_volumes	[]	Add an entry here (mounted at Memos's data directory) if attachment persistence is required.

Group 12 — Database Backend

Variable	Default	Description
database_type	POSTGRES	Fixed by Memos_Common.
application_database_name	memos	PostgreSQL database name. Immutable after first deploy.
application_database_user	memos	Application database user. Password auto-generated in Secret Manager.

Group 13 — Jobs & Scheduled Tasks

Variable	Default	Description
initialization_jobs	[]	Leave empty to use the built-in db-init job.

Group 14 — Observability & Health

Variable	Default	Description
startup_probe	HTTP / 30s delay	Startup probe — targets the public login page.
liveness_probe	HTTP / 30s delay	Liveness probe.
uptime_check_config	{ enabled=false }	Cloud Monitoring uptime check; requires a publicly reachable endpoint.

Group 22 — VPC Service Controls & Audit Logging

Variable	Default	Description
enable_vpc_sc	false	Enforce a VPC-SC perimeter (requires organization_id).
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	Kubernetes Service name.
namespace	Kubernetes namespace.
service_cluster_ip	ClusterIP of the Service.
service_external_ip	External LoadBalancer IP (when service_type = "LoadBalancer").
service_url	URL of the deployed service.
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 — empty by default.
network_name / network_exists / regions	VPC network, presence, regions.
container_image / container_registry	Deployed image and Artifact Registry repo.
monitoring_enabled / monitoring_notification_channels	Monitoring status and channels.
initialization_jobs	Names of the setup jobs (includes db-init).
deployment_id / tenant_id / resource_prefix	Naming identifiers.
project_id / project_number	Project identifiers.
kubernetes_ready	Whether the Kubernetes workload reached Ready state.
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).

Setting	Sensible value	Risk	Consequence if wrong
application_database_name / application_database_user	Set once	Critical	Immutable after first deploy; renaming recreates the DB/user and destroys all data.
First account created via sign-up	Create it immediately after deploy	Critical	The first account to register becomes host/admin — if left open, any visitor who reaches the external IP first claims that role.
Public self-registration	Disable after first admin	High	Memos ships with open sign-up by default.
container_image_source	custom (default)	High	"prebuilt" deploys the official image directly, which has no logic to compute MEMOS_DSN — it must be wired manually or the pod CrashLoopBackOffs on a failed DB connection.
stateful_pvc_enabled	false (default)	Low	Memos needs no block storage; enabling it adds unnecessary SSD quota consumption.
gcs_volumes for attachments	Add explicitly if needed	Medium	Without it, uploaded binary attachments live on the pod's ephemeral filesystem and do not survive a pod restart.
min_instance_count	0 (default)	Low	Scale-to-zero briefly delays the first request after idle while a new pod schedules — Autopilot cold start, not an app bug.

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For the foundation behaviour referenced throughout — Workload Identity, ingress, autoscaling, CI/CD, Cloud Armor, IAP, Binary Authorization, VPC-SC, backups, and image mirroring — see App_GKE. Memos-specific application configuration shared with the Cloud Run variant is described in Memos_Common.

Related guides

• Hands-on lab: Memos on GKE Autopilot — deploy it step by step, with the console screens and commands at each stage.
• Memos on Google Cloud Run — the same application on Cloud Run, for when you need the other deployment target.
• Memos Common — Shared Application Configuration — the configuration shared by both deployment targets.