Deploy and Host Baalda Server on Railway

Baalda is a local-first second brain: your notes are plain Markdown files on your own disk that an AI can edit directly and that teammates can edit together in real time. The Baalda Server is the sync backend that makes the second half possible — multi-device sync, team vaults, and live collaboration.

About Hosting Baalda Server

The server is a single Node process backed by Postgres. It terminates one HTTPS port that carries both the REST API and the CRDT WebSocket, so there is nothing else to route. It stores only opaque binary Yjs documents — your Markdown never travels the wire, and each client re-derives its own files and search index from the CRDT state. Deploying it means Postgres, a signing secret, and a public URL; this template wires all three automatically and applies database migrations before the service accepts traffic. After deploying, paste the generated URL into the desktop app's Server settings and create an account.

Common Use Cases

Sync one person's vault across several machines without handing notes to a third party
Run a shared team vault with per-folder permissions, presence, and live editing
Give cloud AI agents an MCP endpoint into a vault, governed by the same permissions as people
Run a shared team vault with per-folder permissions, presence, and live editing
Give cloud AI agents an MCP endpoint into a vault, governed by the same permissions as people

Dependencies for Baalda Server Hosting

PostgreSQL 16 (included in this template)

Deployment Dependencies

Why Deploy Baalda Server on Railway?

Railway provisions the Postgres instance, generates a unique signing secret per deployment, and runs migrations before cutover — so a working sync backend comes up without any manual configuration. Billing features stay off in self-hosted mode, which means no vault or member limits.