---
title: "Deploy Chirp Forum"
description: "Deploy a secure Chirp forum with PostgreSQL, passwords, and passkeys."
category: "Starters"
url: https://railway.com/deploy/chirp-forum
---

# Deploy Chirp Forum

Deploy a secure Chirp forum with PostgreSQL, passwords, and passkeys.

**[Deploy Chirp Forum on Railway](https://railway.com/template/chirp-forum)**

- **Creator:** Lawrence Lane's Projects
- **Category:** Starters

## Template content

### Postgres https://devicons.railway.app/i/postgresql.svg

- **Image:** ghcr.io/railwayapp-templates/postgres-ssl:18

### web https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lbliii/chirp-forum/main/assets/forum-icon.svg

- **Source:** https://github.com/lbliii/chirp-forum
- **Health check:** /ready
- **Public domain:** Yes

## Documentation

# Deploy and Host a Secure Forum with Chirp

Launch a lightweight, production-shaped community forum powered by Chirp and
PostgreSQL. Chirp Forum includes password and passkey sign-in, durable sessions,
invitations, recovery codes, search, unread state, notifications, and practical
moderation without requiring Redis, email delivery, object storage, or a
frontend build system.

## About Hosting

The template provisions one Chirp web service and one Railway-managed
PostgreSQL service. Railway supplies the private database URL, generates a
unique application signing key and first-owner bootstrap token for every
deployment, runs the application migrations, exposes public HTTP networking,
and checks `/ready` before routing traffic.

The application is server-rendered and progressively enhanced with HTMX. Its
durable state, login sessions, recovery codes, passkey credentials, invitations,
forum content, and moderation history all live in PostgreSQL. The single-site
starter does not need Redis because it does not depend on a shared cache, job
queue, or cross-worker realtime fan-out.

After deployment, open `/setup` and copy `FORUM_BOOTSTRAP_TOKEN` from the web
service variables to claim the first owner account. The token becomes inert as
soon as setup succeeds. Railway's generated domain works with passkeys; when
moving to a permanent custom domain, configure `FORUM_PUBLIC_ORIGIN` and
`FORUM_PASSKEY_RP_ID` before enrolling credentials there.

## Why Deploy

- Start with a useful forum instead of a framework hello world.
- Get PostgreSQL, generated secrets, migrations, and readiness checks without
  manual wiring.
- Offer passwords, passkeys, recovery codes, and revocable sessions without an
  external identity provider.
- Keep a simple two-service topology that is easy to understand and customize.
- Own the application code and forum data after deployment.

## Common Use Cases

- Product and open-source communities
- Clubs, local groups, and member forums
- Support and knowledge-sharing boards
- Private invite-only discussion spaces
- A production-shaped Chirp learning project
- A starting point for specialized community applications

## Dependencies for Chirp Forum

### Deployment Dependencies

- A Chirp web service built from `lbliii/chirp-forum`
- Railway PostgreSQL with persistent storage
- Python 3.14 and the locked application dependencies in the repository

No Redis service, SMTP provider, object-storage account, or external auth vendor
is required. After deployment, complete `/setup`, then create the forum's first
categories and boards from the administration area.

Framework documentation: https://lbliii.github.io/chirp/

Source and support: https://github.com/lbliii/chirp-forum


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Open this page in a browser: https://railway.com/deploy/chirp-forum