Deploy and Host coolLabs MinIO on Railway

MinIO is a high-performance, S3-compatible object storage system that provides enterprise-grade infrastructure for managing unstructured data such as photos, videos, backups, and application assets. It maintains full Amazon S3 API compatibility, enabling seamless integration with existing tools and SDKs. coolLabs MinIO offers the same robust MinIO experience while maintaining a secure, continuously updated Docker image for simplified deployment on Railway.

About Hosting MinIO

Hosting MinIO provides a self-contained, high-performance storage server capable of handling uploads, backups, and static content delivery using S3-compatible APIs. It includes built-in encryption, fine-grained access policies, and multi-tenancy support. Railway enhances this with persistent volumes, automated scaling, and secure networking, ensuring reliable, production-grade deployments with minimal operational overhead.

Common Use Cases

Application File Storage: Manage user uploads, documents, and media assets using an S3-compatible API.
Backup and Archival: Automate backup pipelines, retention policies, and disaster recovery storage.
Content Delivery and Media Hosting: Serve static files and large assets with high throughput and uptime.
Development and Testing: Use S3-compatible object storage locally or in CI/CD environments without AWS dependencies.

Dependencies for MinIO Hosting

Persistent Storage Volume: Ensures data persistence across restarts and redeployments.
MinIO Console: Provides a management UI for bucket operations, access policies, and configuration.

Deployment Dependencies

coolLabs MinIO Docker Image (GHCR): ghcr.io/coollabsio/minio
This image is maintained by coolLabs, providing an updated and secure build pipeline that tracks upstream MinIO releases and patches.
Railway Templates MinIO Console Repository: https://github.com/railwayapp-templates/minio-console

Context on Docker Image Distribution

In October 2025, MinIO discontinued publishing official Docker images, transitioning to a source-only distribution model.

Trigger: The policy became apparent when the CVE fix released on 2025-10-15 was not uploaded to DockerHub or Quay.io.
Response: Maintainer @harshavardhana confirmed the omission was intentional—users are now expected to build images from source.
Community Reaction:
- Widespread criticism over the abrupt change and its timing during a security release.
- Users cited increased maintenance burden, loss of trust, and exposure to unpatched vulnerabilities.
- The issue was closed and locked, labeled “working as intended.”
Result: No official Docker images are distributed going forward. Integrators like coolLabs stepped in to maintain community builds, ensuring continuity for containerized deployments.

Implementation Details (Optional)

The coolLabs MinIO image is built and published via GitHub Container Registry (GHCR) at ghcr.io/coollabsio/minio.
It provides:

Continuous sync with upstream MinIO releases
Automated patch integration for CVEs
Verified build provenance through GitHub Actions
Compatibility with Railway’s persistent volumes and scaling model

Why Deploy MinIO on Railway?

Railway abstracts the complexity of deploying and scaling infrastructure. By deploying coolLabs MinIO on Railway, you obtain a fully managed, S3-compatible object storage system with persistent data, integrated monitoring, and effortless scalability. Railway handles orchestration and storage provisioning, while coolLabs ensures secure, up-to-date container images in light of MinIO’s new distribution policy.