Strapi on Google Cloud Run

Strapi is the leading open-source headless CMS — delivering a fully customisable content API (REST and GraphQL) with a rich admin panel, used by enterprises and developers worldwide for content management and API-first architectures. This module deploys Strapi 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 Strapi 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

Strapi runs as a Node.js 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	Node.js service, 2 vCPU / 2 GiB by default, request-based autoscaling
Database	Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL 15	Required — Strapi requires PostgreSQL
Shared files	Filestore (NFS)	Media uploads shared across all instances (gen2 required)
Object storage	Cloud Storage	A dedicated uploads bucket (strapi-uploads suffix)
Cache (optional)	Redis / Memorystore	Optional; disabled by default
Secrets	Secret Manager	Five auto-generated cryptographic secrets plus the 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 is required. Strapi's data layer is wired to PostgreSQL; MySQL and NONE break startup.
• A custom container image is built via Cloud Build. container_image_source defaults to "custom" — the module builds a production-ready two-stage Node.js 20 image on every version increment.
• Five cryptographic secrets are auto-generated. JWT_SECRET, ADMIN_JWT_SECRET, API_TOKEN_SALT, TRANSFER_TOKEN_SALT, and APP_KEYS are generated and stored in Secret Manager on first deploy and must never change after that.
• NFS is enabled by default. Strapi stores uploaded media under /uploads. Without a shared NFS volume (gen2 required), media is lost between instances.
• Redis is disabled by default. Enable it only when using plugins that explicitly require a shared cache or session store; when enabled, redis_host must be set.
• Container port is 8080 on Cloud Run. The Cloud Run module overrides Strapi Common's default port of 1337 to comply with Cloud Run's standard port.
• GCS media bucket variables are auto-injected. GCS_BUCKET_NAME and GCS_BASE_URL are set automatically; no manual configuration is required.
• Scale-to-zero is the default. min_instance_count = 0 allows the service to scale to zero when idle, though this adds cold-start latency of 15–30 seconds on first request.

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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 Strapi service

Strapi 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"
  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

Strapi stores all application data (content types, content, users, API tokens) 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 Cloud Run 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. Filestore (NFS) and Cloud Storage

Uploaded media is written to a Filestore (NFS) share mounted into the service so all instances share the same files (gen2 execution environment required). A dedicated Cloud Storage bucket (suffix strapi-uploads) is also provisioned and configured as the Strapi GCS upload provider.

• Console: Filestore → Instances; Cloud Storage → Buckets.
• CLI:

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

See App_CloudRun for the NFS mount, GCS Fuse, and CMEK.

D. Secret Manager

Five Strapi cryptographic secrets are generated on first deploy and stored in Secret Manager: JWT_SECRET, ADMIN_JWT_SECRET, API_TOKEN_SALT, TRANSFER_TOKEN_SALT, and APP_KEYS (four comma-joined keys). The database password is also stored here. All secrets are injected into the service at runtime.

• 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.

E. Redis cache (optional)

When enable_redis = true, Redis is used as a session store and REST API response cache via the strapi-plugin-redis and strapi-plugin-rest-cache plugins. When redis_host is left null and NFS is enabled, the NFS host IP is used as the Redis endpoint at runtime.

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

  redis-cli -h <redis-host> ping
  redis-cli -h <redis-host> info keyspace

F. 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.

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. Strapi Application Behaviour

