Skip to main content
This tutorial will guide you through setting up a production-ready Meilisearch instance on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) using a Compute Engine virtual machine.
Meilisearch Cloud is the recommended way to run Meilisearch in production environments.

​
Prerequisites

  • A Google Cloud account with billing enabled
  • A Compute Engine VM running Debian 12 or Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
  • An SSH key pair or access via Google Cloud Console SSH
  • Firewall rules allowing inbound traffic on ports 22 (SSH), 80 (HTTP), and 443 (HTTPS)
Google Cloud has extensive documentation on creating VM instances and connecting via SSH.

​
Step 1: Install Meilisearch

Connect to your VM via SSH (using the Google Cloud Console or gcloud CLI) and update the system: 
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install curl -y
Download and run the Meilisearch installer: 
curl -L https://install.meilisearch.com | sh
Move the binary to make it accessible system-wide: 
sudo mv ./meilisearch /usr/local/bin/

​
Step 2: Create system user

Create a dedicated user for running Meilisearch: 
sudo useradd -d /var/lib/meilisearch -s /bin/false -m -r meilisearch
Give the new user ownership of the Meilisearch binary: 
sudo chown meilisearch:meilisearch /usr/local/bin/meilisearch

​
Step 3: Create a configuration file

Create data directories for Meilisearch: 
sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/meilisearch/data /var/lib/meilisearch/dumps /var/lib/meilisearch/snapshots
sudo chown -R meilisearch:meilisearch /var/lib/meilisearch
sudo chmod 750 /var/lib/meilisearch
For production workloads, consider attaching a persistent disk for data storage. This allows for easy snapshots and disk resizing independent of the VM.
Download the default configuration file: 
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/meilisearch/meilisearch/latest/config.toml | sudo tee /etc/meilisearch.toml > /dev/null
Edit /etc/meilisearch.toml and update these settings, replacing MASTER_KEY with a secure 16-byte string: 
env = "production"
master_key = "MASTER_KEY"
db_path = "/var/lib/meilisearch/data"
dump_dir = "/var/lib/meilisearch/dumps"
snapshot_dir = "/var/lib/meilisearch/snapshots"
Remember to choose a safe master key.

​
Step 4: Run Meilisearch as a service

Create a systemd service file: 
sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/meilisearch.service > /dev/null << EOF
[Unit]
Description=Meilisearch
After=systemd-user-sessions.service

[Service]
Type=simple
WorkingDirectory=/var/lib/meilisearch
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/meilisearch --config-file-path /etc/meilisearch.toml
User=meilisearch
Group=meilisearch
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF
Reload systemd, then enable and start the service: 
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable meilisearch
sudo systemctl start meilisearch
Verify the service is running: 
sudo systemctl status meilisearch

​
Step 5: Secure and finish your setup

​
5.1. Configure firewall rules

In the Google Cloud Console, navigate to VPC Network > Firewall and ensure you have rules allowing:
  • Port 22 for SSH access
  • Port 80 for HTTP traffic
  • Port 443 for HTTPS traffic
You can also use gcloud CLI: 
gcloud compute firewall-rules create allow-http --allow tcp:80
gcloud compute firewall-rules create allow-https --allow tcp:443

​
5.2. Set up a reverse proxy with Nginx

Install Nginx: 
sudo apt install nginx -y
Remove the default configuration and create one for Meilisearch: 
sudo rm -f /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
sudo tee /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/meilisearch > /dev/null << EOF
server {
    listen 80 default_server;
    listen [::]:80 default_server;
    server_name your_domain;
    location / {
        proxy_pass  http://localhost:7700;
    }
}
EOF
Replace your_domain with your actual domain name (or use _ as a catch-all if you don’t have one yet). Restart Nginx: 
sudo systemctl enable nginx
sudo systemctl restart nginx

​
5.3. Enable HTTPS with Let’s Encrypt

Before enabling HTTPS, ensure you have a domain name pointing to your VM’s external IP address. You can reserve a static IP in Google Cloud Console under VPC Network > External IP addresses.
Install certbot: 
sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y
Run certbot to obtain and configure your SSL certificate: 
sudo certbot --nginx
Follow the prompts to enter your email, agree to the Terms of Service, and select your domain. Choose to redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS when prompted. Verify automatic renewal is configured: 
sudo certbot renew --dry-run

​
Conclusion

Your Meilisearch instance is now running on Google Cloud with:
  • A dedicated system user for security
  • Automatic restart via systemd
  • Nginx reverse proxy
  • HTTPS encryption via Let’s Encrypt
For high-availability setups, consider using a managed instance group with a Cloud Load Balancer.