ToolJet on GKE Autopilot

ToolJet is an open-source, low-code platform for building and deploying internal tools — dashboards, admin panels, CRUD apps, and workflows — with a drag-and-drop builder over your own databases and APIs. This module deploys ToolJet 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 ToolJet uses and how to explore and operate them from the Google Cloud Console and the command line. For the mechanics that are 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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1. Overview

ToolJet runs as a single NestJS + React web workload — the backend API and the compiled client are served from the same process (SERVE_CLIENT = "true") on port 80. The deployment wires together a focused set of Google Cloud services:

Capability	Google Cloud service	Notes
Compute	GKE Autopilot	Node.js pods, 2 vCPU / 4 GiB by default, horizontally autoscaled
Database	Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL 15	Required — two databases on one instance (metadata + ToolJet Database)
ToolJet Database	In-container PostgREST	Serves the second DB (tooljet_db) to app queries; signed with PGRST_JWT_SECRET
Cache & queue	Redis	Enabled by default; backs ToolJet's BullMQ queues; NFS VM co-hosts Redis when redis_host is empty
Secrets	Secret Manager	Auto-generated SECRET_KEY_BASE, LOCKBOX_MASTER_KEY, PGRST_JWT_SECRET; database password
Ingress	Cloud Load Balancing	External LoadBalancer, optional custom domain + managed certificate

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.
• Two databases are created. The first-deploy db-init job creates the metadata database (tooljet) and the second "ToolJet Database" (tooljet_db), and grants the shared application role the CREATEROLE attribute.
• Schema migrations run on start. The container entrypoint runs npm run db:migrate:prod (TypeORM) before launching the server.
• SECRET_KEY_BASE, LOCKBOX_MASTER_KEY, and PGRST_JWT_SECRET are generated automatically and stored in Secret Manager. These keys must never be rotated after first boot — rotating LOCKBOX_MASTER_KEY corrupts all stored datasource credentials, and rotating SECRET_KEY_BASE invalidates all sessions.
• Session affinity is ClientIP by default. ToolJet's app builder uses persistent WebSocket connections for multiplayer editing; requests from the same client must reach the same pod.
• PORT is defaulted to 80 by the entrypoint. GKE does not inject PORT, so without the default ToolJet would bind 3000 while the Service and probes target 80.
• Redis is enabled by default and, with an empty redis_host, the NFS server VM's IP is injected as REDIS_HOST (enable_nfs = true provisions that VM).
• A stable external IP + nip.io HTTPS host are provisioned out of the box (reserve_static_ip = true, enable_custom_domain = true).
• Sign-up is disabled by default. DISABLE_SIGNUPS = "true" ships on; first run is a setup wizard that creates the initial admin user and workspace.

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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 ToolJet workload

ToolJet 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 ToolJet 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 — two databases

ToolJet stores all application data — apps, datasource configs, users, workspaces, sessions — in a managed Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL 15 instance, and uses a second database (tooljet_db) on the same instance for the built-in ToolJet Database feature. Pods reach it privately through the Cloud SQL Auth Proxy sidecar over a loopback TCP endpoint (127.0.0.1); no public IP is exposed. On first deploy an initialization Job creates both databases, the shared CREATEROLE role, pgcrypto, and an app-owned postgrest schema.

• 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=tooljet --project "$PROJECT"
  gcloud sql connect <instance-name> --user=<db-user> --database=tooljet_db --project "$PROJECT"

The instance name, database name, user, and the Secret Manager secret holding the password are all surfaced in the Outputs. For the connection model, automated backups, and password rotation, see App_GKE.

enable_cloudsql_volume must stay true on GKE. The Auth Proxy sidecar provides the 127.0.0.1 PostgreSQL endpoint the pod and the db-create job depend on; disabling it on GKE hangs db-create.

C. Redis (queue & cache)

Redis is enabled by default and backs ToolJet's BullMQ queues (background jobs, notifications, the multiplayer editor). When redis_host is left empty and enable_nfs = true, the NFS server VM's private IP is injected as REDIS_HOST; set redis_host explicitly to point at a Memorystore instance instead.

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

  redis-cli -h <redis-host> ping
  redis-cli -h <redis-host> info keyspace
  # Confirm the host injected into the running pod:
  kubectl exec -n "$NAMESPACE" deploy/<service-name> -- env | grep REDIS_HOST

D. Secret Manager

Three cryptographic secrets are generated automatically and stored in Secret Manager: SECRET_KEY_BASE (signs sessions), LOCKBOX_MASTER_KEY (encrypts all stored datasource credentials), and PGRST_JWT_SECRET (signs the internal PostgREST JWTs). 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"

The database password secret name is in the Outputs. See App_GKE for the Secret Store CSI integration and rotation.

