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Railway Deployment Guide

This guide will help you deploy NEET.me to Railway.

Prerequisites

  1. A GitHub account
  2. A Railway account (sign up at https://railway.app)
  3. A Reown project ID (get it from https://dashboard.reown.com)

Important: PostgreSQL Required

PostgreSQL is required for all environments - both development and production. The Prisma schema is configured for PostgreSQL and should not be changed.

Setting up PostgreSQL for Local Development

Before developing locally, you need a PostgreSQL database:

Option 1: Local PostgreSQL

  1. Install PostgreSQL on your machine
  2. Create a database: createdb neetmetree
  3. Update .env with: DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/neetmetree"

Option 2: Docker

docker run --name postgres-neetmetree \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=password \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=neetmetree \
  -p 5432:5432 \
  -d postgres

Option 3: Cloud PostgreSQL

  • Use Railway, Supabase, or Neon for a free PostgreSQL database
  • Copy the connection string to your .env file

Step 1: Push to GitHub

  1. Initialize git repository (if not already done):

    git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"

  2. Create a new repository on GitHub

  3. Push your code:

    git remote add origin https://github.com/yourusername/neetmetree.git
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main

Step 2: Create Railway Project

  1. Go to https://railway.app and sign in
  2. Click "New Project"
  3. Select "Deploy from GitHub repo"
  4. Choose your repository
  5. Railway will automatically detect it's a Next.js app

Step 3: Add PostgreSQL Database

  1. In your Railway project, click "New"
  2. Select "Database" → "Add PostgreSQL"
  3. Railway will automatically create a PostgreSQL database
  4. The DATABASE_URL environment variable will be automatically set

Step 4: Configure Environment Variables

In your Railway project settings, add these environment variables:

Required Variables:

  • NEXT_PUBLIC_REOWN_PROJECT_ID - Your Reown project ID
  • NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL - Your Railway app URL (e.g., https://your-app-name.railway.app)
  • NEXTAUTH_URL - Same as NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL
  • NEXTAUTH_SECRET - Generate with: openssl rand -base64 32
  • NODE_ENV - Set to production

Note: DATABASE_URL is automatically set by Railway when you add PostgreSQL.

Step 5: Update Reown Dashboard

Important: You must add your Railway domain to Reown's allowed origins to fix CSP errors.

  1. Go to https://dashboard.reown.com
  2. Open your project settings
  3. Update the "Homepage URL" to your Railway domain (e.g., https://your-app-name.railway.app)
  4. Add your Railway domain to "Allowed Origins" - This is critical for fixing the CSP frame-ancestors error
  5. Save the changes

Note: Features (email, socials) are managed remotely via the Reown dashboard. Local configuration in code is ignored.

Step 6: Database Migrations

Automatic: Database migrations run automatically on every deployment startup. The start script runs prisma db push before starting the server, so your database schema will be automatically created/synced.

No manual migration steps needed! 🎉

Step 7: Deploy

  1. Railway will automatically deploy when you push to GitHub
  2. Or manually trigger a deployment from the Railway dashboard
  3. Wait for the deployment to complete
  4. Your app will be live at https://your-app-name.railway.app

Step 8: Verify Deployment

  1. Visit your Railway URL
  2. Test sign-in functionality
  3. Test creating a profile
  4. Test uploading an avatar
  5. Test adding links

Troubleshooting

Database Connection Issues

  • Verify DATABASE_URL is set correctly in Railway
  • Check that PostgreSQL service is running
  • Ensure Prisma schema is using postgresql provider

Build Failures

  • Check Railway build logs for errors
  • Ensure all environment variables are set
  • Verify package.json scripts are correct
  • Database migrations run automatically on startup - no manual steps needed

Image Upload Issues

  • Verify images are being stored in database (check PostgreSQL)
  • Check API route logs in Railway
  • Ensure base64 data is being saved correctly

Reown Connection Issues

  • Verify NEXT_PUBLIC_REOWN_PROJECT_ID is correct
  • Check Reown dashboard for allowed origins
  • Ensure NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL matches your Railway domain

Production Checklist

  • PostgreSQL database added and connected
  • All environment variables set
  • Reown project configured with production URL
  • Database migrations run successfully
  • App deployed and accessible
  • Sign-in functionality tested
  • Image uploads working
  • Links creation working
  • Profile pages accessible

Custom Domain (Optional)

  1. In Railway, go to your service settings
  2. Click "Generate Domain" or add a custom domain
  3. Update NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL and NEXTAUTH_URL with your custom domain
  4. Update Reown dashboard with the new domain

Monitoring

Railway provides:

  • Build logs
  • Runtime logs
  • Metrics dashboard
  • Database connection monitoring

Check these regularly to ensure your app is running smoothly.