Deploy and Host Grist on Railway

Grist is a relational spreadsheet: a familiar grid with typed columns, linked tables, Python formulas, access rules, charts, forms and a REST API. It works like a lightweight database that non-developers can use, and whole documents can be exported as SQLite, Excel or CSV files at any time.

About Hosting Grist

This template runs the official gristlabs/grist:1.7.19 image behind a small Caddy gateway. The gateway asks for a username and generated password (basic auth), then signs you in to Grist as the admin email through forward-auth, so nobody can reach Grist without the password. Grist API keys still work directly for scripts. Formulas run in the Pyodide sandbox, which needs no special privileges on Railway. Documents are stored on a volume at /persist, so they survive redeploys. Both services fit the Hobby plan; large documents need more memory. It is a single-user setup; add an OIDC or SAML provider for teams.

Common Use Cases

A spreadsheet-database for inventories, CRMs and project tracking
Python formulas and linked tables without writing an app
Feeding data to other tools through the Grist REST API

Dependencies for Grist Hosting

gristlabs/grist:1.7.19 (official image)
caddy:2.11.4-alpine as the login gateway
A Railway volume at /persist

Deployment Dependencies

Implementation Details

Service	Source	Networking	Storage
grist	`gristlabs/grist:1.7.19`	private only, 8484	volume at `/persist`
gateway	`caddy:2.11.4-alpine`	public domain on 8080	none

Variable (gateway)	Default	Purpose
`GRIST_ADMIN_USER`	`admin`	Basic-auth username
`GRIST_ADMIN_PASSWORD`	generated	Basic-auth password
`GRIST_ADMIN_EMAIL`	`admin@example.com`	Grist account you are signed in as
`GRIST_URL`	`https://`	Where to open Grist

Notes:

API calls: curl -H "Authorization: Bearer " https:///api/orgs. Create the key in Profile settings.
The gateway strips any X-Forwarded-User header clients send, so it cannot be spoofed.
Change GRIST_ADMIN_EMAIL before the first deploy if you want a different account email.

This is a community-maintained deployment package and does not imply affiliation with or endorsement by Grist Labs.

Why Deploy Grist 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 Grist 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.