Deploy Self Hosted

Deploy self-hosted Scalekit

Install Scalekit on Kubernetes with Helm. Then stop.

Guardrails

• MUST use an enterprise license and the distribution portal for the chart and registry token.
• MUST use external PostgreSQL 15+ and Redis 6.2+ in production. Bundled DBs are eval only.
• MUST set app.domain with no scheme and no trailing slash.
• MUST NOT commit registry tokens, SMTP passwords, or DB passwords.
• MUST NOT write SaaSKit login. Name implement-saaskit instead.
• MUST point the app at SCALEKIT_ENVIRONMENT_URL=https://app.<domain>. Never SCALEKIT_ENV_URL. Never app.scalekit.com.

Gotchas

• Default path is production (external DBs). Eval or bundled DBs hop to references/quickstart.md.
• Helm + Kubernetes Gateway API.
• Three Postgres DBs: scalekit, webhooks, openfga.
• Portal flow: Deployments → Scalekit Onprem → paste values → kubectl apply the connect command.
• DNS: wildcard A record to the Gateway ADDRESS. Verify at https://app.<domain>.
• The plugin MCP (https://mcp.scalekit.com) stays cloud. The app uses the self-hosted env URL.
• Field dumps live in references/. Open one hop. Do not paste them here.

Step 1 — Pick the path

• Evaluation, bundled DBs, or a Minikube proof of concept → open references/quickstart.md. Stop reading this file.
• Production or on-prem → stay here.

Need: kubectl 1.27+, Helm 3.12+, a GatewayClass, TLS, SMTP, a domain, a registry token, external PostgreSQL 15+ with those three databases, and Redis 6.2+.

Done when: this is the production path, or the eval file is open and this file is closed.

Step 2 — Secrets and values

Open references/production-deployment.md for setup-secrets.sh. Run it. Apply the generated secrets script. Then stop reading that file.

Confirm:

kubectl get secrets -n <namespace>

Write values.yaml. scalekit.config.app.domain is example.com, not https://example.com and not example.com/.

postgresql.enabled: false. redis.enabled: false.

Open references/configuration.md only for field names. Then stop reading it.

Done when: secrets exist in the namespace, and app.domain has no scheme and no slash.

Step 3 — Portal and connect

1. Create the namespace if it is missing: kubectl create namespace <namespace>
2. Distribution portal → Deployments → + New Deployment → Scalekit Onprem
3. Set Deployment Name and the same Kubernetes Namespace
4. Paste the full values.yaml
5. Create the deployment
6. Copy the kubectl apply connect command. Run it.

The portal agent delivers the chart and runs migrations. Databases must exist before this apply.

Done when: the connect command has been applied.

Step 4 — DNS

kubectl get gateway -n <namespace>

Create a wildcard A record: *.<domain> → Gateway ADDRESS.

dig app.<domain>

Done when: dig returns that ADDRESS.

Step 5 — Verify

kubectl get pods -n <namespace>

All pods are Running. Open https://app.<domain> and sign in with the seeded admin user.

export SCALEKIT_ENVIRONMENT_URL="https://app.<domain>"

If pods fail, open references/troubleshooting.md. Later version bumps: references/upgrades.md.

Done when: the dashboard loads at https://app.<domain> and the env URL is that origin.

Step 6 — Stop

Name implement-saaskit for login against this env. Do not write login here.

Done when: the instance is up, the env URL is set, and this skill has stopped.

Reach for

• references/quickstart.md for bundled-DB eval
• references/production-deployment.md for the setup script
• references/configuration.md for values.yaml fields
• references/troubleshooting.md when a pod is not Running
• references/upgrades.md for a version bump
• implement-saaskit to write login
• review-scalekit-code to review a snippet

Live lookups

• Overview: https://docs.scalekit.com/self-hosted/overview/
• Quickstart: https://docs.scalekit.com/self-hosted/quickstart/
• Installation: https://docs.scalekit.com/self-hosted/installation/
• Configuration: https://docs.scalekit.com/self-hosted/configuration/
• MCP: https://mcp.scalekit.com