Metabase on Google Cloud Run

Metabase is an open-source business intelligence and analytics platform that lets non-technical users query, visualise, and share data without writing SQL. This module deploys Metabase 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 Metabase 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

Metabase runs as a Java/JVM (Jetty) 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	JVM service, 2 vCPU / 4 GiB by default, request-based autoscaling
Database	Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL 15	Required — Metabase stores all application state (questions, dashboards, users) in PostgreSQL
Secrets	Secret Manager	Auto-generated database password; Metabase manages its own internal keys
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 the only supported engine. All application state lives in this database.
• No Redis is required. Metabase does not use Redis; enable_redis defaults to false.
• min_instance_count defaults to 0 (scale-to-zero). JVM cold starts take 60–120 seconds. Set to 1 for production to eliminate this latency.
• Health probes target /api/health (HTTP), which returns 200 only once the JVM is fully up. The startup probe uses a 120-second initial delay with 15 retries, giving ~270 seconds total tolerance.
• MB_JETTY_PORT = "3000" and JAVA_TIMEZONE = "UTC" are injected automatically — do not override them.
• No GCS storage bucket is created by default. Metabase stores everything in PostgreSQL.

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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 Metabase service

Metabase 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. With min_instance_count = 0 the service scales to zero when idle; JVM cold starts take 60–120 seconds, so set min_instance_count = 1 for production.

• 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

Metabase stores its entire application state — questions, dashboards, collections, users, permissions, and settings — 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). On first deploy an initialization Job creates the application database and user.

• 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> --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. Secret Manager

The database password is stored in Secret Manager and injected into the service at runtime. Metabase manages its own internal encryption keys separately.

• 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.

D. Networking & ingress

The service is reachable at its run.app URL by default. 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.

E. Cloud Logging & Monitoring

Container logs (including JVM output) 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. Metabase Application Behaviour

• First-deploy database setup. An initialization Job runs before the service starts. It uses postgres:15-alpine to connect to Cloud SQL and idempotently create the application database and user. It is safe to re-run.
• No auto-migration on startup. Metabase applies migrations as part of its own startup process — the db-init job must succeed first so the database and user already exist when Metabase boots.
• Upgrade caution. Metabase migrations are one-way. Downgrading after a migration has run corrupts the schema. Always test upgrades in staging before applying to production.
• Health path. Startup and liveness probes target /api/health (HTTP 200 when the JVM is fully initialised). The startup probe allows a 120-second initial delay plus 15 × 10s retries (~270 seconds total). Do not reduce these values.
• Admin setup. On first boot Metabase presents a setup wizard in the browser. Admin credentials are managed inside Metabase itself — no admin secret is created by this module.
• Data sources. After deployment, configure data sources in Metabase Admin → Databases. Common GCP-native sources include BigQuery, Cloud SQL PostgreSQL/MySQL, and Google Sheets.
• MB_JETTY_PORT and JAVA_TIMEZONE are fixed. Injected automatically by Metabase_Common. Overriding them breaks routing or produces inconsistent report timestamps.

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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 Metabase 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	metabase	Base name for resources. Do not change after first deploy.
display_name	Metabase Analytics	Friendly name shown in the Console.
description	Metabase — open-source business intelligence and analytics platform	Service description.
application_version	v0.51.3	Metabase image version tag. Never downgrade — migrations are irreversible.

Group 4 — Runtime & Scaling

Variable	Default	Description
deploy_application	true	Set false to provision infrastructure only.
cpu_limit	2000m	CPU per instance; minimum 1 vCPU, 2 vCPU recommended.
memory_limit	4Gi	Memory per instance; JVM requires at least 2 GiB; 4 GiB recommended for production.
min_instance_count	0	Minimum instances. Set to 1 for production to eliminate 60–120s JVM cold starts.
max_instance_count	3	Maximum instances (cost ceiling).
container_port	3000	Metabase's Jetty port — must match MB_JETTY_PORT.
execution_environment	gen2	Gen2 recommended for improved startup performance.
enable_cloudsql_volume	true	Cloud SQL Auth Proxy for Unix socket connections. Required.
timeout_seconds	300	Max request duration; increase for long-running analytical queries.
traffic_split	[]	Split traffic across revisions for staged rollouts.
max_revisions_to_retain	7	How many old revisions to keep.

