Deploy and Host OpenProject on Railway

OpenProject is an open-source project management platform built for teams that need full control over their data. It provides Gantt charts, agile scrum/kanban boards, time tracking, wikis, budgeting, and team collaboration — a self-hosted alternative to Jira, Asana, or MS Project.

About Hosting OpenProject

Hosting OpenProject requires a PostgreSQL database for all project data, tasks, and user records. The official Docker image bundles Apache (web server), Puma (Rails app server), background job workers, and cron jobs into a single container managed by supervisord. On first boot, the container automatically runs database migrations and seeds initial data — expect 3–5 minutes before the UI is accessible. Railway handles SSL termination and public DNS at the edge; the container serves HTTP internally through Apache on port 80. A generated secret key secures session tokens, and the public hostname must be set so OpenProject generates correct URLs.

Common Use Cases

Sprint planning and kanban/scrum board management for software engineering teams
Gantt chart-based project timeline tracking for cross-functional or client-facing projects
Time tracking, work package logging, and cost reporting for agencies or internal ops teams

Dependencies for OpenProject Hosting

PostgreSQL 13+ (primary database for all application data)
SMTP provider (optional — required for email invites and notifications)

Deployment Dependencies

Implementation Details

The Railway healthcheck is intentionally set to TCP-only (no healthcheckPath). OpenProject's Apache uses a VirtualHost tied to the public domain — Railway's internal HTTP probes use a different hostname and would always be rejected, causing false healthcheck failures. A TCP check on port 80 succeeds as soon as Apache is listening.

[deploy]
healthcheckTimeout = 600   # first boot runs migrations; allow time
# no healthcheckPath — TCP check only

Why Deploy OpenProject 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 OpenProject 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.