---
title: "Deploy Docker Registry | Private, Password Required, Images on a Volume"
description: "Private Docker registry on Railway — password required, images on a volume."
category: "Storage"
url: https://railway.com/deploy/docker-registry-or-private-password-requ
---

# Deploy Docker Registry | Private, Password Required, Images on a Volume

Private Docker registry on Railway — password required, images on a volume.

**[Deploy Docker Registry | Private, Password Required, Images on a Volume on Railway](https://railway.com/template/docker-registry-or-private-password-requ)**

Machine-readable deploy manifest (JSON, validated by TemplateCI): https://railway.com/deploy/docker-registry-or-private-password-requ/manifest.json

- **Creator:** Templates Guru
- **Category:** Storage

## Template content

### Registry

- **Source:** https://github.com/ak40u/docker-registry-railway-starter
- **Public domain:** Yes

## Documentation

# Deploy and Host a Docker Registry on Railway

A private Docker registry: the CNCF `registry` (distribution 3.1) behind a password, with images on a volume. It refuses to start without credentials, so it is never an open file host on a public domain.

Nothing to fill in. The template generates the password; find it in the Registry service's variables.

## About Hosting a Docker Registry

One service, built from [ak40u/docker-registry-railway-starter](https://github.com/ak40u/docker-registry-railway-starter):

- **Registry**: the Docker Registry HTTP API, behind HTTP basic authentication, with image layers on a volume (public)

```bash
docker login  -u admin
docker tag myapp /myapp:1.0
docker push /myapp:1.0
```

## Common Use Cases

- **Private images for your own deployments**, pulled by other Railway services or by CI.
- **A mirror of the images your builds depend on**, so a deploy does not wait on a public registry.
- **Sharing images inside a team** without a paid registry plan.

## Dependencies for Docker Registry Hosting

### Deployment Dependencies

- `registry:3.1.2` (CNCF distribution, Apache-2.0) with `apache2-utils` for `htpasswd`, built from the starter repository's Dockerfile

### Implementation Details

- **A password is mandatory.** The common registry template runs `registry:2` with no authentication on a public domain, so anyone who finds the address can push and pull anything. Here the start script exits unless both `AUTH_USERNAME` and `AUTH_PASSWORD` are set, and writes the bcrypt `htpasswd` file the registry requires from them on every start; changing the password is a variable change and a redeploy.
- **The credentials are not `REGISTRY_*` variables.** The registry reads every `REGISTRY_*` variable as a configuration key, so `REGISTRY_PASSWORD` would be logged as an unrecognised setting.
- **`htpasswd` is installed at build time**, so the registry never depends on a package mirror while it starts.
- **Deletes free space.** `REGISTRY_STORAGE_DELETE_ENABLED=true` lets you delete manifests through the API and reclaim storage with garbage collection.
- **No health check path.** The registry's API answers 401 without credentials, and Railway's health check expects 200.

### Configuration

`AUTH_USERNAME` defaults to `admin`; `AUTH_PASSWORD` is generated. Image layers count toward the volume's size, so watch it if you push large images.

### Verification

Deployed from this template into an empty project: the registry started for the generated user and answers an anonymous `/v2/` request with 401. Locally, on the same image: a wrong password gets 401, the right one 200, and `docker login`, `docker push` and the catalog work; without credentials the container exits with a message naming both variables.

## Why Deploy a Docker Registry 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 a Docker Registry 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.


## Similar templates

- [Garage S3 Storage](https://railway.com/deploy/garage-s3-storage) — Ultra-light S3 server: fast, open-source, plug-and-play.
- [Redis](https://railway.com/deploy/redis-1) — Self Host Latest Redis with Railway
- [EasyImg](https://railway.com/deploy/easyimg) — Simple self-hostable Nuxt.js personal image hosting system.

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