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

This template requires a production Railway project with internal networking and persistent volumes for NocoDB and Postgres.

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.