Deploy and Host 9Router on Railway

9Router is a self-hosted AI gateway and LLM router that lets developers connect Claude, Codex, Cursor, OpenAI-compatible tools, and many other AI providers through a single unified endpoint. It simplifies model access, request routing, provider switching, and AI development workflows from one central dashboard.

9Router

About Hosting 9Router

Hosting 9Router on Railway gives you an easy way to run your own AI routing gateway without managing servers yourself. With this template you only need to set an INITIAL_PASSWORD and click deploy. Railway takes care of the deployment, service hosting, networking, and runtime environment.

Once deployed, 9Router becomes a centralized AI gateway for developer tools, coding assistants, API clients, and any OpenAI-compatible integration. It reduces provider lock-in by letting you manage multiple AI models, API keys, and routing rules from a single self-hosted dashboard.

Quick Comparison with Other AI Gateways

Feature	9Router	LiteLLM	OpenRouter	Bifrost
Fully self-hosted	✅	✅	❌	✅
OpenAI-compatible endpoint	✅	✅	✅	✅
Smart 3-tier fallback (sub → cheap → free)	✅	❌ (basic only)	❌	❌
Built-in RTK token saver (20-40%+)	✅	❌	❌	❌
Native coding CLI/IDE support (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Cline, etc.)	✅	❌ (generic)	❌	❌
Simple one-password Railway deploy	✅	❌	❌ (hosted only)	❌
Built-in visual dashboard	✅	✅ (needs DB)	✅	✅
Zero external database required	✅ (SQLite)	❌ (Postgres)	N/A	✅
Free & open-source	✅	✅	❌	✅
Focused on coding workflows	✅	❌	❌	❌

9Router stands out when you want a lightweight, coding-first gateway with automatic subscription-aware fallback and built-in token savings — all deployable on Railway in minutes.

Common Use Cases

Run one unified AI gateway for Claude, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Claude Code, and any OpenAI-compatible tool.
Route AI requests across multiple LLM providers from a single dashboard.
Manage model access, provider switching, and development workflows in one place.
Deploy a self-hosted AI proxy for internal tools, coding agents, and API clients.
Reduce reliance on any single AI provider by centralizing model routing and fallback.

Dependencies for 9Router Hosting

A Railway account.
A secure INITIAL_PASSWORD for accessing the 9Router dashboard.
AI provider accounts or API access for the models you want to connect after deployment.
Developer tools or AI clients that support OpenAI-compatible API endpoints.

Deployment Dependencies

9Router Website: https://9router.com/
9Router GitHub Repository: https://github.com/decolua/9router
Railway: https://railway.com/

Implementation Details

This Railway template is built for a simple self-hosted deployment flow. Before deploying, the only required configuration is the INITIAL_PASSWORD value on the Railway template screen.

The INITIAL_PASSWORD becomes the login password for the 9Router dashboard after deployment. Use a strong password and keep it private.

Once Railway finishes deploying, open the generated public URL and log in to the 9Router dashboard with the password you set earlier.

How to Use 9Router After Deployment

After 9Router is successfully deployed on Railway, the minimal setup is:

Open the deployed 9Router URL from Railway.
Log in using the INITIAL_PASSWORD you configured before deployment.
Go to the provider settings.
Add your AI providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, OpenRouter, or any other supported provider).
Create or configure an API key inside 9Router.
Point your AI client, application, or OpenAI-compatible tool to the 9Router endpoint.

Once the provider and API key are set up, 9Router is ready to use as a unified AI endpoint.

Using 9Router with CLI Tools

For CLI tools such as Gemini CLI, Claude Code, or other coding assistants, some additional local configuration is usually needed.

Inside the 9Router dashboard:

Open the CLI Tools section.
Select the CLI tool you want to use.
Follow the manual configuration instructions shown by 9Router.
Apply the configuration on your local machine.
Use the 9Router endpoint and API key as instructed.

Each CLI tool may need a different environment variable or config file, so always follow the specific guide displayed in the CLI Tools section.

Why Deploy 9Router on Railway?

Railway is a single platform for deploying your full infrastructure stack. It hosts your services so you never have to deal with manual server setup, while still letting you scale vertically or horizontally whenever needed.

By deploying 9Router on Railway you move one step closer to a complete AI development workflow with almost no operational overhead. You can host your AI gateway, API services, databases, agents, and other developer tools all in one place.

Deploy it, add your providers, configure the endpoint, and start routing your AI tools through your own self-hosted gateway.