Deploy and Host Go + Gin on Railway

Go + Gin is a high-performance HTTP web framework built on top of the Go standard library. It offers fast routing, middleware support, and a simple API for building RESTful services. Ideal for developers who want minimal overhead with excellent speed and productivity.

About Hosting Go + Gin

Railway deploys Go + Gin projects using Nixpacks, which automatically detects your Go setup based on go.mod and builds it in a container. As long as your Gin app listens on the $PORT environment variable, Railway will route traffic correctly. No Dockerfile is required. You can customize the build or start process using a nixpacks.toml file, and environment variables can be configured via the Railway dashboard.

Common Use Cases

• REST APIs and backend services
• Lightweight microservices
• Prototypes and developer tooling

Dependencies for Go + Gin Hosting

• github.com/gin-gonic/gin for the Gin framework
• go.mod and main() function in the root

Deployment Dependencies

• Gin Documentation

Implementation Details

package main

import (
	"github.com/gin-gonic/gin"
	"github.com/spf13/viper"
	"go.uber.org/zap"
	"main/logger"
	"main/shared"
	"net/http"
	"time"
)

func main() {
	logger.Info("Starting application", zap.String("version", "1.0.0"))
	shared.SetupEnv(".")
	logger.Info("Application initialized successfully")

	if viper.GetString("ENVIRONMENT") == "production" {
		gin.SetMode(gin.ReleaseMode)
	}

	app := gin.Default()

	app.GET("/", func(c *gin.Context) {
		c.JSON(http.StatusOK, gin.H{
			"status": "ok",
			"slogan": "Wow, so this is what it's like to be on the internet!",
			"date":   time.Now().Format("2006-01-02 15:04:05"),
		})
	})

	app.GET("/health", func(c *gin.Context) {
		logger.Info("/health called")
		c.JSON(http.StatusOK, gin.H{
			"status": "ok",
			"slogan": "All aboard the railway express!",
			"date":   time.Now().Format("2006-01-02 15:04:05"),
		})
	})

	logger.Info("Starting server on port 8080")
	if err := app.Run(":8080"); err != nil {
		logger.Fatal("Server failed to start", zap.Error(err))
	}
}

Why Deploy Go + Gin 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 Go + Gin 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.