Deploy and Host Commento++ on Railway

Commento++ is a fast, lightweight, privacy-focused open-source commenting engine. Designed as a modern community-driven continuation of Commento, it allows website owners to embed privacy-conscious, ad-free comment sections into blogs, static sites, and documentation portals. This Railway template deploys the core Commento++ application (commentoplusplus) paired with a high-availability PostgreSQL database (postgres) with persistent storage.

About Hosting Commento++

Hosting Commento++ on Railway provisions a two-tier container architecture:

Commento++ (commentoplusplus): The main web server and comment widget API running caroga/commentoplusplus:v1.8.7. It serves the admin dashboard, handles comment moderation and embedding scripts, listens internally on port 8080, and communicates with the database over Railway's private network.
PostgreSQL Database (postgres): A relational database container using ghcr.io/railwayapp-templates/postgres-ssl:latest. It mounts a persistent volume at /var/lib/postgresql/data to ensure all comments, registered user profiles, and site domain configurations persist across deployments.

Common Use Cases

Privacy-focused commenting engine: Replace invasive commenting platforms like Disqus with an ad-free, tracking-free commenting system.
Static site & blog integration: Easily embed comment sections on Hugo, Jekyll, Astro, Next.js, Gatsby, or WordPress sites.
Multi-domain support: Enable wildcard domain matching (COMMENTO_ENABLE_WILDCARDS=true) to embed comment widgets across multiple subdomains or external sites.
Self-hosted community discussions: Maintain full ownership of user data, comments, and moderation logs on your own cloud infrastructure.

Dependencies for Commento++ Hosting

Commento++ image: caroga/commentoplusplus:v1.8.7
PostgreSQL image: ghcr.io/railwayapp-templates/postgres-ssl:latest
One persistent volume mounted at /var/lib/postgresql/data on the postgres service
Railway public domain mapped to port 8080 for commentoplusplus
Auto-generated secrets: PostgreSQL password (POSTGRES_PASSWORD)

Upstream: GitHub (caroga/commentoplusplus) · Docker Hub

Implementation Details

Service	Image	Role	Internal Port	Volume Mount
commentoplusplus	`caroga/commentoplusplus:v1.8.7`	Commenting Engine & Admin Web UI	`8080`	None
postgres	`ghcr.io/railwayapp-templates/postgres-ssl:latest`	PostgreSQL Database (SSL enabled)	`5432`	`/var/lib/postgresql/data`

Topology

Service	Role	Volume	Public	Notes
commentoplusplus	Main Server & Widget API	None	Yes (Port `8080`)	Connects to `postgres` using internal URI
postgres	Relational Database	`/var/lib/postgresql/data`	TCP Proxy (Port `5432`)	High availability template (`postgres-ha`)

Volumes (drives) — what to mount

Service	Mount path	What is stored
postgres	`/var/lib/postgresql/data`	Relational database files, comments, user accounts, and domain settings

Warning: Do not remove or detach the /var/lib/postgresql/data volume on the postgres service — deleting this volume will permanently erase all published comments, user accounts, and site registrations during redeployments.

Quick Start

Click the Deploy on Railway button above.
Sign in (or create a free Railway account) and click Deploy.
Wait 1–2 minutes for both the postgres database and commentoplusplus application services to provision.
Open the commentoplusplus service → Settings → Networking and click the generated public domain URL.
Register the initial owner account through the web dashboard. The first account created automatically gains administrative permissions.
Add your website domain in the Commento++ dashboard, copy the HTML embed snippet, and paste it into your site templates.

Configuration

Commento++ Variables (`commentoplusplus`)

Variable	Default / Source	Description / Notes
`COMMENTO_ORIGIN`	`https://${{RAILWAY_PUBLIC_DOMAIN}}`	Public canonical origin URL where Commento++ is hosted
`COMMENTO_POSTGRES`	`postgres://${{postgres.POSTGRES_USER}}:${{postgres.POSTGRES_PASSWORD}}@${{postgres.RAILWAY_PRIVATE_DOMAIN}}:5432/${{postgres.POSTGRES_DB}}?sslmode=disable`	Connection string for internal PostgreSQL database
`COMMENTO_ENABLE_WILDCARDS`	`true`	Allows embedding the comment widget across wildcard domains and subdomains
`PORT`	`8080`	Internal port the HTTP server listens on

Database Variables (`postgres`)

Variable	Default / Source	Description / Notes
`POSTGRES_DB`	`postgres`	Name of the default database created on startup
`POSTGRES_USER`	`postgres`	Administrative database user
`POSTGRES_PASSWORD`	Auto-generated secret (16 chars)	Secure database access password
`DATABASE_URL`	`postgresql://${{PGUSER}}:${{POSTGRES_PASSWORD}}@${{RAILWAY_PRIVATE_DOMAIN}}:5432/${{PGDATABASE}}`	Internal private connection URL
`DATABASE_PUBLIC_URL`	Connection string via TCP Proxy	External connection URL for remote database management
`SSL_CERT_DAYS`	`820`	Certificate validity period for SSL connections
`PGDATA`	`/var/lib/postgresql/data/pgdata`	Subdirectory path for PostgreSQL data files

Custom Domain

Open the commentoplusplus service → Settings → Networking → Custom Domain.
Add your custom domain (e.g. comments.yourdomain.com) and follow Railway’s DNS setup instructions.
Update the COMMENTO_ORIGIN environment variable on the commentoplusplus service to match your new URL (https://comments.yourdomain.com).
Railway provisions TLS automatically.

Updating Commento++

Open the commentoplusplus service → Settings → Source.
Update the image tag (e.g., caroga/commentoplusplus:v1.8.7 to a newer version).
Click Redeploy.

All comments and database records remain safe inside the attached PostgreSQL volume.

Traps

Common pitfalls and failure modes:

COMMENTO_ORIGIN Mismatch — Commento++ relies heavily on COMMENTO_ORIGIN for security verification and CORS checks. If you attach a custom domain or change the public domain without updating COMMENTO_ORIGIN, the embedded comment widget will fail to load or throw origin error blocks.
Missing PostgreSQL Volume — Removing or detaching the /var/lib/postgresql/data volume on the postgres service will permanently erase all user accounts, comments, and registered site settings.
Initial Registration Security — Anyone can register the first account on a fresh Commento++ instance to claim administrator privileges. Ensure you access the domain immediately after deployment and complete the registration step.
Database Connection sslmode — The connection string uses sslmode=disable because communication takes place over Railway's isolated internal private network (${{postgres.RAILWAY_PRIVATE_DOMAIN}}). Altering this parameter without configuring database certificates may prevent Commento++ from connecting to PostgreSQL.

Why Deploy Commento++ on Railway?

Railway delivers a seamless environment for running containerized web services and databases. Deploying Commento++ on Railway provides private service networking, persistent volume mounts, automated HTTPS certificates, and effortless single-click deployments without complex server maintenance.