Deploy and Host Ghostlight AI Companion on Railway

Ghostlight AI Companion is a private, self-hosted AI companion template for creating one memory-aware companion per deployment. It supports package-gated features, customer build-pack import, companion dashboards, memory, media tools, support tickets, provider checks, and a factory-to-customer delivery workflow for Ghostlight companion builds.

About Hosting Ghostlight AI Companion

Hosting Ghostlight AI Companion on Railway gives you a full private deployment for one customer and one companion. The app runs with its own database, environment variables, provider keys, storage, and dashboard. In factory mode, the seller imports the customer’s build pack, checks provider readiness, verifies the setup, and prepares the deployment. Once setup is complete, the deployment switches into customer mode so the buyer only sees their safe companion dashboard, support, export, media, memory, and package-specific tools.

Common Use Cases

Deploying a private AI companion dashboard for a customer
Running a done-for-you Ghostlight companion setup after Ko-fi purchase and intake
Hosting a one-companion customer deployment with its own database, provider keys, memory, media, and support system
Testing Ghostlight companion packages before handoff
Creating a reusable customer companion deployment from a build pack

Dependencies for Ghostlight AI Companion Hosting

Railway account
PostgreSQL database
Redis service, if enabled by the template
Image or object storage, if media uploads and exports are enabled
OpenRouter API key for companion chat
GETIMG API key for image and video generation, if included in the customer package
ElevenLabs API key for voice generation, if included in the customer package
Discord bot token or Telegram bot token, depending on the selected platform
Resend API key, if support ticket email delivery is enabled
Discord support webhook or support bot token, if support tickets should post into Discord

Deployment Dependencies

Helpful setup links:

Railway: https://railway.com
OpenRouter: https://openrouter.ai
GETIMG: https://getimg.ai
ElevenLabs: https://elevenlabs.io
Discord Developer Portal: https://discord.com/developers/applications
Telegram BotFather: https://t.me/BotFather
Resend: https://resend.com
Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com

Implementation Details

This template is designed to run in two modes.

Factory mode is used during setup:

GHOSTLIGHT_MODE=factory

Customer mode is used after the customer companion is configured and ready for handoff:

GHOSTLIGHT_MODE=customer

Typical delivery flow:

Customer buys through Ko-fi
Customer completes the Ghostlight intake form
Seller downloads or receives the customer build pack
Seller deploys this Railway template in factory mode
Seller imports the customer build pack
Seller adds the required provider keys
Seller runs verification
Seller switches the app to customer mode
Customer receives their private dashboard link

Required environment variables:

GHOSTLIGHT_MODE=factory
DATABASE_URL=
SESSION_SECRET=
SITE_URL=
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=

Optional environment variables:

GETIMG_API_KEY=
ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=
DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN=
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=
RESEND_API_KEY=
SUPPORT_EMAIL_TO=
SUPPORT_EMAIL_FROM=
SUPPORT_DISCORD_WEBHOOK_URL=
SUPPORT_DISCORD_CHANNEL_ID=1515620388728733806

Provider keys are not included with this template. Customers or sellers must provide their own API keys for any external providers used by the companion.

Why Deploy Ghostlight AI Companion on Railway?

Railway gives Ghostlight AI Companion a simple place to run the full customer deployment stack, including the app, database, cache, storage, and environment variables. Each companion deployment can have its own private Railway project, which helps keep customer data, provider keys, memory, media, and support tickets separate.

By deploying Ghostlight AI Companion on Railway, you get a repeatable setup path for done-for-you companion builds. The seller can prepare the companion in factory mode, verify the deployment, then switch it into customer mode for a clean buyer handoff.