E. Networking & ingress

By default the workload is exposed through an external Cloud Load Balancing IP, with a nip.io HTTPS host and a Google-managed certificate. A custom domain can be enabled, and a static IP is reserved so the address survives redeploys. TOOLJET_HOST (which drives generated links and OAuth redirect URIs) defaults to the computed service URL.

• Console: Network services → Load balancing; VPC network → IP addresses.
• CLI:

  kubectl get ingress,svc -n "$NAMESPACE"
  gcloud compute addresses list --project "$PROJECT"

See App_GKE for custom domains, Cloud CDN, and static IP details.

F. Cloud Storage & NFS

ToolJet stores apps, datasource configs, and uploads in PostgreSQL; a data Cloud Storage bucket is provisioned by default (storage_buckets) but ToolJet itself does not depend on it. NFS is enabled by default only because its VM co-hosts Redis when redis_host is empty; the ToolJet pods themselves are stateless.

• Console: Cloud Storage → Buckets; Compute Engine → VM instances (NFS server).
• CLI:

  gcloud storage buckets list --project "$PROJECT"
  gcloud compute instances list --project "$PROJECT" --filter="labels.managed-by=services-gcp"

G. Cloud Logging & Monitoring

Pod stdout/stderr flow to Cloud Logging; GKE and Cloud SQL metrics flow to Cloud Monitoring. Optional uptime checks and alert policies are available.

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

  gcloud logging read 'resource.type="k8s_container" AND resource.labels.namespace_name="'"$NAMESPACE"'"' \
    --project "$PROJECT" --limit 50

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3. ToolJet Application Behaviour

• First-deploy database setup. An initialization Job runs db-init.sh using postgres:15-alpine. It connects through the Cloud SQL Auth Proxy and idempotently creates the metadata database and the ToolJet Database, the shared CREATEROLE role, grants cloudsqlsuperuser, pre-creates pgcrypto, and resets the postgrest schema as app-owned on both databases. Without an app-owned postgrest schema, ToolJet's on-boot reconfigurePostgrest fails permission denied for schema postgrest and the pod crash-loops. The job is safe to re-run.
• Migrations run before the server starts. cloud-entrypoint.sh runs npm run db:migrate:prod (TypeORM migration:run) first — ToolJet's start:prod is node dist/src/main and does not migrate. Without it the metadata DB stays empty and every DB-backed action fails (relation "user_sessions" does not exist).
• SECRET_KEY_BASE, LOCKBOX_MASTER_KEY, and PGRST_JWT_SECRET are immutable after first boot. Changing LOCKBOX_MASTER_KEY corrupts all stored datasource credentials; changing SECRET_KEY_BASE invalidates all sessions. Only touch them in a planned maintenance window.
• First run is a setup wizard. With DISABLE_SIGNUPS = "true", open the external URL and complete the wizard: it creates the first admin user and workspace, then lands you in the app builder.
• Multiplayer editing needs sticky sessions. session_affinity = "ClientIP" keeps a client's WebSocket connection on one pod; without it, real-time collaboration in the builder is disrupted.
• Health path. Startup and liveness probes default to / (the served client is public and unauthenticated); /api/health is also available as a probe path. Allow several minutes on first boot for the migration step.

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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 ToolJet are listed; every other input is inherited from App_GKE with its standard behaviour and defaults.

Group 1 — Project & Identity

Variable	Default	Description
project_id	(required)	Target Google Cloud project.
region	us-central1	Region for the workload 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 for cost/ownership tracking.

Group 3 — Application & Database Identity

Variable	Default	Description
application_name	tooljet	Base name for resources (and namespace stem). Do not change after first deploy.
application_display_name	ToolJet	Human-readable name shown in the Console.
application_version	latest	tooljet/tooljet-ce image tag; pin to a specific release in production.
application_database_name	tooljet	Metadata database name. Immutable after first deploy.
application_database_user	tooljet	Application database user (shared by both databases).

Group 4 — Runtime & Scaling

Variable	Default	Description
deploy_application	true	Set false to provision infrastructure only.
container_resources	{ cpu_limit = "2000m", memory_limit = "4Gi" }	Per-pod CPU/memory limits and requests.
min_instance_count	1	Minimum replicas; GKE requires ≥ 1.
max_instance_count	5	Maximum replicas. Only increase when Redis is enabled (it is, by default).
enable_vertical_pod_autoscaling	false	VPA for automatic request adjustment.
timeout_seconds	300	Maximum request duration (0–3600 seconds).
enable_cloudsql_volume	true	Cloud SQL Auth Proxy sidecar — required on GKE.
enable_image_mirroring	true	Mirror the ToolJet image into Artifact Registry.