• First-deploy database setup. A db-init Cloud Run Job runs on every apply using postgres:15-alpine. It idempotently creates the Strapi database and user, grants the necessary privileges (including CREATEDB), and signals the Cloud SQL Auth Proxy to shut down cleanly. It is safe to re-run.
• GCS media provider. GCS_BUCKET_NAME and GCS_BASE_URL are automatically injected into the container. Strapi's config/plugins.js detects these variables and switches to the GCS upload provider for all media library assets.
• Email delivery (optional). If SMTP_HOST is set in environment_variables, config/plugins.js automatically enables the nodemailer email provider for Strapi notifications. Set SMTP_PASSWORD via secret_environment_variables.
• Health probe. Both startup and liveness probes target /_health via HTTP — Strapi's dedicated health endpoint that returns 200 only when the application and database connection are ready. The startup probe (startup_probe — the value actually applied; startup_probe_config is a separate, inert variable) allows up to ~90 seconds (60s initial delay + 3 × 10-second period) for first-boot initialisation.
• Cryptographic secrets are immutable after first deploy. All five auto-generated secrets sign active sessions and API tokens. Regenerating any of them immediately invalidates all active sessions and tokens.
• Admin login. There is no default admin user; Strapi's first-run wizard creates the initial administrator on first browser visit to the admin panel.

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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 Strapi 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	strapi	Base name for resources. Do not change after first deploy.
application_display_name	Strapi CMS	Friendly name shown in the Console.
application_description	Strapi CMS on Cloud Run	Service description.
application_version	5.0.0	Image version tag; increment to trigger a new Cloud Build run.

Group 4 — Runtime & Scaling

Variable	Default	Description
deploy_application	true	Set false to provision infrastructure only.
container_image_source	custom	"custom" triggers Cloud Build; "prebuilt" deploys an existing image URI.
container_image	""	Override image URI; leave empty for the module-built image.
container_build_config	{ enabled = true }	Dockerfile path, build context, and build args for Cloud Build.
enable_image_mirroring	true	Mirror image into Artifact Registry before deployment.
cpu_limit	2000m	CPU per instance.
memory_limit	2Gi	Memory per instance; Strapi needs headroom for Node.js and admin panel.
min_instance_count	0	Minimum instances (0 = scale-to-zero). Set to 1 to eliminate cold starts.
max_instance_count	1	Maximum instances; increase after validating NFS shared state.
container_port	8080	Port the Cloud Run service routes traffic to (Cloud Run default).
execution_environment	gen2	gen2 is required for NFS mounts.
timeout_seconds	300	Max request duration; increase for long media processing.
enable_cloudsql_volume	true	Cloud SQL Auth Proxy sidecar for socket connections.
traffic_split	[]	Split traffic across revisions for canary/blue-green rollouts.
max_revisions_to_retain	7	How many old Cloud Run revisions to keep.

Group 5 — Access & Ingress Control

Variable	Default	Description
enable_iap	false	Require Google sign-in via Identity-Aware Proxy.
iap_authorized_users / iap_authorized_groups	[]	Who may access through IAP.
ingress_settings	all	Which networks may reach the service (all / internal / LB-only).
vpc_egress_setting	PRIVATE_RANGES_ONLY	How outbound traffic is routed through the VPC connector.

Group 6 — Environment Variables & Secrets

Variable	Default	Description
environment_variables	{}	Extra non-secret settings. GCS_BUCKET_NAME and GCS_BASE_URL are injected automatically.
secret_environment_variables	{}	Map of env var → Secret Manager secret name for additional secrets.
secret_propagation_delay	30	Seconds to wait after secret creation before proceeding.
secret_rotation_period	2592000s	Pub/Sub 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. Note: this module uses backup_file (not backup_uri).

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, binauthz_evaluation_mode.

Group 9 — NFS Instance & Custom SQL

Variable	Default	Description
nfs_instance_name / nfs_instance_base_name	(set)	Existing NFS instance / base name for an inline one.
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.

Group 10 — Load Balancer, CDN & Cloud Armor

Variable	Default	Description
enable_cloud_armor	false	Provision Global HTTPS Load Balancer + Cloud Armor WAF.
admin_ip_ranges	[]	CIDRs exempted from WAF rules.
application_domains	[]	Custom domain names for the HTTPS LB.
enable_cdn	false	Enable Cloud CDN on the LB backend.
max_images_to_retain / delete_untagged_images / image_retention_days	(set)	Artifact Registry cleanup policy.

