Apache Answer

Deploy Apache Answer on Kubernetes — an open-source Q&A platform for teams and communities. Supports SQLite (zero-configuration default), PostgreSQL, and MySQL, with automatic unattended installation and database-aware scheduled backups.

SQLite is the default — no database configuration required for small teams

With the default configuration (database.mode: auto and no subchart enabled), Answer uses SQLite stored in the /data PVC. No external database is needed for teams under a few hundred users. Migrate to PostgreSQL or MySQL when you need concurrent write performance or replication.

Key Features

Three database backends — SQLite (default), PostgreSQL, MySQL
Auto-detection — mode is inferred from which subchart or external host is configured
Auto-install — unattended first-boot setup via environment variables (autoInstall: true)
Database-aware backup — tar for SQLite, pg_dump for PostgreSQL, mysqldump for MySQL
Admin credentials — existingSecret for GitOps-safe secret management

Installation

HTTPS repository:

helm repo add helmforge https://repo.helmforge.dev
helm repo update
helm install answer helmforge/answer -f values.yaml

OCI registry:

helm install answer oci://ghcr.io/helmforgedev/helm/answer -f values.yaml

Deployment Examples

# values.yaml — Apache Answer with SQLite (zero database configuration)
answer:
  siteName: 'My Q&A'
  siteUrl: 'https://qa.example.com'
  language: en-US
  autoInstall: true

admin:
  name: admin
  email: [email protected]
  existingSecret: answer-admin-credentials # key: admin-password
  existingSecretPasswordKey: admin-password

persistence:
  enabled: true
  size: 10Gi # covers both SQLite file (/data/answer.db) and uploads

ingress:
  enabled: true
  ingressClassName: traefik
  annotations:
    cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: letsencrypt-prod
  hosts:
    - host: qa.example.com
      paths:
        - path: /
          pathType: Prefix
  tls:
    - secretName: answer-tls
      hosts:
        - qa.example.com

# values.yaml — Apache Answer with bundled PostgreSQL
answer:
  siteName: 'My Q&A'
  siteUrl: 'https://qa.example.com'
  autoInstall: true

admin:
  name: admin
  email: [email protected]
  password: 'change-me'

postgresql:
  enabled: true
  auth:
    database: answer
    username: answer
    password: 'strong-db-password'
  primary:
    persistence:
      enabled: true
      size: 20Gi

persistence:
  enabled: true
  size: 10Gi # uploads only (SQLite not used when PostgreSQL is active)

ingress:
  enabled: true
  ingressClassName: traefik
  hosts:
    - host: qa.example.com
      paths:
        - path: /
          pathType: Prefix

# values.yaml — Apache Answer with bundled MySQL
answer:
  siteName: 'My Q&A'
  siteUrl: 'https://qa.example.com'
  autoInstall: true

admin:
  name: admin
  email: [email protected]
  password: 'change-me'

mysql:
  enabled: true
  auth:
    database: answer
    username: answer
    password: 'strong-db-password'
    rootPassword: 'strong-root-password'
  primary:
    persistence:
      enabled: true
      size: 20Gi

persistence:
  enabled: true
  size: 10Gi

ingress:
  enabled: true
  ingressClassName: traefik
  hosts:
    - host: qa.example.com
      paths:
        - path: /
          pathType: Prefix

# values.yaml — Apache Answer with external PostgreSQL
answer:
  siteName: 'My Q&A'
  siteUrl: 'https://qa.example.com'
  autoInstall: true

admin:
  existingSecret: answer-admin-credentials

postgresql:
  enabled: false

database:
  mode: external
  external:
    vendor: postgres # or: mysql
    host: postgres.database.svc.cluster.local
    port: '5432'
    name: answer
    username: answer
    existingSecret: answer-db-credentials
    existingSecretPasswordKey: database-password

persistence:
  enabled: true
  size: 10Gi

backup:
  enabled: true
  schedule: '0 3 * * *'
  s3:
    endpoint: https://s3.amazonaws.com
    bucket: answer-backups
    existingSecret: answer-s3-credentials

Configuration Reference

Core

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`nameOverride`	string	`""`	Override the chart name.
`fullnameOverride`	string	`""`	Override the full release name.
`commonLabels`	object	`{}`	Extra labels added to all resources.

Image

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`image.repository`	string	`docker.io/apache/answer`	Apache Answer container image.
`image.tag`	string	`"2.0.0"`	Image tag.
`image.pullPolicy`	string	`IfNotPresent`	Image pull policy.

Answer Configuration

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`answer.siteUrl`	string	`""`	Full public URL. Auto-detected from Ingress if empty.
`answer.siteName`	string	`Apache Answer`	Site name shown in browser tab and header.
`answer.language`	string	`en-US`	Default UI language.
`answer.contactEmail`	string	`[email protected]`	Contact email shown in the site footer.
`answer.autoInstall`	boolean	`true`	Enable unattended first-boot setup using admin credentials from values.
`answer.logLevel`	string	`INFO`	Log level: `DEBUG`, `INFO`, `WARN`, `ERROR`.
`answer.extraEnv`	array	`[]`	Extra environment variables for the container.

