Deploy

Deploy and operate Feature Form on Kubernetes.

Use this guide to install Feature Form with the Helm chart and verify that the core services are healthy.

Install

The default documented path is OIDC-enabled auth plus durable PostgreSQL-backed state.

Prerequisites

• Kubernetes 1.27+
• Helm 3.14+
• an OIDC issuer URL and client ID
• a PostgreSQL connection path or existing secret

1. Choose auth and state values

Pick one PostgreSQL-backed state path before installation:

• postgres.url
• postgres.secretName
• addons.statePostgres.enabled=true

External PostgreSQL is the documented durable default.

2. Pick the base chart or a profile

• Base chart for environments where provider infrastructure already exists
• profiles/memory.yaml for local or test-only installs
• profiles/provider-stack.yaml for bundled providers
• profiles/observability-postgres.yaml for observability
• profiles/provider-observability.yaml for both

3. Install with Helm

helm upgrade --install featureform charts/featureform \
  --set postgres.url=postgres://featureform:featureform@my-postgres:5432/featureform?sslmode=disable \
  --set auth.oidcIssuerURL=https://idp.example.com/realms/featureform \
  --set auth.oidcClientID=featureform-api \
  --set rest.ingress.enabled=true \
  --set rest.ingress.className=nginx \
  --set rest.ingress.hosts[0].host=api.example.com \
  --set rest.ingress.hosts[0].paths[0].path=/ \
  --set rest.ingress.hosts[0].paths[0].pathType=Prefix

4. Validate pods and services

kubectl get pods -n <namespace>
kubectl get svc -n <namespace>
kubectl describe deployment featureform-featureform-server -n <namespace>

Look for a healthy shared API deployment, both REST and gRPC services, and completed migrations when PostgreSQL state is enabled.

5. Record the endpoints

Capture the URLs or hosts your teams will need:

• REST API endpoint
• gRPC endpoint
• dashboard URL if enabled
• Grafana URL if enabled

High-risk confusion points

• One shared server deployment exposes both REST and gRPC; they are not separate deployments.
• auth.enabled=false is not supported.
• stateBackend=memory is not durable.
• The dashboard needs more than dashboard.enabled=true; it also needs correct auth and API URL settings.

Configure external access

Use this section after installation to publish the right Feature Form endpoints for users, automation, and optional UI access.

REST ingress example

helm upgrade --install featureform charts/featureform \
  --set postgres.url=postgres://featureform:featureform@my-postgres:5432/featureform?sslmode=disable \
  --set auth.oidcIssuerURL=https://idp.example.com/realms/featureform \
  --set auth.oidcClientID=featureform-api \
  --set rest.ingress.enabled=true \
  --set rest.ingress.className=nginx \
  --set rest.ingress.hosts[0].host=api.example.com \
  --set rest.ingress.hosts[0].paths[0].path=/ \
  --set rest.ingress.hosts[0].paths[0].pathType=Prefix

gRPC exposure guidance

Use grpc.ingress.* only with an ingress controller that supports gRPC backends. If ingress is not a fit, use grpc.service.type=LoadBalancer.

Dashboard requirements

A working dashboard path needs all of the following:

• dashboard.enabled=true
• a resolvable public API URL
• dashboard auth secrets
• a resolvable auth URL

Unified ingress

Unified ingress publishes one host with chart-managed paths for API, dashboard, and optionally Grafana. Do not combine it with service-specific ingress settings.

Direct load balancers

If your platform prefers direct external services, expose:

• rest.service.type=LoadBalancer
• grpc.service.type=LoadBalancer
• dashboard.service.type=LoadBalancer

Common validation failures

• missing ingress hosts
• unified ingress mixed with service-specific ingresses
• dashboard enabled without API URL or auth secrets
• Grafana ingress configured without the observability stack enabled