Deploy and Host Linux Mint on Railway

This template runs a Linux Mint 22.3 "Zena" desktop with the Xfce edition's look in the cloud, streamed to any device through the linuxserver.io Selkies web interface. Open your Railway domain, log in, and you get Mint's Whisker menu, Mint-Y theme and wallpaper, plus Firefox, a terminal, a file manager and sudo. Files and settings in your home directory persist between visits.

About Hosting Linux Mint

The image is built the way Mint itself is built: from Linux Mint 22.3's official package repository on the Ubuntu 24.04 base that Mint uses. It ships Mint's base-files, so /etc/os-release says Linux Mint, along with Mint's Xfce defaults, themes and icons, and Mint's own Firefox build. Selkies streams the GPU-less desktop over WebSockets. Access is gated by HTTP basic auth (CUSTOM_USER and a generated PASSWORD), and your home persists on a volume at /config.

Common Use Cases

Try Linux Mint without installing it or touching your own machine
A familiar, beginner-friendly Linux desktop reachable from an iPad, Chromebook, phone or locked-down work laptop
Help someone learn Linux on a desktop that looks like the one they will install
A disposable sandbox for opening untrusted files or links away from your real machine

Dependencies for Linux Mint Hosting

None. Single service, no database.

Deployment Dependencies

Linux Mint package repository (22.3 Zena)
linuxserver.io Selkies base image

Implementation Details

First use: open your Railway domain and log in with CUSTOM_USER and the generated PASSWORD, which are in the service's Variables tab. The Mint desktop appears. On touch devices, use the sidebar for keyboard and gestures. The desktop user abc has passwordless sudo, so sudo apt install works from the terminal, with Mint's repository already set up.

Notes and limits:

This is the Xfce edition's desktop, not Cinnamon. Cinnamon needs a compositor and GL, which would run in software on a small plan.
It's Mint's userland in a container. Railway's kernel runs it, and there's no installer, Software Manager, Update Manager or Driver Manager. Use apt instead.
Only /config (the home directory) persists. Packages installed with apt live outside it and are gone after a redeploy. Reinstall them, or keep a setup script in your home.
Rendering runs on the CPU, since Railway has no GPU. That's fine for desktop apps and light video, not for 3D or heavy media work.
Keep the login strong: the password is the whole security model for a desktop with sudo.
The virtual screen is capped at 4K (MAX_RES=3840x2160), and the desktop still resizes to your browser window.
There is no Docker daemon inside the desktop.
Prefer another distro? The same author publishes Fedora and Linux Desktops on Ubuntu, Debian, Arch and Alpine, and a Linux server template.

Linux Mint is a trademark of Linux Mint. This community template is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Linux Mint project.

Why Deploy Linux Mint 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 Linux Mint 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.