--- title: "Deploy Hexo" description: "Self-hosted Hexo blog with editor, comments, and S3 storage" category: "Blogs" url: https://railway.com/deploy/hexo --- # Deploy Hexo Self-hosted Hexo blog with editor, comments, and S3 storage **[Deploy Hexo on Railway](https://railway.com/template/hexo)** - **Creator:** INAPP - **Category:** Blogs ## Template content ### storage - **Source:** https://github.com/INAPP-Mobile/hexo - **Public domain:** Yes ### comments - **Source:** https://github.com/INAPP-Mobile/hexo - **Public domain:** Yes ### hexo - **Source:** https://github.com/INAPP-Mobile/hexo - **Public domain:** Yes ## Documentation # Deploy and Host [![Deploy on Railway](https://railway.app/button.svg)](https://railway.com/deploy/hexo) ![Hexo Blog Platform](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/INAPP-Mobile/hexo/main/template-icon.svg) Hexo Blog Platform is a complete self-hosted blogging stack on Railway: a fast static blog with a browser-based editor and web terminal, plus a separate self-hosted comment system (Artalk) and S3-compatible object storage (MinIO) — **three services, three public URLs**, all provisioned with one click. ## About Hosting The template deploys three independent services, each built from its own Dockerfile and each with its own persistent volume at `/data`: - **hexo** — nginx + Hexo 8 + hexo-admin editor + ttyd web terminal (supervisord-managed), `PORT=80` - **comments** — Artalk 2.x comment system (SQLite by default; PostgreSQL/MySQL optional), `PORT=8080` - **storage** — MinIO S3-compatible object storage, `PORT=9000` Railway provides compute, TLS at the edge, public URLs, and volumes. New posts auto-regenerate the static site within ~60 seconds. Images pasted into the editor upload straight to MinIO (public-read `blog-images` bucket), so they survive redeploys. ## Why Deploy - **All-in-one blogging platform** — blog, browser editor, web terminal, comments, and S3 storage in one deploy - **Self-hosted comments** — Artalk with SQLite on a persistent volume; no third-party comment service - **S3-backed image upload** — editor images go to your own MinIO bucket, not the local disk - **Web terminal** — ttyd shell for `hexo`, `git`, and `npm` maintenance, protected by HTTP Basic Auth - **Persistent volumes** — content, generated site, comment DB, and MinIO data survive restarts - **Auto-generated credentials** — every deploy form generates admin, moderator, and MinIO passwords for you ## Common Use Cases - **Personal blog** — write Markdown posts from the browser at `/admin/`, publish with one click - **Multi-author site** — share the editor credentials; moderate comments from the `/sidebar/` dashboard - **Self-hosted comments** — replace Disqus/utterances with your own Artalk instance wired to any Hexo/static site - **Private image/media storage** — use the MinIO service as an S3 endpoint for any app (`mc`, `rclone`, AWS SDKs) ## Dependencies for Hexo No external accounts, API keys, or client tools are required. Everything is provisioned by Railway on deploy. ### Deployment Dependencies Railway builds each service from its Dockerfiles (Dockerfile, `comments/Dockerfile`, `storage/Dockerfile`). Three volumes are mounted at `/data`. The deploy form generates all credentials via `${{secret(16)}}` placeholders; `ARTALK_SITE_URL` and `MINIO_ENDPOINT` are auto-derived from the services' public domains via `${{comments.RAILWAY_PUBLIC_DOMAIN}}` / `${{storage.RAILWAY_PUBLIC_DOMAIN}}`. ## Services & URLs | Service | Purpose | Default Path | Example URL | |---------|---------|--------------|-------------| | **hexo** | Blog + editor + terminal | `/`, `/admin/`, `/terminal/` | `https://hexo-production-xxxx.up.railway.app` | | **comments** | Artalk comments (widget + API + moderation) | `/` (API), `/sidebar/` (dashboard) | `https://comments-production-xxxx.up.railway.app` | | **storage** | MinIO S3 object storage | `/` (path-style API: `/bucket/key`) | `https://storage-production-xxxx.up.railway.app` | ## Features - **Hexo static site** — Markdown-powered blog (Hexo 8) served by nginx. New posts auto-regenerate within ~60 seconds. - **hexo-admin editor** — Write, edit and publish posts from the browser at `/admin/`. Password-protected (auto-generated credentials on one-click deploy). - **Web terminal** — ttyd shell at `/terminal/` for `hexo`, `git`, `npm` and any maintenance task. Protected with the same admin credentials (HTTP Basic Auth). - **Artalk comments** — Self-hosted comment system with SQLite storage on a persistent volume (PostgreSQL/MySQL optional via `ARTALK_DB_TYPE` + `DATABASE_URL`). Moderation dashboard at `/sidebar/` on the comments service URL (Artalk 2.x moved the console there). - **MinIO S3 storage** — S3-compatible object storage API at the storage service URL root (path-style: `/bucket/key`). Perfect for images, media, backups. The web console binds an internal port and is not publicly exposed — use `mc`, `rclone` or any S3 SDK. - **S3-backed image upload** — Images pasted into the hexo-admin editor are uploaded straight to MinIO (auto-created `blog-images` bucket, public-read policy) instead of the local disk, so they survive redeploys and are served from the storage service URL. - **Persistent volumes** — Each service gets its own `/data` volume keeping content, generated site, comments DB, and MinIO data across restarts. - **Client-side search** — `/search.xml` generated by hexo-generator-searchdb. ## Prerequisites - A Railway account (free tier works). - Nothing else — the deploy form generates all credentials for you. ## Quick Start 1. Click **Deploy to Railway** (button above). 