Deploy and Host

NocoDB — the open-source Airtable alternative. Turn Postgres into smart spreadsheets with grid, kanban, form, gallery and calendar views, plus auto-generated REST and MCP APIs. Deploys with a Postgres companion in one click, zero form fields.

On first boot the app waits for Postgres, runs migrations, and shows the admin signup page. Uploads persist on a Railway volume.

About Hosting

Two services, deployed together with one click:

nocodb — the NocoDB app (pinned official image nocodb/nocodb:2026.09.1), healthcheck GET /api/v1/health, honors Railway's injected PORT
postgres — PostgreSQL 16 companion for all metadata, reachable only over Railway's private network

The app composes its NC_DB connection string at boot from auto-wired single-ref variables (${{postgres.RAILWAY_PRIVATE_DOMAIN}}, ${{postgres.POSTGRES_PASSWORD}}). Telemetry is disabled (NC_DISABLE_TELE=true).

Why Deploy

Self-hosting NocoDB means your data never leaves your infrastructure — no per-seat pricing, no row limits, no vendor lock-in. The app and database talk over Railway's private network, uploads persist on a volume, and the REST/MCP APIs are live the moment the admin account exists.

Common Use Cases

An Airtable replacement for teams — database-backed collaboration without per-seat fees
Internal tools: CRMs, inventory trackers, content pipelines as spreadsheets, forms and kanbans
A visual frontend for an existing Postgres database — table views generate from the schema
Backend-as-a-spreadsheet: auto-generated REST and MCP APIs for apps and AI agents

Configuration

Zero form fields on deploy. After deploy, the knobs in the services' Variables panel (all optional):

Database (auto-wired): PGHOST (${{postgres.RAILWAY_PRIVATE_DOMAIN}}), PGPASSWORD (${{postgres.POSTGRES_PASSWORD}}), NC_DB (composed at boot; set it yourself for an external DB). Postgres companion: POSTGRES_PASSWORD (${{secret(24)}}).
Auth & app: NC_AUTH_JWT_SECRET (${{secret(64)}}), NC_DISABLE_TELE=true (baked), NC_INVITE_ONLY_SIGNUP (set true after creating your admin to close sign-ups), NC_ADMIN_EMAIL/NC_ADMIN_PASSWORD (pre-seed admin, skips signup form).

Dependencies for

Deployment Dependencies

Two services, no public exposure for the database. NocoDB needs nothing at runtime beyond its Postgres companion — no external API keys, no third-party services. Create your admin account on the signup page after deploy, then optionally set NC_INVITE_ONLY_SIGNUP=true to close registration.