Admin Credentials

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`admin.name`	string	`admin`	Admin username for initial setup.
`admin.password`	string	`""`	Admin password. Auto-generated if empty.
`admin.email`	string	`[email protected]`	Admin email address.
`admin.existingSecret`	string	`""`	Existing secret with admin credentials.
`admin.existingSecretPasswordKey`	string	`admin-password`	Key inside the existing secret for the password.

Database

Auto-detection precedence (database.mode: auto):

Priority	Condition	Result
1	`database.external.host` or `external.existingSecret` set	External DB
2	`postgresql.enabled: true`	PostgreSQL subchart
3	`mysql.enabled: true`	MySQL subchart
4	None of the above	SQLite (default)

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`database.mode`	string	`auto`	Database mode: `auto`, `sqlite`, `external`, `postgresql`, `mysql`.
`database.sqlite.file`	string	`/data/answer.db`	SQLite file path inside the data volume.
`database.external.vendor`	string	`postgres`	External DB vendor: `postgres` or `mysql`.
`database.external.host`	string	`""`	External database hostname.
`database.external.port`	string	`""`	External database port. Auto-detected from vendor if empty.
`database.external.name`	string	`answer`	Database name.
`database.external.username`	string	`answer`	Database username.
`database.external.existingSecret`	string	`""`	Existing secret with database password.
`database.external.existingSecretPasswordKey`	string	`database-password`	Key for the password in the existing secret.

Subcharts

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`postgresql.enabled`	boolean	`false`	Deploy the bundled PostgreSQL subchart.
`postgresql.auth.database`	string	`answer`	Database name.
`postgresql.auth.password`	string	`""`	Password. Auto-generated if empty.
`postgresql.primary.persistence.size`	string	`8Gi`	PVC size.
`mysql.enabled`	boolean	`false`	Deploy the bundled MySQL subchart.
`mysql.auth.database`	string	`answer`	Database name.
`mysql.auth.password`	string	`""`	Password. Auto-generated if empty.
`mysql.primary.persistence.size`	string	`8Gi`	PVC size.

Persistence

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`persistence.enabled`	boolean	`true`	Enable PVC for `/data` (SQLite DB file + uploads).
`persistence.size`	string	`5Gi`	PVC size. Increase if using SQLite as the primary database.
`persistence.storageClass`	string	`""`	StorageClass for the PVC.
`persistence.accessMode`	string	`ReadWriteOnce`	PVC access mode.
`persistence.existingClaim`	string	`""`	Use an existing PVC.

Backup

Backup mode is automatically selected based on the active database vendor

The backup CronJob detects which database is in use and runs the appropriate tool:

SQLite → tar archive of the full /data directory (Alpine image)
PostgreSQL → pg_dump (PostgreSQL Alpine image)
MySQL → mysqldump (MySQL image)

Only the images needed for the active database vendor are used.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`backup.enabled`	boolean	`false`	Enable scheduled S3 backup CronJob.
`backup.schedule`	string	`"0 3 * * *"`	Cron schedule.
`backup.archivePrefix`	string	`answer`	Prefix for backup archive filenames.
`backup.images.sqlite`	string	`alpine:3.22`	Image for SQLite backup (tar).
`backup.images.postgresql`	string	`postgres:18.3-alpine`	Image for PostgreSQL backup (pg_dump).
`backup.images.mysql`	string	`mysql:8.4`	Image for MySQL backup (mysqldump).
`backup.images.uploader`	string	`helmforge/mc:1.0.0`	Image for S3 upload (MinIO client).
`backup.s3.endpoint`	string	`""`	S3-compatible endpoint URL.
`backup.s3.bucket`	string	`""`	Target bucket name.
`backup.s3.existingSecret`	string	`""`	Existing secret with S3 credentials.
`backup.database.postgresDumpArgs`	string	`""`	Extra arguments for `pg_dump`.
`backup.database.mysqlDumpArgs`	string	`--single-transaction ...`	Extra arguments for `mysqldump`.

Service and Ingress

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`service.type`	string	`ClusterIP`	Service type.
`service.port`	integer	`80`	Service port.
`ingress.enabled`	boolean	`false`	Enable an Ingress resource.
`ingress.ingressClassName`	string	`""`	Ingress class name.
`ingress.annotations`	object	`{}`	Ingress annotations.
`ingress.hosts`	array	`[]`	Host and path rules.
`ingress.tls`	array	`[]`	TLS configuration.

Probes

All probes use /healthz as the HTTP path.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`startupProbe.enabled`	boolean	`true`	Enable startup probe.
`startupProbe.failureThreshold`	integer	`30`	Startup probe failure threshold.
`livenessProbe.enabled`	boolean	`true`	Enable liveness probe.
`readinessProbe.enabled`	boolean	`true`	Enable readiness probe.

Resources and Scheduling

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`resources`	object	`{}`	CPU and memory requests/limits.
`terminationGracePeriodSeconds`	integer	`30`	Termination grace period.
`nodeSelector`	object	`{}`	Node selector for scheduling.
`tolerations`	array	`[]`	Tolerations for scheduling.
`extraVolumes`	array	`[]`	Extra volumes.
`extraVolumeMounts`	array	`[]`	Extra volume mounts.
`extraManifests`	array	`[]`	Extra Kubernetes manifests.