Skip to main content
Railway is a modern platform that makes deploying Rust applications easy. This guide walks you through deploying your Kit application.

​
Prerequisites

  • A Railway account
  • Your Kit project with a Dockerfile (run kit docker:init)
  • Git repository (GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket)

​
Quick Start

​
1. Create a New Project

  1. Go to Railway Dashboard
  2. Click “New Project”
  3. Select “Deploy from GitHub repo”
  4. Connect your repository

​
2. Add PostgreSQL

  1. In your project, click “New”
  2. Select “Database” -> “Add PostgreSQL”
  3. Railway creates the database and sets DATABASE_URL automatically

​
3. Configure Environment Variables

Click on your web service and go to Variables: 
APP_ENV=production
SERVER_HOST=0.0.0.0
SERVER_PORT=8080
Railway automatically injects DATABASE_URL from your PostgreSQL service. You don’t need to set it manually.

​
4. Deploy

Railway automatically deploys when you push to your repository. Your Kit application will:
  1. Build using your Dockerfile
  2. Run migrations on startup
  3. Start serving requests

​
Adding a Scheduler

If your application has scheduled tasks, add a worker service:

​
1. Add Another Service

  1. In your project, click “New”
  2. Select “GitHub Repo” (same repo)
  3. Name it something like “scheduler”

​
2. Configure the Scheduler

In the scheduler service settings: Start Command: 
./app schedule:work
Variables: Copy the same environment variables from your web service, including DATABASE_URL.
You can reference variables from other services using Railway’s variable references: ${{Postgres.DATABASE_URL}}

​
Custom Domain

  1. Go to your web service Settings
  2. Click “Generate Domain” for a Railway subdomain
  3. Or click “Custom Domain” to add your own
Railway handles SSL certificates automatically.

​
Monitoring

Railway provides built-in monitoring:
  • Logs: Real-time logs from your services
  • Metrics: CPU, memory, and network usage
  • Deployments: History and rollback options

​
Example railway.json

For more control, add a railway.json to your project: 
{
  "$schema": "https://railway.app/railway.schema.json",
  "build": {
    "builder": "DOCKERFILE",
    "dockerfilePath": "Dockerfile"
  },
  "deploy": {
    "startCommand": "./app",
    "healthcheckPath": "/_kit/health",
    "healthcheckTimeout": 300,
    "restartPolicyType": "ON_FAILURE",
    "restartPolicyMaxRetries": 10
  }
}

​
Costs

Railway offers:
  • Hobby Plan: 5/monthincludes5/month includes 5 of usage
  • Pro Plan: $20/month with team features
Rust applications are typically very efficient, so costs remain low even under load.

​
Troubleshooting

​
Build Fails

Check that your Dockerfile builds locally: 
docker build -t myapp .

​
Connection Refused

Ensure SERVER_HOST=0.0.0.0 is set. Railway requires binding to all interfaces.

​
Migrations Fail

Check the DATABASE_URL is correct. View logs in the Railway dashboard for error details.

​
Scheduler Not Running

Verify the start command is exactly ./app schedule:work and that environment variables are configured.