Setup

This guide assumes you have already created a Google Cloud account, and downloaded the latest version for both Setup Assistant and Chatness Platform. If you haven't yet, please check out the following links.

Execute the Chatness Setup Assistant and drop or select a Chatness Platform zip file.

2. Define Branding

Add your business name, website url, logo and primary color. Make sure to have a good contrast between logo and primary color. Please note that the branding logo and color customizations will only apply for Chatness Pro.

3. Add Owner

Provide owner's name, email, and password for the current installation. The owner will have initial access to the Chatness admin panel to configure settings and create additional users.

4. Requirements

Here you can check the requirements needed to be met before the deployment or update process can start. The Setup Assistant will try its best to fix any issue for you automatically or provide any information so you can fix it right away.

Shipping Tools

You must have some shipping tools installed such as Terraform, Firebase and Google Cloud. But no worries if you don't, the assistant will check and install them for you.
Google Cloud Login

To perform operations on your behalf on Google Cloud, we need an account to be logged in on your OS. Please note that we do not handle, store or transmit login credentials. The authentication process transparently occours between your browser and Google Servers utilizing the OAuth2 protocol, which is an industry-standard and secure authentication process.
Billing Account

A billing account is required for deploying infrastructure on Google Cloud, even when operating with credits or utilizing the Firebase free-tier. The assistant will auto load your billing accounts once you're logged within Google Cloud CLI and in case you're just getting started you can create a new one right from the assistant. Please note that you'll be asked for a credit card in order to create a new billing account.
Billing Project new projects only

Additionally, a billing project is also necessary as Google needs to know beforehand which billable project containing an active billing account should be utilized. You can select or create a new billing project directly from the assistant.
Client Project

The client project is the project where Chatness Platform will be deployed. Feel free to enter a new project name as long as it's unique within Google Cloud. The assistant will fail on the deployment process if the project name is already taken but you will be able to restart from where it stopped.
Project Definition updates only

The project definition is a zip file containing all the necessary information to update your project. It may be exported after every successful deployment and might be required to be loaded under the "Existing Project" tab if you have ejected definitions previously.

Make sure to sync whenever you need to select a billing account or project and the option is not available. This will force the Setup Assistant to fetch the latest data from Google Cloud.

5. Deployment

Now it's time to ship 💥🚀

When creating new Chatness instances, all deployment components are required by default. However, for updates, you can choose which component needs to be updated.

Updating Chatness instances is non-destructive, although some components may be replaceable. For instance, you can update your project's branding without needing to update the entire platform.

What's next?