One Identity Provider for Everything

Jun 4, 2026

Replacing scattered logins with Authentik on Oracle Cloud. Google login everywhere, proxy auth for Guacamole, OAuth2 for Portainer, and a K8s outpost for cluster services.

Every homelab reaches a point where the authentication situation becomes embarrassing. Mine had: Cloudflare Access for Portainer, Guacamole with its own user database, Homepage with no auth, Pi-hole with a hardcoded password. Each service its own island.

The fix isn’t another password manager. It’s a single identity provider that everything talks to. This is that setup — Authentik on Oracle Cloud, Google login everywhere, TOTP on all flows, and a proxy outpost inside K8s for cluster services.

If your homelab is four services and you’re the only user, this is more machinery than the problem deserves — a password manager and a mesh VPN cover it. The point where it starts paying is when other people need access, or when you have enough services that revoking one person means remembering all of them.

Architecture

Authentik runs on Oracle Cloud, not on the home K8s cluster. The reasoning is practical: if the cluster goes down, I still need to access Portainer to diagnose it — which means auth needs to be on a separate failure domain.

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Internet
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  └── Cloudflare Tunnel (Oracle Cloud)
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        └── Authentik Server :9000
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              ├── sso.merox.dev      → login portal
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              └── rmt.merox.dev      → Guacamole (proxied)
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K8s Cluster (home)
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  └── Authentik Proxy Outpost
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        └── download.merox.dev → Jellyseerr (proxied)

Portainer stays Tailscale-only — no internet exposure — but uses Authentik as its OAuth2 provider.

1 — Deploy Authentik

Generate the secrets first — these go in a .env file next to your compose:

echo "PG_PASS=$(openssl rand -base64 36)" >> .env
echo "AUTHENTIK_SECRET_KEY=$(openssl rand -base64 60)" >> .env

docker-compose.yml:

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services:
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  postgresql:
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    image: docker.io/library/postgres:16-alpine
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    restart: unless-stopped
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    environment:
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      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${PG_PASS}
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      POSTGRES_USER: authentik
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      POSTGRES_DB: authentik
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    volumes:
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      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
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  redis:
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    image: docker.io/library/redis:alpine
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    restart: unless-stopped
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34 collapsed lines
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  server:
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    image: ghcr.io/goauthentik/server:2026.2.3
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    restart: unless-stopped
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    command: server
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    environment:
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      AUTHENTIK_REDIS__HOST: redis
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      AUTHENTIK_POSTGRESQL__HOST: postgresql
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      AUTHENTIK_POSTGRESQL__USER: authentik
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      AUTHENTIK_POSTGRESQL__NAME: authentik
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      AUTHENTIK_POSTGRESQL__PASSWORD: ${PG_PASS}
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      AUTHENTIK_SECRET_KEY: ${AUTHENTIK_SECRET_KEY}
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    ports:
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      - '9000:9000'
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    depends_on:
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      - postgresql
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      - redis
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  worker:
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    image: ghcr.io/goauthentik/server:2026.2.3
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    restart: unless-stopped
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    command: worker
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    environment:
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      AUTHENTIK_REDIS__HOST: redis
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      AUTHENTIK_POSTGRESQL__HOST: postgresql
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      AUTHENTIK_POSTGRESQL__USER: authentik
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      AUTHENTIK_POSTGRESQL__NAME: authentik
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      AUTHENTIK_POSTGRESQL__PASSWORD: ${PG_PASS}
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      AUTHENTIK_SECRET_KEY: ${AUTHENTIK_SECRET_KEY}
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    depends_on:
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      - postgresql
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      - redis
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volumes:
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  postgres_data:

docker compose up -d

Authentik is available at http://<your-server>:9000. Complete the initial setup wizard at /if/flow/initial-setup/.

DNS

sso.merox.dev uses Cloudflare’s Universal SSL wildcard (*.merox.dev) — no extra cert config needed. Add routes in Cloudflare Zero Trust pointing to your server’s Authentik port:

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sso.merox.dev  → http://<authentik-server>:9000
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rmt.merox.dev  → http://<authentik-server>:9000   (for Guacamole)

2 — Google as the identity source

In Google Cloud Console: APIs & Services → Credentials → OAuth 2.0 Client ID

Redirect URI:

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https://sso.merox.dev/source/oauth/callback/google/

In Authentik: Admin → Directory → Federation & Social Login → Create → Google — paste Client ID and Secret.

