Zitadel on Google Cloud Run

Zitadel is an open-source, cloud-native identity and access management (IAM) platform providing OpenID Connect, OAuth 2.0, SAML, and user/organization management. This module deploys Zitadel 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 Zitadel 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

Zitadel runs as a single Go 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	Go service, 2 vCPU / 4 GiB by default; HTTP/2 (gRPC + REST) on port 8080
Database	Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL 15	Required — Zitadel only supports PostgreSQL; MySQL is rejected at plan time
Object storage	Cloud Storage	One bucket provisioned automatically (operator use; core state lives in Postgres)
Cache & queue	None	Zitadel stores all state in PostgreSQL — no Redis, no queue
Secrets	Secret Manager	Auto-generated ZITADEL_MASTERKEY and initial admin password; database password
Ingress	Cloud Run URL / Cloud Load Balancing	Default run.app URL (public); optional external HTTPS load balancer + custom domain

Sensible defaults worth knowing up front:

• PostgreSQL is mandatory. database_type = POSTGRES_15 by default; a plan-time validation guard rejects MySQL and any non-Postgres engine. PostgreSQL 13/14 are also accepted.
• ZITADEL_MASTERKEY is generated automatically and immutable. It is exactly 32 bytes and encrypts all sensitive data at rest. Never rotate it after first boot — doing so makes previously-encrypted data (client secrets, key material) unreadable.
• Zitadel runs its own setup + migrations. The container starts with zitadel start-from-init, which creates the schema and applies migrations idempotently on first boot — there is no separate migrate job.
• A first-instance admin is created on first boot. Organization ZITADEL and human admin zitadel-admin are seeded with a generated password from Secret Manager (PASSWORDCHANGEREQUIRED = false), so you can sign in immediately.
• HTTP/2 with TLS terminated upstream. ZITADEL_EXTERNALSECURE = true, ZITADEL_EXTERNALPORT = 443, ZITADEL_TLS_ENABLED = false. Zitadel serves cleartext HTTP/2 on 8080 and trusts Cloud Run to terminate TLS on :443. Set container_protocol = "h2c" if you need end-to-end HTTP/2 for gRPC API clients.
• ZITADEL_EXTERNALDOMAIN is derived from the service URL. The entrypoint sets it from the runtime run.app host. Behind a custom domain you must override it (see the Pitfalls table) or the OIDC issuer and Console redirects will point at the wrong host.
• Public ingress by default. ingress_settings = "all" so the Console and OIDC endpoints are reachable. Enabling IAP puts Google sign-in in front of everything, including OIDC/machine clients.
• The service is kept warm. cpu_always_allocated = true and min_instance_count = 1 (no scale-to-zero), so token endpoints have no cold-start latency; max_instance_count = 5.
• NFS is enabled by default but unused by the app. Zitadel keeps all state in PostgreSQL; you can set enable_nfs = false unless another reason requires it.

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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 Zitadel service

Zitadel 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" \
    --filter="metadata.name~zitadel"
  gcloud run services describe <service-name> --project "$PROJECT" --region "$REGION"
  gcloud run revisions list --service <service-name> --project "$PROJECT" --region "$REGION"
  # Confirm the entrypoint's derived external domain / DB SSL mode:
  gcloud run services logs read <service-name> --project "$PROJECT" --region "$REGION" --limit 50 \
    | grep cloud-entrypoint

See App_CloudRun for scaling, concurrency, execution environment, and traffic splitting.

B. Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL 15

Zitadel stores all application data (organizations, users, projects, applications, sessions, keys) 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 is exposed. On first deploy an initialization Job creates the application database and a role with CREATEDB/CREATEROLE; Zitadel then creates its own schema via start-from-init.

• Console: SQL → select the instance for connections, backups, flags, metrics.
• CLI:

  gcloud sql instances list --project "$PROJECT" --filter="name~zitadel"
  gcloud sql instances describe <instance-name> --project "$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_CloudRun for the connection model, backups, and password rotation.

C. Cloud Storage

One Cloud Storage bucket is provisioned automatically (public access prevention enforced). Zitadel keeps its core state in PostgreSQL, so the bucket is available for operator use (exports, assets). Additional buckets can be declared via storage_buckets.

• Console: Cloud Storage → Buckets.
• CLI:

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

See App_CloudRun for GCS Fuse and CMEK options.

