feat: add CC_K8S_APP_MODE for kubernetes app mode selection

Signed-off-by: Anupam Kumar <kyteinsky@gmail.com>

Author: kyteinsky

appinfo/info.xml

@@ -81,6 +81,12 @@ Setup background job workers as described here: https://docs.nextcloud.com/serve
 				<display-name>Password for authentication to CC_EM_BASE_URL</display-name>
 				<description>Password to be used for authenticating requests to the OpenAI-compatible endpoint set in CC_EM_BASE_URL.</description>
 			</variable>
+			<variable>
+				<name>CC_K8S_APP_MODE</name>
+				<display-name>Mode to run the app in. Possible options: NORMAL, INDEXING, REQUEST_PROCESSING.</display-name>
+				<description>Only applicable when the app is running with a Kubernetes daemon. Docker daemon installs should leave this at the NORMAL mode. INDEXING mode processes the documents, files and content providers, and processes the document and metadata updates. REQUEST_PROCESSING mode takes care of the query and document search requests. In Kubernetes, at least one pod should run with each type of mode.</description>
+				<default>NORMAL</default>
+			</variable>
 		</environment-variables>
 	</external-app>
 </info>

context_chat_backend/controller.py

@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@
 def enabled_handler(enabled: bool, _: NextcloudApp | AsyncNextcloudApp) -> str:
 	if enabled:
 		app_enabled.set()
+		# todo: start bg threads to fetch docs, updates and requests to process
 	else:
 		app_enabled.clear()
 

context_chat_backend/task_fetcher.py

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Nextcloud GmbH and Nextcloud contributors
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later
+#

context_chat_backend/utils.py

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 #
 import logging
 import multiprocessing as mp
+import os
 import re
 import traceback
 from collections.abc import Callable
@@ -144,3 +145,11 @@ def redact_config(config: TConfig | TEmbeddingConfig) -> TConfig | TEmbeddingCon
 			em_conf.auth.password = '***REDACTED***'  # noqa: S105
 
 	return config_copy
+
+
+def get_app_mode() -> str:
+	mode = os.getenv('CC_K8S_APP_MODE', 'NORMAL').upper()
+	if mode not in ['NORMAL', 'INDEXING', 'REQUEST_PROCESSING']:
+		_logger.warning(f'Invalid app mode: {mode}, defaulting to NORMAL')
+		return 'NORMAL'
+	return mode