Railway
All agents

GitHub Copilot + Railway

GitHub Copilot is GitHub's AI pair programmer with agent mode for autonomous multi-file edits. The workspace agent understands your entire project context. Combined with GitHub's Railway integration, Copilot provides a seamless development-to-deployment experience.

CLIGitHub AutodeploysGitHub Copilot Docs

Quick start

1

Enable Copilot Agent Mode

Enable GitHub Copilot in VS Code and turn on agent mode for autonomous actions

2

Connect Railway to GitHub

Create a new project and connect your GitHub repository

https://railway.com/new
3

Enable autodeploys

In Railway dashboard, enable automatic deploys from your main branch

4

Deploy a Django app with Postgres

Copilot generates CI/CD config, you push, Railway deploys with railway.com/template/django

Create a GitHub Actions workflow to deploy this Django app to Railway

Example prompts

“Generate a railway.toml for this Python app”

“Create a Dockerfile optimized for Railway”

“Set up GitHub Actions to deploy on push to main”

“Add health check endpoints and configure them in railway.toml”

“Create a CI/CD pipeline with staging and production branches”

“Set up database migrations to run automatically on deploy”

“Configure a monorepo deploy with separate services for frontend and API”

“Set up SearXNG as a private search API for my LLM application”

“Deploy TimescaleDB with continuous aggregates for IoT time-series data”

“Create a blue-green deployment strategy with Railway environments”

Common workflows

1Deploy a MongoDB database

  1. Ask Copilot to add MongoDB to your project
  2. Copilot generates docker-compose or Railway config
  3. Configure MONGODB_URI environment variable
  4. Commit and push to deploy with autodeploy

2Agent mode deployment

  1. Enable Copilot agent mode
  2. Ask Copilot to set up Railway deployment
  3. Copilot generates configuration files
  4. Push to GitHub for autodeploy

3GitHub Actions CI/CD

  1. Ask Copilot to create Railway deployment workflow
  2. Copilot generates .github/workflows/deploy.yml
  3. Add RAILWAY_TOKEN to repository secrets
  4. Push to trigger automated deployment

4Multi-environment setup

  1. Ask Copilot to set up staging and production
  2. Copilot creates branch-based deployment configs
  3. Configure environment-specific variables
  4. Push to respective branches to deploy

Tips for success

  • Enable GitHub autodeploys for seamless CI/CD
  • Copilot can generate railway.toml from prompts
  • Use agent mode for multi-file deployment configs

Code snippets

GitHub Action for Railway
yaml
name: Deploy to Railway
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: railwayapp/railway-action@v1
        with:
          railway-token: ${{ secrets.RAILWAY_TOKEN }}

Frequently asked questions

What's the best way to deploy to Railway with Copilot?

Enable GitHub autodeploys in Railway dashboard. Push your code and Railway deploys automatically. Copilot can generate the railway.toml configuration.

Can Copilot set up CI/CD for Railway deployments?

Yes! Ask Copilot to create a GitHub Actions workflow using railwayapp/railway-action. Add RAILWAY_TOKEN to your repository secrets.

How do I fix Railway deployment errors with Copilot?

Ask Copilot to analyze your build output or deployment logs. It can generate fixes for common issues like missing dependencies or incorrect start commands.

Troubleshooting

Issue:

GitHub autodeploys not triggering

Solution:

Check that Railway is connected to the correct GitHub repository and branch in the Railway dashboard settings.

Issue:

Railway action fails in GitHub Actions

Solution:

Verify RAILWAY_TOKEN is set in repository secrets. Generate a new token from Railway dashboard if needed.

Issue:

Copilot generates incorrect railway.toml

Solution:

Provide Copilot with examples from Railway docs. Use specific prompts like 'Create railway.toml for a Node.js Express app'.

Community resources

Central StationDiscordGitHub Copilot GitHubGitHub Copilot Docs

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