D. Secret Manager

Two secrets are generated automatically and stored in Secret Manager: ZITADEL_MASTERKEY (encrypts all data at rest) and the initial admin password (seeds the first-instance human on boot). The database password is managed separately by the foundation.

• Console: Security → Secret Manager.
• CLI:

  gcloud secrets list --project "$PROJECT" --filter="name~zitadel"
  # Read the initial admin password to log in the first time:
  gcloud secrets versions access latest \
    --secret="secret-<resource_prefix>-zitadel-admin-password" --project "$PROJECT"

See App_CloudRun for injection and rotation details, and Zitadel_Common for the criticality of the masterkey.

E. Networking & ingress

The service is reachable at its run.app URL by default, which allows the public access the Console and OIDC endpoints need. 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. Because Zitadel serves gRPC + REST over HTTP/2, set container_protocol = "h2c" for end-to-end HTTP/2 when required.

• 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.

F. 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. The [cloud-entrypoint] log lines show the resolved DB SSL mode and external domain.

• 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. Zitadel 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 application database and a role with LOGIN CREATEDB CREATEROLE, then grants privileges on the database and public schema. The job is safe to re-run. It does not create Zitadel's schema — Zitadel does that itself.
• Setup + migrations on start. The container runs zitadel start-from-init, which creates the schema and applies migrations idempotently on every start. Upgrading the application version applies schema changes without a separate migration step.
• ZITADEL_MASTERKEY is immutable after first boot. It is generated once (exactly 32 bytes) and written to Secret Manager. Changing it makes all previously-encrypted data unreadable. Only touch it in a planned, understood migration.
• First-run admin. Log in with username zitadel-admin (default) and the password from Secret Manager:

  gcloud secrets versions access latest \
    --secret="secret-<resource_prefix>-zitadel-admin-password" --project "$PROJECT"

  Then create a real admin, disable or restrict the seeded account, and configure your organizations, projects, and OIDC/SAML applications in the Console.
• External domain must match the browser host. The OIDC issuer and Console redirect URIs are built from ZITADEL_EXTERNALDOMAIN. The entrypoint derives it from the run.app URL; behind a custom domain, set ZITADEL_EXTERNALDOMAIN (via environment_variables) to that host or logins/token exchange will fail.
• Health path. Startup, liveness, and readiness probes target /debug/healthz — an unauthenticated 200 endpoint. Allow ~7–8 minutes on first boot (60-second initial delay plus a ~450-second retry window) for setup + migrations.
• Inspect the running configuration / jobs:

  gcloud run services describe <service-name> --region "$REGION" \
    --format='value(spec.template.spec.containers[0].env)'
  gcloud run jobs list --project "$PROJECT" --region "$REGION"
  gcloud run jobs executions list --job <job-name> --project "$PROJECT" --region "$REGION"

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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 Zitadel 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	zitadel	Base name for resources. Do not change after first deploy.
display_name	Zitadel	Human-readable name shown in the Console.
application_version	latest	Zitadel image tag; mapped to a pinned tag (v2.71.0) when latest. Pin explicitly in production.

Group 4 — Runtime & Scaling

Variable	Default	Description
deploy_application	true	Set false to provision infrastructure only.
container_image_source	custom	Zitadel is a thin custom build FROM the ghcr image — leave as custom.
cpu_limit	2000m	CPU per instance; 2 vCPU recommended.
memory_limit	4Gi	Memory per instance.
container_port	8080	Zitadel serves gRPC + REST over HTTP/2 on 8080.
container_protocol	http1	Set h2c for end-to-end HTTP/2 to gRPC API clients.
min_instance_count	1	Kept warm (no scale-to-zero) so token endpoints have no cold start.
max_instance_count	5	Maximum instances; safe to raise — all state is in PostgreSQL.
cpu_always_allocated	true	Instance-based billing; keeps Zitadel responsive for auth traffic.
enable_cloudsql_volume	true	Cloud SQL Auth Proxy socket connection.
enable_image_mirroring	true	Mirror the built image into Artifact Registry.
timeout_seconds	300	Maximum request duration.

Group 5 — Access & Ingress Control

Variable	Default	Description
ingress_settings	all	Public ingress for the Console and OIDC/OAuth endpoints.
vpc_egress_setting	PRIVATE_RANGES_ONLY	Route only RFC 1918 traffic via VPC.
enable_iap	false	Require Google sign-in. Blocks OIDC/machine clients — enable only for private consoles.
iap_authorized_users / iap_authorized_groups	[]	Who may access through IAP.

