Colanode Kubernetes Deployment

A Helm chart for deploying Colanode on Kubernetes.

Overview

This chart deploys a complete Colanode instance with all required dependencies:

Colanode Server: The main application server
PostgreSQL: Database with pgvector extension for vector operations
Redis/Valkey: Message queue and caching
File Storage (default): Persistent volume for user files and avatars
Optional Object Storage: MinIO (S3-compatible), external S3, Google Cloud Storage, or Azure Blob Storage

Prerequisites

Kubernetes 1.19+
Helm 3.0+
Ingress controller (if ingress is enabled)

Installation

Quick Start

# Add the chart repository (if publishing to a Helm repo)
helm repo add colanode https://static.colanode.com/hosting/kubernetes/chart

# Install with default values
helm install my-colanode colanode/colanode

# Or install from local chart
helm install my-colanode ./hosting/kubernetes/chart

Custom Installation

# Install with custom values
helm install my-colanode ./hosting/kubernetes/chart \
  --set colanode.ingress.hosts[0].host=colanode.example.com \
  --set colanode.config.SERVER_NAME="My Colanode Instance"

Configuration

Core Settings

Parameter	Description	Default
`colanode.replicaCount`	Number of Colanode replicas	`1`
`colanode.image.repository`	Colanode image repository	`ghcr.io/colanode/server`
`colanode.image.tag`	Colanode image tag	`latest`
`colanode.config.SERVER_NAME`	Server display name	`Colanode K8s`

Ingress Configuration

Parameter	Description	Default
`colanode.ingress.enabled`	Enable ingress	`true`
`colanode.ingress.hosts[0].host`	Hostname for the ingress	`chart-example.local`
`colanode.ingress.className`	Ingress class name	`""`

Dependencies

Parameter	Description	Default
`postgresql.enabled`	Enable PostgreSQL deployment	`true`
`redis.enabled`	Enable Redis deployment	`true`
`minio.enabled`	Enable bundled MinIO (only required for the in-cluster S3 option)	`false`

Storage Configuration

Set colanode.storage.type to choose where user files and avatars are stored:

File storage (default) mounts a persistent volume at /var/lib/colanode/storage. Adjust colanode.storage.file.persistence to control the PVC size, storage class, or reference an existing claim.
S3-compatible storage (Amazon S3, MinIO, Cloudflare R2, etc.) requires colanode.storage.type=s3. Enable the bundled MinIO instance with --set minio.enabled=true or supply your provider endpoint, bucket, region, and credentials via colanode.storage.s3.*.

Google Cloud Storage needs a service-account JSON key. Create a secret:

kubectl create secret generic gcs-credentials \
  --from-file=service-account.json=/path/to/key.json

Then configure:

colanode:
  storage:
    type: gcs
    gcs:
      bucket: your-bucket
      projectId: your-project
      credentialsSecret:
        name: gcs-credentials
        key: service-account.json

Azure Blob Storage is available with colanode.storage.type=azure. Provide the storage account, containerName, and the account key via colanode.storage.azure.accountKey (inline value or an existing secret).

Important Notes

Security Settings

The chart includes global.security.allowInsecureImages: true because we use a custom PostgreSQL image with the pgvector extension. This setting is required by Bitnami Helm charts when using non-official images.

Storage

By default, the chart configures persistent storage for:

Colanode file storage (PVC): 20Gi
PostgreSQL: 8Gi
Redis: 8Gi
MinIO: 10Gi (only when minio.enabled=true)

Adjust these values based on your requirements.

Accessing Colanode

After installation, you can access Colanode through:

Ingress (recommended): Configure your ingress host and access via HTTP/HTTPS
Port forwarding: kubectl port-forward svc/my-colanode 3000:3000
LoadBalancer: Change service type to LoadBalancer if supported by your cluster

Uninstall

helm uninstall my-colanode

Development

To modify the chart:

Edit values in /hosting/kubernetes/chart/values.yaml
Update templates in /hosting/kubernetes/chart/templates/
Test with helm template or helm install --dry-run