--- title: "Deploy fastapi-mysql-backend" description: "FastAPI + MySQL backend API with JWT auth, migrations, and seeding." category: "Starters" url: https://railway.com/deploy/fastapi-mysql-backend --- # Deploy fastapi-mysql-backend FastAPI + MySQL backend API with JWT auth, migrations, and seeding. **[Deploy fastapi-mysql-backend on Railway](https://railway.com/template/fastapi-mysql-backend)** Machine-readable deploy manifest (JSON, validated by TemplateCI): https://railway.com/deploy/fastapi-mysql-backend/manifest.json - **Creator:** Nameless 's Projects - **Category:** Starters ## Template content ### MySQL https://devicons.railway.app/i/mysql.svg - **Image:** mysql:9.4 - **Start command:** `docker-entrypoint.sh mysqld --innodb-use-native-aio=0 --disable-log-bin --performance_schema=0 --innodb-buffer-pool-size=1G` ### backend - **Source:** https://github.com/lNamelessl/fastapi-mysql-backend - **Public domain:** Yes ## Documentation # FastAPI MySQL Backend โ€” Railway Template [![Deploy on Railway](https://railway.com/button.svg)](https://railway.com/deploy/fastapi-mysql-backend) A production-ready **FastAPI backend API with MySQL**, derived from the official [Full Stack FastAPI Template](https://github.com/fastapi/full-stack-fastapi-template) (frontend removed, PostgreSQL replaced by MySQL) and packaged for one-click deployment on Railway. ## What you get - โšก **FastAPI** with automatic interactive docs (`/docs`) and an OpenAPI schema (`/api/v1/openapi.json`). - ๐Ÿ” **JWT authentication** (OAuth2 password flow), secure Argon2 password hashing, email-based password recovery. - ๐Ÿ—„๏ธ **MySQL 8** provisioned as a Railway database service, accessed through SQLModel + PyMySQL. - ๐Ÿงฑ **SQLModel** ORM models for `User` and `Item` (UUID primary keys), with typed CRUD utilities. - ๐Ÿงณ **Alembic migrations** plus automatic first-superuser seeding, run on every deploy by the container start command. - ๐Ÿ“ง Email sending via SMTP with Jinja2 HTML templates (Mailpit for local development). - ๐Ÿฉบ A redirect-free `GET /health` endpoint used by Railway's healthcheck. - ๐Ÿงช A full **Pytest** suite covering auth, users, and items CRUD. ## Deploying 1. Click the deploy button above. 2. Railway provisions two services from the template: **MySQL** and the **backend** app, and creates a public domain for the backend. 3. The deploy form prompts for the required variables. MySQL section: set `MYSQLPORT` `3306`, `MYSQLUSER` `root`, and `MYSQL_DATABASE` `railway` (the standard plugin values). Backend section: set `PROJECT_NAME`, `SECRET_KEY` (e.g. `openssl rand -hex 32`), `FIRST_SUPERUSER`, `FIRST_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD`, and `FRONTEND_HOST` (the allowed CORS origin โ€” you can update it to the generated domain after deploy). 4. The backend's `DATABASE_URL` is pre-wired to the MySQL service (`${{MySQL.MYSQL_URL}}`) โ€” nothing to configure there. 5. On boot the container runs `alembic upgrade head` and seeds the first superuser โ€” no manual migration step. 6. After the first deploy, set `FRONTEND_HOST` on the backend to the generated domain (e.g. `https://backend-production-xxxx.up.railway.app`) if you will call the API from a browser. **Never set `FASTAPI_ENV`** on Railway: the config only allows `development` or unset, and any other value crash-loops the container. # Deploy and Host Deploy a FastAPI REST API with a managed MySQL database on Railway in one click. The template provisions two services: a MySQL database and a Dockerized FastAPI backend that runs its own Alembic migrations and superuser seeding on every boot, then serves the API on Railway's dynamically assigned `PORT` with a `/health` healthcheck. ## About Hosting Hosting this template gives you a self-contained JSON/REST API: JWT auth with Argon2 password hashing, users and items CRUD backed by MySQL through SQLModel, Alembic schema migrations, and SMTP email with Jinja2 templates for password recovery. The backend listens on `$PORT`, is healthchecked at `/health`, and restarts on failure (`ON_FAILURE`, up to 10 retries). Migrations and the initial superuser seed (from the `FIRST_SUPERUSER` / `FIRST_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD` variables) run automatically inside the container start command, so every fresh deploy comes up ready to serve authenticated requests. After the first deploy, generate a public domain and set it as `FRONTEND_HOST` (the CORS origin) if you will call the API from a browser. ## Why Deploy The upstream template assumes a full-stack repo with React, a Bun workspace, PostgreSQL, and docker-compose + Traefik for self-hosting โ€” none of which fits a platform like Railway. This template removes all of that for you: it ships a backend-only API, swaps the database layer to MySQL (`MySQLDsn` parsing, `mysql+pymysql` driver, `CHAR(32)` UUID columns, a squashed MySQL-safe migration), bakes migrations into the container start command because Railway ignores `preDeployCommand`, binds to Railway's `PORT`, and exposes a redirect-free `/health` endpoint so healthchecks pass first try. Deploying this instead of hand-porting the official template saves you every one of those integration failures. ## Common Use Cases - A standalone REST API backend for a separately hosted web or mobile frontend. - Internal tools and admin APIs needing ready-made JWT auth, superuser roles, and user management endpoints. - Prototyping a SaaS API with database migrations and seeding already wired up. - A reference implementation of FastAPI + SQLModel + MySQL on Railway, with a test suite to build on. ## Dependencies for ### Deployment Dependencies - **MySQL** โ€” provisioned by the template as a Railway database plugin service; the backend connects using `DATABASE_URL` referenced from the plugin's `MYSQL_URL` (`${{MySQL.MYSQL_URL}}`), so no database credentials are hardcoded. - **Backend variables** โ€” `PROJECT_NAME`, `SECRET_KEY` (generate with `openssl rand -hex 32`), `FIRST_SUPERUSER`, `FIRST_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD`, and after the first deploy `FRONTEND_HOST` (set it to the backend's public domain). Optional: `SENTRY_DSN`, `SMTP_HOST` / `SMTP_USER` / `SMTP_PASSWORD` / `EMAILS_FROM_EMAIL` for password-recovery emails. Do not set `FASTAPI_ENV`. - **Dockerfile + railway.json** โ€” the repo root contains the Dockerfile Railway builds from and `railway.json` with the builder, start command, and healthcheck configuration, so GitHub-triggered and CLI deploys behave identically. ## Similar templates - [open-excalidraw](https://railway.com/deploy/open-excalidraw) โ€” Self-hostable collaborative drawing built on Excalidraw - [caring-vibrancy](https://railway.com/deploy/caring-vibrancy) โ€” Deploy and Host caring-vibrancy with Railway - [Appsmith](https://railway.com/deploy/appsmith-1) โ€” Low-code platform for internal tools, dashboards, and admin panels. Open this page in a browser: https://railway.com/deploy/fastapi-mysql-backend