Group 6 — Environment Variables & Secrets

Variable	Default	Description
environment_variables	{}	Extra ZITADEL_* settings (e.g. ZITADEL_EXTERNALDOMAIN, org/admin overrides). Core DB/TLS/masterkey values 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. Do not enable masterkey rotation.

Group 7 — Backup & Restore

Variable	Default	Description
backup_schedule	0 2 * * *	Automated Cloud SQL 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.

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 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 domains — remember to set ZITADEL_EXTERNALDOMAIN to match.
enable_cdn	false	Enable Cloud CDN on the HTTPS LB backend.
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	Create the declared GCS bucket(s).
storage_buckets	[{ name_suffix = "data" }]	The auto-provisioned bucket; extend the list for additional buckets.
enable_nfs	true	Enabled by default but unused — Zitadel keeps all state in PostgreSQL; safe to set false.
gcs_volumes	[]	GCS Fuse volume mounts (requires gen2).
manage_storage_kms_iam / enable_artifact_registry_cmek	false	CMEK options.

Group 12 — Database Backend

Variable	Default	Description
database_type	POSTGRES_15	PostgreSQL only (13/14/15). MySQL is rejected at plan time.
db_name	zitadel	PostgreSQL database name. Immutable after first deploy.
db_user	zitadel	Application database user (granted CREATEDB/CREATEROLE). Immutable after first deploy.
database_password_length	32	Generated password length.
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.
cron_jobs	[]	Not used — Zitadel has no platform-scheduled recurring tasks.

Group 14 — Observability & Health

Variable	Default	Description
startup_probe	HTTP /debug/healthz, 60s delay	Startup probe. Allow ~7–8 minutes on first boot.
liveness_probe	HTTP /debug/healthz, 60s delay	Liveness probe.
uptime_check_config	(set)	Cloud Monitoring uptime check (public endpoints only).
alert_policies	[]	Metric alert policies.

Group 21 — Redis

Zitadel does not use Redis (all state is in PostgreSQL). enable_redis defaults to false and should be left off; the redis_* inputs are inert for this module.

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.

All other inputs follow standard App_CloudRun behaviour.

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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 (the Zitadel Console).
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.
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 (db-init).
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 non-Postgres database_type, enable_cloudsql_volume with database_type = NONE, min_instance_count > max_instance_count, Redis enabled with no resolvable host, 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
ZITADEL_MASTERKEY (auto-generated)	Never rotate after first boot	Critical	Rotating it makes all previously-encrypted data (client secrets, key material) permanently unreadable.
database_type	POSTGRES_15	Critical	Zitadel only supports PostgreSQL; MySQL/other is rejected at plan time, and a wrong engine breaks startup.
db_name / db_user	Set once	Critical	Immutable after first deploy; renaming recreates the DB/role and destroys all identity data.
enable_backup_import	false unless restoring	Critical	Enabling without a valid backup source fails the import job.
ZITADEL_EXTERNALDOMAIN	Match the browser/host	Critical	If it doesn't match the host users reach, the OIDC issuer and Console redirects are wrong and every login/token exchange fails. Set it explicitly behind a custom domain.
enable_cloudsql_volume	true	High	The Auth Proxy socket is required for PostgreSQL connectivity; disabling it with a database configured is blocked by a plan-time guard.
ingress_settings	all	High	internal blocks the Console and all external OIDC/OAuth clients.
enable_iap	only for private consoles	High	IAP requires Google sign-in for all requests, blocking OIDC/machine clients and token endpoints.
application_version	Pin a release	High	latest maps to a pinned tag today, but pinning explicitly avoids surprise migrations on redeploy.
memory_limit	4Gi	Medium	Setting too low risks OOM under load; gen2 also enforces a 512 MiB floor.
min_instance_count	1	Medium	0 (scale-to-zero) adds cold-start latency to token/login requests after idle.
enable_nfs	false (unused)	Low	Enabled by default but Zitadel stores no state on disk; leaving it on wastes an NFS mount.
backup_retention_days	7 (raise for prod)	Medium	Too short for compliance retention of identity data.
enable_cloud_armor	enable for production	Medium	The Console and OIDC endpoints are publicly reachable without WAF protection.

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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. Zitadel-specific application configuration shared with the GKE variant is described in Zitadel_Common.