Group 5 — Environment Variables & Secrets

Variable	Default	Description
environment_variables	{}	Extra non-secret settings. Do not set SECRET_KEY_BASE, LOCKBOX_MASTER_KEY, PGRST_JWT_SECRET, or PG_* here.
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 6 — GKE Backend & Cluster

Variable	Default	Description
service_type	LoadBalancer	How the Kubernetes Service is exposed.
workload_type	null (auto)	Deployment or StatefulSet; resolves to Deployment when unset.
session_affinity	ClientIP	Sticky routing required for the multiplayer WebSocket editor.
network_tags	["nfsserver"]	Node/pod network tags; nfsserver is required when enable_nfs = true.
termination_grace_period_seconds	60	Seconds to wait after SIGTERM before SIGKILL.
enable_network_segmentation	false	Create Kubernetes NetworkPolicy resources.

Group 7 — StatefulSet

Variable	Default	Description
stateful_pvc_enabled	null (off)	Enable PVC templates. Not recommended — ToolJet stores all state in PostgreSQL.
stateful_pvc_size	10Gi	Per-pod PVC storage size.
stateful_pvc_mount_path	/data	Container mount path for the PVC.
stateful_pvc_storage_class	standard-rwo	Kubernetes StorageClass for PVCs.

Group 9 — Reliability Policies

Variable	Default	Description
enable_pod_disruption_budget	true	Protect availability during node upgrades.
pdb_min_available	1	Minimum pods available during voluntary disruptions.

Group 10 — Observability & Health

Variable	Default	Description
startup_probe	HTTP /, 60s initial delay	Startup probe with a wide budget (30 × 15s) for first-boot migrations.
liveness_probe	HTTP /, 60s initial delay	Liveness probe.
startup_probe_config / health_check_config	enabled, HTTP /	App_GKE-level infrastructure probes.
uptime_check_config	disabled	Optional Cloud Monitoring uptime check.
alert_policies	[]	Optional metric alert policies.

Group 11 — Jobs & Scheduled Tasks

Variable	Default	Description
initialization_jobs	[]	Leave empty to use the built-in db-init job.
cron_jobs	[]	Scheduled Kubernetes CronJobs.
additional_services	[]	Sidecar or helper services deployed alongside ToolJet.

Group 12 — CI/CD & GitHub Integration

Standard App_GKE Cloud Build / Cloud Deploy integration — see App_GKE. Key inputs: enable_cicd_trigger, github_repository_url, github_token, enable_cloud_deploy.

Group 13 — Filesystem (NFS)

Variable	Default	Description
enable_nfs	true	On by default; its VM co-hosts Redis when redis_host is empty.
nfs_mount_path	/opt/tooljet/storage	Mount path inside the container.

Group 14 — Cloud Storage & Artifact Registry

Variable	Default	Description
create_cloud_storage	true	Create the configured GCS buckets.
storage_buckets	[{ name_suffix = "data" }]	Buckets to provision — the default creates a data bucket (ToolJet's own state lives in PostgreSQL).
gcs_volumes	[]	GCS Fuse volume mounts via the CSI driver.
manage_storage_kms_iam / enable_artifact_registry_cmek	false	CMEK options.
max_images_to_retain / delete_untagged_images / image_retention_days	(set)	Artifact Registry cleanup policy.

Group 15 — Redis Cache & Queue

Variable	Default	Description
enable_redis	true	Backs ToolJet's BullMQ queues. Forwarded unchanged.
redis_host	""	Leave empty to use the NFS server IP (requires enable_nfs = true), or set a Memorystore endpoint.
redis_port	6379	Redis port.
redis_auth	""	Optional Redis auth password (sensitive).

Group 16/17 — Database Backend

Variable	Default	Description
database_password_length	32	Generated password length (16–64).
enable_auto_password_rotation	false	Zero-downtime DB password rotation.
rotation_propagation_delay_sec	90	Seconds to wait after rotation before rolling-restarting pods.

Group 17/6 — Backup & Maintenance

Variable	Default	Description
backup_schedule	0 2 * * *	Automated backup cron (UTC).
backup_retention_days	7	Retention; raise to 30–90 for production/compliance.
enable_backup_import / backup_source / backup_file / backup_format	restore options	Restore from a backup on deploy.

Group 18 — 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. See App_GKE.

