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Google GKE — I Already Have a Cluster

What you need before you start​

  • A Google Cloud account with an active GKE cluster
  • Your Google account must have at minimum the Kubernetes Engine Cluster Viewer role on the cluster

Connect the cluster​

  1. In CaseDesk, go to Clusters → Connect cluster → GCP GKE
  2. Click Sign in with Google — you'll be redirected to Google OAuth
  3. Authorise CaseDesk to access your Google Cloud project
  4. Select the cluster to connect
  5. Click Connect cluster →

CaseDesk requests the https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform scope to list your GKE clusters and deploy Kubernetes workloads into the cluster you select. Your OAuth tokens are encrypted and stored securely. CaseDesk refreshes them automatically.

Required IAM permissions​

CaseDesk needs read access to list clusters and deploy workloads into a namespace. The minimum roles are:

  • Kubernetes Engine Cluster Viewer — to list and describe clusters
  • Kubernetes Engine Developer — to create deployments, services, and pods inside your cluster

You can restrict these to a specific cluster using IAM Conditions in the Google Cloud Console.

Troubleshooting​

No clusters appear after signing in — verify your Google account has Kubernetes Engine Cluster Viewer on at least one project.

Connection fails after selecting a cluster — ensure your cluster's control plane is accessible (not locked to a private IP only). For private clusters, the GKE API endpoint must be reachable from the internet or you need Authorized Networks configured.