How do I deploy Koffan on Railway?

You can deploy Koffan 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: koffan-b0d7037f, or join our Discord community for more assistance.

Deploy and Host Koffan on Railway

Koffan is an ultra-lightweight, self-hosted shopping list web app designed for families and shared households. It provides real-time synchronization across devices, offline support, and a simple password-based login, all while consuming minimal system resources.

About Hosting Koffan

Hosting Koffan is intentionally simple. The application is a single Go binary backed by SQLite, packaged to run cleanly in a containerized environment. On Railway, deployment requires no external services beyond persistent storage and environment variables. The app listens on a single port, manages its own database file, and supports WebSocket-based real-time updates out of the box. Resource usage is extremely low (~2.5 MB RAM idle), making it well-suited for small instances and cost-efficient deployments.

⚠️ Authentication note: Koffan requires an application password. Railway will generate an APP_PASSWORD environment variable at deploy time, or you may set it manually. This password is required to log in to the app after startup.

Common Use Cases

Shared grocery lists for couples or families with real-time updates
Lightweight household coordination tool without third-party accounts
Self-hosted alternative to commercial shopping list apps

Dependencies for Koffan Hosting

A Railway service running the Koffan container
Persistent storage mounted to /data for the SQLite database

Deployment Dependencies

Railway platform
Container image: ghcr.io/pansalut/koffan:latest
Optional reference: https://github.com/PanSalut/Koffan

Implementation Details

Koffan reads configuration exclusively from environment variables. At minimum, set:


APP_PASSWORD=your-secure-password

The SQLite database is stored at /data/shopping.db. Ensure a persistent volume is attached so data survives redeploys.

Why Deploy Koffan 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 Koffan 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.