Platforms

Deploying to Kubernetes

Deploy your RivetKit app to any Kubernetes cluster.

Steps

Prerequisites

A Kubernetes cluster with kubectl access (EKS, GKE, k3s, etc.)
Container registry credentials (Docker Hub, GHCR, GCR, etc.)
Your RivetKit app
- If you don’t have one, see the Quickstart page or our Examples
Access to the Rivet Cloud or a self-hosted Rivet Engine

Package Your App

Create a Dockerfile in your project root:

FROM node:20-alpine
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci --omit=dev
COPY . .
ENV PORT=8080
CMD ["node", "server.js"]

Build and Push the Image

docker build -t registry.example.com/your-team/rivetkit-app:latest .
docker push registry.example.com/your-team/rivetkit-app:latest

Replace registry.example.com/your-team with your registry path. Auth with docker login first if needed.

Set Environment Variables

After creating your project on the Rivet dashboard, select Kubernetes as your provider. You’ll be provided RIVET_ENDPOINT and RIVET_PUBLIC_ENDPOINT environment variables.

Create a rivetkit-secrets.yaml for your environment variables:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: rivetkit-secrets
type: Opaque
stringData:
  RIVET_ENDPOINT: <your-rivet-endpoint>
  RIVET_PUBLIC_ENDPOINT: <your-rivet-public-endpoint>

Deploy to Kubernetes

Create a deployment.yaml:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: rivetkit-app
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: rivetkit-app
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: rivetkit-app
    spec:
      # Allow enough time for actors to gracefully stop on SIGTERM.
      # The runner waits up to 30m for actors to finish.
      # Add buffer for runner shutdown overhead after actors stop.
      # See: /docs/actors/versions#graceful-shutdown-sigterm
      terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 2100
      containers:
        - name: rivetkit-app
          image: registry.example.com/your-team/rivetkit-app:latest
          envFrom:
            - secretRef:
                name: rivetkit-secrets

Apply both manifests:

kubectl apply -f rivetkit-secrets.yaml
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml

Connect to Rivet

There is nothing to register in the dashboard. As a Runner, your pod opens a connection out to Rivet on startup, so you do not need a Service, Ingress, or public URL to run actors. The pod only needs outbound network access to your Rivet endpoint.

Verify

Check that the pod is running:

kubectl get pods -l app=rivetkit-app

Your app should appear as connected on the Rivet dashboard once the pod is ready.