2. Railway generates all passwords automatically (hexo admin, Artalk moderator, MinIO root). 3. After deploy, note the three service URLs from Railway's dashboard: - **Blog/Editor/Terminal**: hexo service domain - **Comments**: comments service domain → `/sidebar/` for moderation - **MinIO**: storage service domain → S3 API endpoint 4. Log in and start writing! ### Credentials (auto-generated, read from each service's **Variables** tab) | Service | Username | Variable | |---------|----------|----------| | hexo (editor + terminal) | `ADMIN_USERNAME` (default `admin`) | `ADMIN_PASSWORD` | | comments (Artalk) | `ARTALK_ADMIN_EMAIL` | `ARTALK_ADMIN_PASSWORD` | | storage (MinIO) | `MINIO_ROOT_USER` (default `minioadmin`) | `MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD` | ## Environment All configuration is via environment variables (see `.env.example`). Key variables: - `TZ` — Timezone for all services (default `UTC`) - `ADMIN_USERNAME` / `ADMIN_PASSWORD` — hexo-admin editor and terminal login - `ARTALK_SITE_NAME` — Display name in comment widget - `ARTALK_DB_TYPE` — `sqlite` (default), `pgsql`, `mysql`, `mssql` - `ARTALK_TRUSTED_DOMAINS` — CORS origins for comment API (auto-includes hexo domain) - `ARTALK_LOCALE` / `ARTALK_TIMEZONE` — UI language & timezone - `MINIO_ROOT_USER` / `MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD` — S3 root credentials - `MINIO_ENDPOINT` / `MINIO_ACCESS_KEY` / `MINIO_SECRET_KEY` / `MINIO_BUCKET` — S3-backed editor image upload (auto-derived from the storage service) ## Writing Posts 1. Open your hexo service URL → `/admin/` 2. Log in with `ADMIN_USERNAME` / `ADMIN_PASSWORD` 3. Create a new post → it appears on the blog within ~60 seconds (auto-regenerate) 4. Or use the web terminal (`/terminal/`) for `npx hexo new "My Post"` and `npx hexo generate` ## Comment Moderation Open the **comments** service URL → `/sidebar/` → log in with `ARTALK_ADMIN_EMAIL` / `ARTALK_ADMIN_PASSWORD` ## Object Storage (MinIO) - **S3 API**: `https:///` (path-style access: `https:////`) - Credentials: `MINIO_ROOT_USER` / `MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD` - Compatible with `mc`, `rclone`, AWS SDKs, etc. - The web console is bound to an internal port (not publicly exposed) — manage buckets via `mc` / SDKs. ## Architecture ``` ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Railway Project │ ├─────────────────┬─────────────────────┬────────────────────┤ │ (repo root) │ comments/ │ storage/ │ │ nginx+hexo+ │ (artalk/artalk-go │ (minio/minio + │ │ ttyd │ + entrypoint) │ entrypoint) │ │ PORT=80 │ PORT=8080 │ PORT=9000 │ │ /data volume │ /data volume │ /data volume │ └────────┬────────┴─────────┬────────────┴────────┬──────────┘ │ │ │ ▼ ▼ ▼ hexo service comments service storage service (public domain) (public domain) (public domain) ``` Each service is independent, has its own volume, and scales separately. The blog's comment widget talks to the comments service over HTTPS via `ARTALK_SITE_URL` (auto-derived from the comments service's public domain). ## Local Development ```bash # Build and test hexo service locally (requires podman) podman build -t hexo-test . podman run -p 8080:80 -v $PWD/test-data:/data hexo-test # Open http://localhost:8080/ ``` ## Deploy This is a three-service template: - **hexo** — built from the repo root `Dockerfile` (nginx + hexo + hexo-admin + ttyd via supervisord) - **comments** — built from `comments/Dockerfile` (official Artalk image + config entrypoint) - **storage** — built from `storage/Dockerfile` (official MinIO image + entrypoint) All three get a persistent volume mounted at `/data`. Click the Deploy button, and Railway provisions everything. ## Upstream Sources - Hexo: https://github.com/hexojs/hexo - hexo-admin: https://github.com/jaredly/hexo-admin - Artalk: https://github.com/ArtalkJS/Artalk - MinIO: https://github.com/minio/minio - ttyd: https://github.com/tsl0922/ttyd ## Similar templates - [Pixelfed](https://railway.com/deploy/OZSdEw) — Explore + Share beautiful photos and videos on the Fediverse - [NodeBB](https://railway.com/deploy/nodebb) — Node.js based forum software built for the modern web - [WordPress + MySQL](https://railway.com/deploy/yG1Jw8) — Zero Config | One click | WordPress | Docker | MySQL Open this page in a browser: https://railway.com/deploy/hexo