Group 5 — Access & Ingress Control

Variable	Default	Description
ingress_settings	all	Which networks may reach the service. Use internal-and-cloud-load-balancing for production.
vpc_egress_setting	PRIVATE_RANGES_ONLY	How outbound traffic is routed through the VPC.
enable_iap	false	Require Google sign-in via Identity-Aware Proxy. Recommended for internal deployments.
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. MB_JETTY_PORT and JAVA_TIMEZONE are injected automatically — do not override.
secret_environment_variables	{}	Map of env var → Secret Manager secret name (e.g., SMTP password).
secret_propagation_delay / secret_rotation_period	(set)	Replication wait / rotation cadence.

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_uri / 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 & NFS

Variable	Default	Description
enable_custom_sql_scripts / custom_sql_scripts_bucket / custom_sql_scripts_path / custom_sql_scripts_use_root	off	Run SQL from a GCS bucket after provisioning. See App_CloudRun.
nfs_instance_name / nfs_instance_base_name	(set)	NFS storage — not required for Metabase.

Group 10 — Domain, CDN, Cloud Armor & Image Retention

Variable	Default	Description
application_domains	[]	Custom hostnames for the external load balancer.
enable_cdn	false	Enable Cloud CDN on the LB backend.
enable_cloud_armor / admin_ip_ranges	off	Attach a WAF policy / restrict privileged access.
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	Provision GCS buckets when storage_buckets is non-empty.
storage_buckets	[]	Empty by default — Metabase does not require object storage.
enable_nfs	false	NFS storage is not required for Metabase.
gcs_volumes	[]	GCS Fuse volume mounts.
manage_storage_kms_iam / enable_artifact_registry_cmek	false	CMEK options.

Group 12 — Database Backend

Variable	Default	Description
database_type	POSTGRES_15	Fixed — do not change. Metabase requires PostgreSQL.
db_name	metabase	Database name. Immutable after first deploy.
db_user	metabase	Application user. Immutable after first deploy.
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 job (PostgreSQL database + user creation).
cron_jobs	[]	Recurring jobs triggered by Cloud Scheduler.

Group 14 — Observability & Health

Variable	Default	Description
startup_probe	/api/health, initial delay 120s, failure threshold 15	HTTP startup probe; total tolerance ~270s for JVM. Do not reduce.
liveness_probe	/api/health, initial delay 120s, failure threshold 3	Liveness probe.
uptime_check_config	disabled, /api/health	Cloud Monitoring uptime check. Enable for production monitoring.
alert_policies	[]	Metric alert policies.

Group 21 — Redis

Variable	Default	Description
enable_redis	false	Metabase does not use Redis; leave disabled.
redis_host / redis_port / redis_auth	(set)	Only relevant if a plugin or custom configuration requires Redis.

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 (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 / uptime_check_names	Monitoring status, channels, uptime checks.
initialization_jobs	Names of the 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).

Setting	Sensible value	Risk	Consequence if wrong
database_type	POSTGRES_15	Critical	Metabase requires PostgreSQL; any other engine breaks startup.
enable_cloudsql_volume	true	Critical	Disabling breaks all database connections (Auth Proxy sidecar required).
memory_limit	4Gi	Critical	Under 2 GiB the JVM crashes with OutOfMemoryError on startup.
db_name / db_user	set once	Critical	Immutable after first deploy; renaming recreates the DB/user and destroys all application data.
enable_backup_import	false unless restoring	Critical	Enabling without a valid backup_uri fails the import job.
application_version	increment carefully	Critical	Metabase migrations are one-way; downgrading corrupts the schema.
startup_probe.failure_threshold	15 (≥ 15)	High	Reducing causes premature container kills before the JVM completes startup.
min_instance_count	1 for production	High	0 causes 60–120s cold starts; startup probe failures on first request.
cpu_limit	2000m	High	Under 500m JVM JIT compilation stalls startup, triggering probe failures.
enable_iap / ingress_settings	IAP on; internal-and-cloud-load-balancing	High	Metabase login page is otherwise publicly reachable.
backup_retention_days	7 (raise for prod)	Medium	Too short for compliance retention.
timeout_seconds	300	Medium	Reducing below 120s aborts in-flight analytical queries.
enable_auto_password_rotation	false	Medium	Enabling without sufficient rotation_propagation_delay_sec causes brief 500 errors during rotation.
enable_redis	false	Low	Metabase does not use Redis; enabling has no effect.

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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. Metabase-specific application configuration shared with the GKE variant is described in Metabase_Common.