Deploy and Host Copyparty on Railway

Copyparty is a portable, single-file server offering accelerated resumable uploads, deduplication, WebDAV, FTP, media indexing, video thumbnails, audio transcoding, and write-only folders - all with zero mandatory dependencies. It's the ultimate Swiss Army knife for file sharing and media management.

About Hosting Copyparty

Copyparty offers cross-platform compatibility spanning Linux, macOS, Windows, Android, and Raspberry Pi, with advanced features like resumable uploads, on-the-fly zip generation, and granular user permissions. Hosting Copyparty gives you complete control over your file sharing infrastructure without vendor lock-in. Unlike cloud storage services, you own your data and can customize every aspect of the sharing experience. The server handles everything from basic file uploads to complex media streaming, making it perfect for personal clouds, team collaboration, or content distribution networks.

Common Use Cases

Personal Cloud Storage - Replace Dropbox/Google Drive with your own private file server
Media Streaming Hub - Stream videos, music, and photos with automatic thumbnails and transcoding
Team File Collaboration - Share large files with resumable uploads and granular permissions
Content Distribution - Distribute software, assets, or media with write-only upload folders
Development Asset Sharing - Host build artifacts, documentation, and project files for teams
Backup and Sync Server - Create your own backup destination with deduplication

Dependencies for Copyparty Hosting

Python 3 - Runtime environment for Copyparty
Persistent Storage - Volume for storing uploaded files and configuration
Network Access - For file uploads, downloads, and optional WebDAV/FTP access

Deployment Dependencies

Railway Account - Cloud platform for deployment
Copyparty Documentation - Official project repository
Configuration Reference - Advanced configuration options
Configuration Template - Configuration template used by this Railway template

Implementation Details

Addon Script

This template includes an advanced configuration addon which handles the configuration generation and synchronization for copyparty. Railway only allows a single volume and therefore the configuration volume cannot be added.

This addon script generates a configuration from a template to the persistent volume, and then synchronizes it to the configuration folder upon boot allowing you to edit the configuration file yourself and restart to apply changes. The addon script also handles service-variable configuration for accounts and permissions.

Template Configurations

These are custom-configurations specifically crafted for this template via the addon script

Variable	Default	Description
`CONFIG_ADDON_SCRIPT`	Addon Script	Contains the configuration addon script, remove to disable addon
`PERMS_VIA_VARS`	`true`	Enable account/permission management via service variables
`CONFIG_TEMPLATE_RAW_URL`	GitHub template	Raw text URL for initial config template download
`ACCOUNTS`	Not set	User accounts: `username: password, user2: pass2`
`EVERYONE_PERMS`	Not set	Anonymous user permissions (e.g., `r` for read-only, empty for login required)
`DEFAULT_ACCOUNT_PERMS`	Not set	Default permissions for all added accounts (e.g., `rwmda`)
`SPEC_ACCOUNT_PERMS`	Not set	Specific user overrides: `rwmda: admin, r: guest`

Permission Codes: r=read, w=write, m=move, d=delete, a=admin

Copyparty Configurations

You can find copyparty configurations here: https://github.com/9001/copyparty

Why Deploy Copyparty on Railway?

Railway is a singular platform to deploy your infrastructure stack. Railway will host your infrastructure so you don't have to deal with configuration, while allowing you to vertically and horizontally scale it.

By deploying Copyparty on Railway, you are one step closer to supporting a complete full-stack application with minimal burden. Host your servers, databases, AI agents, and more on Railway.