Visiting sso.merox.dev now auto-redirects to Google login.

Tip

New users arriving via Google are “External” by default and can’t reach the admin panel. Set the type to “Internal” and add them to authentik Admins if they need it.

3 — TOTP on every flow

Admin → Flows & Stages → Flows → default-source-authentication → Stage Bindings

Add two bindings:

Order	Stage	Type
0	totp-validation	Authenticator Validate Stage
10	default-authentication-login	User Login Stage

In the Authenticator Validate Stage: Device classes: TOTP, Not configured action: Force configure.

First-time login now prompts TOTP enrollment automatically.

Note

Disable akadmin once your own account works. It has a static password and bypasses the 2FA you just configured, which makes every stage binding above decorative. Admin → Directory → Users → akadmin → Disable.

4 — Guacamole, in proxy mode

Admin → Applications → Providers → Create → Proxy Provider

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Name:          guacamole-proxy
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Mode:          Proxy
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External host: https://rmt.merox.dev
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Internal host: http://<guacamole-host>:8080
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Authorization flow: default-provider-authorization-implicit-consent

Admin → Applications → Applications → Create

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Name:     Guacamole
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Slug:     guacamole
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Provider: guacamole-proxy

The Cloudflare tunnel already routes rmt.merox.dev to Authentik at :9000. Guacamole is never directly reachable — traffic hits Authentik first, always.

Note

Guacamole still shows its own login after Authentik. That’s intentional — Authentik answers who you are, Guacamole answers which connections you get.

5 — Portainer, native OAuth2

Portainer has direct Docker socket access — exposing it to the internet, even behind Authentik, is unnecessary risk. It stays Tailscale-only, but uses Authentik as its OAuth2 provider so there’s no separate login screen.

Bind it to the Tailscale interface instead of 0.0.0.0 — so only VPN-connected devices can reach it:

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ports:
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  - '<tailscale-ip>:9000:9000'
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  - '<tailscale-ip>:9443:9443'

Admin → Applications → Providers → Create → OAuth2/OpenID Provider

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Name:         portainer-oauth
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Client type:  Confidential
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Redirect URI: http://<tailscale-ip>:9000

In Portainer: Settings → Authentication → OAuth → Enable

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Authorization URL: https://<authentik-domain>/application/o/authorize/
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Access Token URL:  https://<authentik-domain>/application/o/token/
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Resource URL:      https://<authentik-domain>/application/o/userinfo/
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User identifier:   preferred_username

Enable Hide internal authentication prompt — Portainer redirects directly to Authentik on load.

6 — A proxy outpost inside the cluster

The outpost runs inside the cluster as a pod and proxies back to sso.merox.dev for session validation. Every request hits the outpost first — if there’s no valid Authentik session, the user gets redirected to login.

In the Authentik UI

Provider: Admin → Applications → Providers → Create → Proxy Provider

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Name:          jellyseerr-proxy
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Mode:          Proxy
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External host: https://<your-app-domain>
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Internal host: http://<app-service>.<namespace>.svc.cluster.local:<port>
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SSL validation: OFF

Application: Admin → Applications → Applications → Create

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Name:     Jellyseerr
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Slug:     jellyseerr
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Provider: jellyseerr-proxy

Outpost: Admin → Outposts → Create

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Name:        k8s-outpost
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Type:        Proxy
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Integration: None
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Apps:        Jellyseerr

After creation → View Deployment Info → copy the token.

Tip

Integration: None is deliberate. With GitOps, Flux owns the deployment and Authentik owns only the config — which means the Authentik server never needs credentials to your cluster API.

Option A — Helm

The quickest path, works on any K8s setup:

kubectl create secret generic authentik-outpost-secret \
  --from-literal=AUTHENTIK_TOKEN=<token>

helm upgrade --install authentik-outpost oci://ghcr.io/goauthentik/helm-charts/authentik-remote-cluster \
  --set authentik.host=https://sso.merox.dev \
  --set authentik.token=<token>

Then expose the outpost with an Ingress or Gateway route pointing to port 9000.

