Deploy and Host

Canonical code: blinko — deploy URL: https://railway.com/new/template/blinko

OG Image

Blinko is an AI-powered, card-based note-taking app with RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation). Capture ideas, chat with your notes, and let AI help you connect thoughts — all self-hosted on Railway.

About Hosting

Blinko runs as a single container with a Railway-managed PostgreSQL database. Railway provides the compute, TLS at the edge, and a public URL. The service restarts automatically on failures. All notes and AI embeddings are stored in PostgreSQL — no persistent volume required.

Why Deploy

AI-native notes — Chat with your knowledge base using RAG. Ask questions and Blinko retrieves relevant notes with AI context.
Card-based UI — Organize thoughts visually with a modern card interface instead of folders.
17K+ GitHub stars — One of the fastest-growing open-source AI knowledge tools.
Managed PostgreSQL — Railway provisions your database with auto-injected connection strings.
Single container — No sidecars, no vector database, no external services beyond Postgres.

Common Use Cases

Personal knowledge base — Capture ideas, research, and notes then chat with them via AI.
Study & learning — Take notes on topics and ask Blinko to explain connections between concepts.
Meeting notes — Record meeting insights and query them later with natural language.
Research assistant — Store papers, articles, and references then ask AI to synthesize findings.
Second brain — Build a searchable, AI-augmented personal wiki.

Dependencies for Blinko

Deployment Dependencies

Blinko requires a PostgreSQL database. Add a Railway PostgreSQL service to your project — the connection string is auto-injected via DATABASE_URL. No vector database or additional services needed.

Features

AI-powered RAG note search — chat with your notes
Card-based visual organization
PostgreSQL backend for all data and embeddings
Pinned Docker image (v1.8.8)
One-click deploy with auto-configured database

Quick Start

Click Deploy on Railway above
Add a PostgreSQL service
Set NEXTAUTH_SECRET to a random string
Deploy — Blinko starts in ~60s
Open your Railway URL to start capturing ideas

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`DATABASE_URL`	Yes	Auto	PostgreSQL connection (Railway auto-injects)
`NEXTAUTH_SECRET`	Yes	—	Random secret for auth encryption
`NEXTAUTH_URL`	Yes	—	Public URL of your instance
`PORT`	No	`1111`	Container port (Railway auto-sets)

Local Development

git clone https://github.com/INAPP-Mobile/railway-blinko && cd railway-blinko
cp .env.example .env && $EDITOR .env
docker build -t railway-blinko .
docker run -d -p 1111:1111 --env-file .env railway-blinko

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
Database connection failed	Verify `DATABASE_URL` is set and Postgres is running
Login not working	Ensure `NEXTAUTH_SECRET` is set and `NEXTAUTH_URL` matches your Railway domain
AI features not working	Check Blinko docs for AI provider configuration

License

Blinko is AGPL-3.0 licensed. Template by INAPP-Mobile.