Overview

LGF Cloud Portal allows administrators to deploy specific catalog workloads for free. This is highly useful for provisioning open-source platforms, running proofs-of-concept, or allowing clients to test environments before purchasing paid subscription tiers.

This guide details how to enable the global free-deployment bypass and how to mark individual catalog items as free within the administrator settings.

Prerequisites

  • Administrative access to the LGF Cloud Portal.
  • Logged in with a Lead Machinist or Administrator account.

Steps

1. Enable Global Free Deployments

Before any catalog items can be deployed for free, the global free deployment feature must be activated in the portal's core settings.

Enabling Global Free Deployments

_Figure: The Free Deployments setting card in the Admin Settings panel._

  1. Log in to the Cloud Portal as an administrator.
  2. Click on the Admin tab in the top navigation menu.
  3. Locate the Free Deployments card.
  4. Check the box labeled Allow Free Deployments.
  5. Click Save Settings at the bottom of the page.
[!NOTE]
When active, this setting allows catalog workloads marked as Free to completely bypass the Stripe billing gateway and subscription checkout page during customer commissioning.

2. Configure a Catalog Item as Free

After enabling the global settings, you must specify which individual catalog items should be accessible for free.

Configuring Catalog Item Billing Mode

_Figure: The billing mode dropdown in the catalog editor set to Free._

  1. From the top navigation bar, select Admin -> Catalog (or click the Catalog button under the Portal Setup card).
  2. Locate the target catalog item you wish to modify (e.g., Keycloak or Uptime Kuma).
  3. Find the Billing/Payment dropdown select box (which defaults to Stripe).
  4. Click the dropdown and select Free from the options list.
  5. Set the status dropdown to Enabled.
  6. Click the blue Save button on the right of the row to apply the change.

Verification

To verify that free benches can be commissioned:

  1. Log out of the administrative session or open an incognito browser.
  2. Sign in as a standard user/operator.
  3. Navigate to the catalog and select the configured free bench.
  4. Verify that the system launches the bench provisioning process immediately, without redirecting the session to the Stripe Checkout gateway.

Troubleshooting

Free benches still redirect to Stripe checkout

  • Cause 1: The global Allow Free Deployments checkbox in the Admin Settings is disabled. Verify that this flag is enabled.
  • Cause 2: The catalog configuration changes were not saved. Re-verify the catalog item row and ensure the billing selector displays Free and is saved successfully.