Option B — Flux + app-template (GitOps)

For GitOps setups with Flux and bjw-s app-template. Create the following files under kubernetes/apps/<namespace>/authentik-outpost/:

app/secret.sops.yaml — encrypt with SOPS before committing:

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apiVersion: v1
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kind: Secret
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metadata:
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  name: authentik-outpost-secret
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type: Opaque
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stringData:
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  AUTHENTIK_TOKEN: <token from outpost>

app/helmrelease.yaml:

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apiVersion: helm.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v2
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kind: HelmRelease
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metadata:
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  name: authentik-outpost
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spec:
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  interval: 1h
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  chartRef:
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    kind: OCIRepository
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    name: app-template
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  values:
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    controllers:
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      authentik-outpost:
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        replicas: 1
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        strategy: RollingUpdate
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        containers:
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          app:
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            image:
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              repository: ghcr.io/goauthentik/proxy
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              tag: 2026.2.3
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            env:
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              AUTHENTIK_HOST: 'https://sso.merox.dev'
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              AUTHENTIK_INSECURE: 'false'
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              AUTHENTIK_HOST_BROWSER: 'https://sso.merox.dev'
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            envFrom:
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              - secretRef:
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                  name: authentik-outpost-secret
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            probes:
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              liveness:
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                enabled: true
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                custom: true
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                spec:
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                  httpGet:
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                    path: /outpost.goauthentik.io/ping
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                    port: &port 9000
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                  initialDelaySeconds: 10
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                  periodSeconds: 10
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              readiness:
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                enabled: true
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                custom: true
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                spec:
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                  httpGet:
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                    path: /outpost.goauthentik.io/ping
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                    port: *port
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                  initialDelaySeconds: 5
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                  periodSeconds: 10
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            securityContext:
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              allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
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              readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
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              capabilities: { drop: ['ALL'] }
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            resources:
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              requests:
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                cpu: 10m
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              limits:
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                memory: 256Mi
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    defaultPodOptions:
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      securityContext:
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        runAsNonRoot: true
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        runAsUser: 1000
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        runAsGroup: 1000
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    service:
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      app:
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        ports:
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          http:
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            port: *port
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    persistence:
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      tmpfs:
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        type: emptyDir
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        advancedMounts:
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          authentik-outpost:
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            app:
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              - path: /tmp
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                subPath: tmp

app/httproute.yaml (Gateway API — adjust for your ingress if needed):

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apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
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kind: HTTPRoute
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metadata:
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  name: jellyseerr-external
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spec:
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  parentRefs:
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    - name: external
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      namespace: kube-system
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      sectionName: https
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  hostnames:
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    - 'download.merox.dev'
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  rules:
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    - backendRefs:
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        - name: authentik-outpost
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          port: 9000

app/kustomization.yaml:

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apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
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kind: Kustomization
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resources:
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  - ./secret.sops.yaml
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  - ./helmrelease.yaml
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  - ./httproute.yaml

Encrypt and push:

sops --encrypt --in-place app/secret.sops.yaml
git add . && git commit -m "feat: add authentik k8s outpost" && git push

Note

Jellyseerr has no OIDC support, so it shows its own login too. The outpost is a gate, not a replacement — unauthenticated requests never reach the app at all, and the Jellyseerr session persists once you’re through.

Result

Service	URL	Method
Guacamole	rmt.merox.dev	Authentik Proxy
Portainer	`<tailscale-ip>:9000`	OAuth2 (Tailscale only)
Jellyseerr	download.merox.dev	K8s Outpost Proxy

One login at sso.merox.dev. Google auth + TOTP. Every externally-exposed service requires a valid Authentik session before traffic reaches it.

For apps with native OIDC support — Grafana, n8n — the same pattern applies but without the double login: use an OAuth2 provider instead of the proxy outpost.

Infrastructure repo: github.com/meroxdotdev/cloudlab-merox. Full homelab overview: The Rack — Homelab 2026.