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Deploying NestJS to Railway

Railway is a PaaS (Platform as a Service) that makes deploying Node.js APIs straightforward. It supports Docker, managed databases, and automatic deployments from GitHub.

Why Railway for APIs​

  • Zero-config if your app has a Dockerfile or is a standard Node.js app
  • Managed PostgreSQL (same region as your app)
  • Environment variable management
  • Automatic deploys on git push
  • Free tier available (hobby projects)

Preparing Your NestJS App​

Health Check Endpoint​

Railway checks if your app is healthy:

// src/health/health.controller.ts
import { Controller, Get } from '@nestjs/common';

@Controller('health')
export class HealthController {
  @Get()
  check() {
    return { status: 'ok', timestamp: new Date().toISOString() };
  }
}

Production Port​

Railway injects PORT as an environment variable:

// src/main.ts
const port = process.env.PORT ?? 3000;
await app.listen(port, '0.0.0.0'); // bind to all interfaces
console.log(`Application running on port ${port}`);

Dockerfile​

# Dockerfile
FROM node:20-alpine AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci
COPY . .
RUN npm run build

FROM node:20-alpine AS production
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci --omit=dev
COPY --from=builder /app/dist ./dist
COPY --from=builder /app/prisma ./prisma
RUN npx prisma generate
EXPOSE 3000
CMD ["node", "dist/main.js"]

Start Script​

// package.json
{
  "scripts": {
    "start:prod": "node dist/main.js",
    "build": "nest build"
  }
}

Deploying to Railway​

Option A: From GitHub​

  1. Go to railway.app → New Project
  2. Deploy from GitHub repo
  3. Railway auto-detects Node.js and runs npm install && npm run build && npm run start:prod

Option B: Railway CLI​

npm install -g @railway/cli
railway login
railway init       # creates a new project
railway up         # deploy current directory

Environment Variables​

In Railway dashboard → Service → Variables:

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://...  # auto-set if you add Railway PostgreSQL
JWT_SECRET=your-production-secret
NODE_ENV=production

Or via CLI:

railway variables set JWT_SECRET=secret
railway variables set NODE_ENV=production

Database (Railway PostgreSQL)​

Add a database to your project:

  1. Dashboard → New → Database → PostgreSQL
  2. Railway auto-injects DATABASE_URL into your service

Run migrations on deploy:

// package.json
{
  "scripts": {
    "start:prod": "npx prisma migrate deploy && node dist/main.js"
  }
}

Or as a separate Railway process (more reliable):

# Railway Start Command (in service settings)
npx prisma migrate deploy && node dist/main.js

Custom Domain​

  1. Service → Settings → Domains → Add Domain
  2. Update DNS: CNAME → yourservice.up.railway.app
  3. SSL is automatic

GitHub Actions + Railway​

# .github/workflows/deploy.yml
- name: Deploy to Railway
  env:
    RAILWAY_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.RAILWAY_TOKEN }}
  run: |
    npm install -g @railway/cli
    railway up --service api

Get your RAILWAY_TOKEN from: Railway Dashboard → Account Settings → Tokens.

Monitoring​

Railway provides:

  • Metrics — CPU, memory, network usage
  • Logs — real-time, searchable (last 7 days on free tier)
  • Deployments — history with rollback
# View logs via CLI
railway logs --tail

Scaling​

# Scale up (more CPU/RAM) in Railway dashboard
# Service → Settings → Resources

# Scale out (multiple instances) — Pro plan
# Service → Settings → Replicas

For most apps, Railway's default 512MB RAM / 0.5 vCPU is sufficient at launch.