How do I deploy Headscale on Railway?

You can deploy Headscale on Railway by clicking the "Deploy Now" button on this page. Railway will automatically set up all the necessary services and configurations for you.

What are the system requirements?

Railway handles all the infrastructure requirements. You only need a web browser to deploy and manage your application.

Is this template free to use?

Yes, this template is free to use within your existing Railway account.

Can I customize this template?

Yes, you can fully customize this template. After deployment, you will have full control of what you've deployed in your Railway project.

How do I get support for this template?

You can get support through our community forum: headscale-daf47ae4, or click "Get template help" for this template for more assistance.

Deploy and Host Headscale on Railway

Headscale is an open-source, self-hosted implementation of the Tailscale control server. It lets you create your own WireGuard-based mesh VPN using standard Tailscale clients, without routing coordination through Tailscale's hosted infrastructure.

About Hosting Headscale

Hosting Headscale requires a publicly accessible server with persistent storage for the SQLite database and encryption keys. This template handles that automatically — it deploys Headscale with a persistent volume at /var/lib/headscale, auto-detects the server URL from your Railway domain, and runs behind Railway's TLS termination. The server listens on port 8080 for the HTTP API and uses the standard Tailscale DERP relay network for NAT traversal. No external databases or dependencies are needed. Once deployed, you create users and auth keys via the CLI, then point any Tailscale client at your Railway domain.

Common Use Cases

Connecting servers, laptops, and phones into a private mesh network across locations with WireGuard encryption
Securely accessing home lab or office resources from anywhere without exposing ports
Linking development machines to staging and production services over a private overlay network

Dependencies for Headscale Hosting

No external dependencies required (uses embedded SQLite)

Deployment Dependencies

Resource Usage

This template deploys 1 service with a persistent volume. Resource usage scales with the number of connected nodes — expect minimal costs at idle.

Why Deploy Headscale 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 Headscale 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.