Group 11 — Storage & Filesystem

Variable	Default	Description
enable_nfs	true	Shared Filestore volume for Strapi media (gen2 required).
nfs_mount_path	/mnt/nfs	Mount path inside the container.
create_cloud_storage / storage_buckets / gcs_volumes	(set)	Additional buckets / GCS Fuse mounts.
manage_storage_kms_iam / enable_artifact_registry_cmek	false	CMEK options.

Group 12 — Database Backend

Variable	Default	Description
database_type	POSTGRES_15	PostgreSQL is required — do not change to MySQL or NONE.
application_database_name	strapidb	Database name. Immutable after first deploy.
application_database_user	strapiuser	Application user. Immutable after first deploy.
database_password_length	32	Generated password length (16–64).
enable_auto_password_rotation	false	Zero-downtime DB password rotation.
db_host_env_var_name / db_name_env_var_name / db_user_env_var_name / db_port_env_var_name / service_url_env_var_name	""	Additional alias env var names for connection details.

Group 13 — Jobs & Scheduled Tasks

Variable	Default	Description
initialization_jobs	[{ name="db-init", execute_on_apply=true }]	The built-in db-init job runs on every apply. Override with a non-empty list to replace it.
cron_jobs	[]	Recurring Cloud Run jobs triggered by Cloud Scheduler.
additional_services	[]	Co-deployed Cloud Run services (e.g. background workers).

Group 14 — Observability & Health

Variable	Default	Description
startup_probe	HTTP /_health, 60s initial delay, 3 retries	The probe actually applied. startup_probe_config is also declared but is superseded by this value and has no effect.
liveness_probe	HTTP /_health, 30s initial delay, 3 retries	The probe actually applied. health_check_config is also declared but is superseded by this value and has no effect.
uptime_check_config	disabled, path /	Cloud Monitoring uptime check.
alert_policies	[]	Metric alert policies.

Group 21 — Redis Cache

Variable	Default	Description
enable_redis	false	Use Redis for caching/sessions (disabled by default).
redis_host	null	Redis endpoint. Leave null to fall back to the NFS server IP (requires enable_nfs = true); if NFS is also disabled the fallback is unresolved and the connection fails.
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 (sensitive).
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.
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
APP_KEYS / JWT_SECRET / ADMIN_JWT_SECRET / API_TOKEN_SALT (auto-generated)	generated once, never changed	Critical	Rotating any of these after first deploy immediately invalidates all active sessions and API tokens; every user is logged out and all client integrations break.
database_type	POSTGRES_15	Critical	Strapi requires PostgreSQL; MySQL or NONE breaks startup.
enable_nfs	true	Critical	Without shared storage, uploads are lost between instances/restarts.
application_name	set once	Critical	Immutable after first deploy; changing it renames all GCP resources, causing full recreation and data loss.
application_database_name / application_database_user	set once	Critical	Immutable after first deploy; renaming causes Strapi to connect to an empty database.
enable_backup_import	false unless restoring	Critical	Enabling without a valid backup_file fails the import job.
execution_environment	gen2	High	gen1 does not support NFS mounts; NFS will fail silently.
enable_redis	false	High	Enable only when plugins require it. An unset redis_host falls back to the NFS server IP (only works when enable_nfs = true); with NFS also disabled, the fallback is unresolved and causes a startup connection error.
memory_limit	2Gi	High	Strapi's Node.js runtime and admin panel require sufficient memory; values below 512Mi cause OOM kills.
min_instance_count	0 or 1	Medium	0 allows scale-to-zero; first request after idle will incur a 15–30 second cold start.
enable_iap	enable for admin-facing	Medium	The Strapi admin panel is otherwise publicly reachable.
enable_cloud_armor / enable_cdn	consider for production	Medium	CDN caches content closer to users; Cloud Armor provides WAF and DDoS protection.
backup_retention_days	7 (raise for prod)	Medium	Too short for compliance retention.
secret_propagation_delay	30	Low	Too short a delay may cause startup failures on first deploy if secrets have not yet propagated.

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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. Strapi-specific application configuration shared with the GKE variant is described in Strapi_Common.