I’d like to install Discourse on our Kubernetes cluster. Kubernetes does not use the docker command to deploy images, so I’d need to build a Discourse image locally, push it to our private Docker registry, and then have Kubernetes pull the image from there. This is how we deploy other Docker-based…

OK… I managed to figure out one way of doing this. I’m not 100% happy with it, but it does work and may be appealing to others that are trying a simple single-container fat (includes postgres, redis, etc.) Discourse image deployment to Kubernetes. My Approach After examining the bootstrap process i…

[image] Geoffrey_Challen: I’m talking about the database server, even if the database files live outside the container. That makes more sense. That’s what I did when separating in 2 steps the bootstrap stage. The 1st can run in an isolated environment (like a CI pipeline) generating a base im…

That’s pretty much what I do on the kubernetes installs that I’ve done. I can’t imagine how or why to use k8s without separate data and web containers (or some other kind of external postgres and redis–the installs I’ve done for clients use GCP resources for that). Also, there is an environment var…

[image] pfaffman: the installs I’ve done for clients use GCP resources for that What are GCP resources?

[image] csmu: GCP resources In the context of hosting it will be Google Cloud Platform .

Google cloud postgres and redis services.

I haven’t been able to get this working but I thought I’d drop these in here incase people find them useful. discourse 0.2.1 · halkeye/halkeye That’s a helm chart for Discourse. A few other references: GitHub - trizvanov/helm-discourse: Helm Chart for Discourse · GitHub GitHub - halkeye-helm-cha…

image.repository string “halkeye/discourse” I wouldn’t recommend any k8s setup for Discourse that isn’t building the Docker image inside the cluster, or you’re at the mercy of whoever this random person is for Discourse updates.

[image] riking: I wouldn’t recommend any k8s setup for Discourse that isn’t building the Docker image inside the cluster, or you’re at the mercy of whoever this random person is for Discourse updates. I’ve considered offering a service where I’d be the random person doing those updates, but I…

yeah I just noticed that. We probably could use the official one to build helm charts. I’m not sure why he had to build his own version.

Installing on Kubernetes

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Isambard (Isambard) June 9, 2026, 10:30am 57

I’m going to attempt this as a hobby and way to learn k3s rather than for real deployment. So thanks all for sharing information so far. If anyone has any other tips or gotchas, I’m all ears!

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Can Discourse ship frequent Docker images that do not need to be bootstrapped? Development	211	38824	July 13, 2025
Discourse setup on kubernetes cluster using HELM Self-hosting unsupported-install	3	3868	March 3, 2023
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Unable to create web_only image for a fresh install Self-hosting two-container	10	878	February 25, 2021

Installing on Kubernetes

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