Requirements - Formance Documentation

This page requires self-hosted edition.

Deployment

Before deploying the Formance Platform, make sure your cluster meets the following requirements.

Kubernetes Cluster#

Kubernetes 1.30+
Helm 3.x
kubectl configured to access your cluster

Ingress Controller (optional)#

If you want to expose your stacks outside of your Kubernetes cluster, you'll need an Ingress Controller. At Formance, we use Traefik, but any controller that supports standard Ingress objects works.

SSL certificate management can be done either at the level of your LoadBalancer upstream of the Ingress Controller or directly by your Ingress Controller.

The Formance Operator creates standard Ingress objects. Alternative ingress controllers work but might require additional configuration not covered in this guide.

Stateful Dependencies#

The Formance modules require certain stateful dependencies. The unified formance Helm chart can bundle some of these for you, or you can bring your own.

PostgreSQL#

Version 14 or higher is required.

The Formance chart includes a bundled Bitnami PostgreSQL instance, enabled by default (postgresql.enabled: true). This is convenient for development and testing but not recommended for production.

For production, use a managed PostgreSQL service (e.g., AWS RDS, Google Cloud SQL, Azure Database) and disable the bundled instance. See the PostgreSQL setup guide for configuration details.

NATS (optional)#

NATS provides event streaming capabilities. It's disabled by default and can be enabled with global.nats.enabled: true. When enabled, configure the NATS URL and authentication:

YAML

global:
  nats:
    enabled: true
    url: "nats://nats.example.com:4222"

Dependencies by Edition#

Dependency	Community Edition	Enterprise Edition	Bundled in Chart
PostgreSQL 14+	Required	Required	Yes (`postgresql.enabled: true`)
NATS	Optional	Optional	No (external only)
Ingress Controller	Optional	Recommended	No
TLS Certificates	Optional	Recommended	No
License Key	—	Required	—

The Enterprise Edition deploys additional control plane components (Membership, Console, Dex) that all require PostgreSQL. The bundled PostgreSQL instance serves both the data plane (stacks) and the control plane.