Deploy and Host Ackee on Railway

Ackee is a self-hosted, Node.js based analytics tool for those who care about privacy. Ackee runs on your own server, analyzes the traffic of your websites and provides useful statistics in a minimal interface.

About Hosting Ackee

Hosting Ackee involves deploying a lightweight Node.js application with a MongoDB database. Ackee is 100% open-source and runs entirely on your own server, giving you complete control over your analytics data. The system uses modern technologies with a clean architecture that's simple to deploy and maintain. Unlike traditional analytics platforms, Ackee requires no cookies and keeps all tracked data anonymized to protect user privacy.

Ackee Dashboard Interface

Common Use Cases

Privacy-focused Website Analytics: Track website traffic and user behavior without compromising visitor privacy or requiring cookie consent banners
Event Tracking: Monitor specific user interactions like button clicks, newsletter subscriptions, form submissions, and custom events across your applications
Minimal Analytics Alternative: Perfect for developers and businesses who need basic insights without the complexity and privacy concerns of full-featured marketing platforms like Google Analytics
Multi-site Dashboard: Centralized analytics for multiple websites and applications from a single, clean interface

Dependencies for Ackee Hosting

Node.js Runtime: Modern Node.js environment for running the analytics server
MongoDB Database: Database for storing analytics data and configuration
Client Integration: JavaScript tracking script integration on websites you want to analyze

Deployment Dependencies

Implementation Details

Key Features:

Self-hosted: Runs entirely on your own server with 100% open-source code
Privacy-first: No unique user tracking and no cookies required, keeping user data anonymized
Modern Architecture: Built with lightweight Node.js and MongoDB for optimal performance
Beautiful Interface: Minimal and focused dashboard that presents data clearly without clutter
Event Tracking: Track custom events beyond page views, including button clicks and form interactions
GraphQL API: Fully documented API that allows you to build custom tools and integrations

Basic Setup:

// Environment configuration
ACKEE_MONGODB=mongodb://localhost:27017/ackee
ACKEE_USERNAME=admin
ACKEE_PASSWORD=your-secure-password
ACKEE_DOMAIN=your-domain.com

Client-side Integration:

Add the Ackee tracking script to your website's head section with your instance URL and domain ID configured.

Custom Event Tracking:

// Track custom events
ackeeTracker.action('Newsletter Signup', {
  key: 'newsletter',
  value: 1
});

// Track button clicks
document.getElementById('cta-button').addEventListener('click', () => {
  ackeeTracker.action('CTA Click', {
    key: 'cta',
    value: 1
  });
});

GraphQL API Usage:

// Query analytics data via GraphQL
const query = `
  query getDomains {
    domains {
      id
      title
      statistics {
        views
        visitors
      }
    }
  }
`;

fetch('https://your-ackee-instance.com/api', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'Authorization': 'Bearer your-api-token'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({ query })
});

Privacy Benefits:

No personal data collection or storage
No cross-site tracking capabilities
Anonymized visitor statistics only
GDPR compliant by design
No cookie consent requirements

Why Deploy Ackee on Railway?

Railway is a singular platform to deploy your infrastructure stack. Railway will host your infrastructure so you don't have to deal with configuration, while allowing you to vertically and horizontally scale it.

By deploying Ackee on Railway, you are one step closer to supporting a complete full-stack application with minimal burden. Host your servers, databases, AI agents, and more on Railway.