Group 10/19 — Custom Domain, Static IP & Networking

Variable	Default	Description
enable_custom_domain	true	Provision Ingress + managed certificate (defaults to a nip.io host).
application_domains	[]	Additional hostnames to serve.
reserve_static_ip	true	Stable external IP across redeploys.

Group 20 — Identity-Aware Proxy (IAP)

Variable	Default	Description
enable_iap	false	Require Google sign-in in front of ToolJet.
iap_authorized_users / iap_authorized_groups	[]	Who may access.
iap_oauth_client_id / iap_oauth_client_secret	""	Required when IAP is enabled (sensitive).

Group 13/21 — Cloud Armor

Variable	Default	Description
enable_cloud_armor	false	Attach a Cloud Armor (WAF) policy to the Ingress backend.
admin_ip_ranges	[]	CIDRs allowed privileged access.
enable_cdn	false	Enable Cloud CDN on the GKE Ingress backend.

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

These values are returned on a successful deployment and are the quickest way to locate and explore the running resources.

Output	Description
service_name	Kubernetes Service name.
namespace	Namespace the workload runs in.
service_cluster_ip	In-cluster ClusterIP.
stage_service_cluster_ips	Map of ClusterIPs for stage-specific services.
service_external_ip	External LoadBalancer IP (when a static IP is reserved).
service_url	URL to reach ToolJet.
database_instance_name	Cloud SQL instance name.
database_name	Metadata database name.
database_user	Application database user.
database_password_secret	Secret Manager secret holding the DB password.
database_host / database_port	DB endpoint (127.0.0.1 via the Auth Proxy) / port.
storage_buckets	Created Cloud Storage buckets (the data bucket by default).
network_name / network_exists / regions	VPC network, presence, available regions.
container_image / container_registry	Deployed image and Artifact Registry repo.
monitoring_enabled / monitoring_notification_channels	Monitoring status and channels.
initialization_jobs / db_import_job	Names of the setup and (optional) import jobs.
deployment_id / tenant_id / resource_prefix	Naming identifiers.
project_id / project_number	Project identifiers.
cicd_enabled / cicd_configuration	CI/CD status and details (repo, trigger, registry).
github_repository_url / github_repository_owner / github_repository_name	CI/CD GitHub details.
artifact_registry_repository / cloudbuild_trigger_name / cloudbuild_trigger_id	Registry and build trigger.
kubernetes_ready	Whether the cluster/workload is ready.
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_GKE 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
LOCKBOX_MASTER_KEY (auto-generated)	Never rotate after first boot	Critical	Rotating it permanently corrupts every stored datasource credential — they cannot be decrypted.
SECRET_KEY_BASE (auto-generated)	Only rotate in a maintenance window	Critical	Rotating it invalidates all active sessions, forcing immediate re-login for everyone.
PGRST_JWT_SECRET (auto-generated)	Never rotate after first boot	Critical	Rotating it breaks the ToolJet Database query layer until every pod restarts.
application_database_name / application_database_user	Set once	Critical	Immutable after first deploy; renaming recreates the DB/user and destroys all data.
enable_cloudsql_volume	true	High	The Auth Proxy sidecar is required for PostgreSQL connectivity on GKE; disabling it hangs db-create.
App role CREATEROLE (set by db-init)	Leave as provisioned	High	Without it, ToolJet workspace creation fails permission denied to create role.
App-owned postgrest schema (set by db-init)	Leave as provisioned	High	A postgres-owned schema makes reconfigurePostgrest fail and the pod crash-loops.
PORT (entrypoint default 80)	Leave as provisioned	High	If the pod binds 3000 while the Service targets 80, it never becomes Ready.
session_affinity	ClientIP	High	Without stickiness, WebSocket reconnections route to different pods, disrupting multiplayer editing.
min_instance_count	1	High	GKE requires min ≥ 1; the validation guard rejects invalid values.
memory_limit	4Gi	High	ToolJet + PostgREST + worker can OOM below ~2 GiB under load.
enable_redis	true	Medium	With Redis off, BullMQ falls back and background features degrade.
quota_memory_requests / _limits	binary units (4Gi, 8192Mi)	Critical	Bare integers are bytes and block all pod scheduling in the namespace.
DISABLE_SIGNUPS (auto-injected "true")	Keep on after first admin	High	Opening sign-up lets anyone with the URL create an account.
enable_pod_disruption_budget	true	Medium	Disabling allows GKE to evict all pods simultaneously during maintenance.
backup_retention_days	7 (raise for prod)	Medium	Too short for compliance retention.

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