---
title: "Deploy Paperclip - AI Agent Company (Lite)"
description: "Open-source control plane for AI agents. Single service, embedded Postgres."
category: "AI/ML"
url: https://railway.com/deploy/paperclip-ai-agent-company-lite
---

# Deploy Paperclip - AI Agent Company (Lite)

Open-source control plane for AI agents. Single service, embedded Postgres.

**[Deploy Paperclip - AI Agent Company (Lite) on Railway](https://railway.com/template/paperclip-ai-agent-company-lite)**

- **Creator:** alphasec
- **Category:** AI/ML
- **Total deploys:** 2

## Template content

### paperclip

- **Source:** alphasecio/paperclip
- **Public domain:** Yes

## Documentation

# Deploy and Host Paperclip on Railway

Paperclip is an open-source AI agent orchestration platform for building and running autonomous agent companies. Define roles, assign tasks, set budgets and heartbeats — and let AI agents handle the execution. Connect Claude, Gemini, or OpenAI-compatible agents to a structured org chart, task queue, and governance layer.

## About Hosting Paperclip

Paperclip requires a persistent server, a database, and a public HTTPS URL for agent heartbeats and the web UI. This template runs Paperclip as a single service using its built-in embedded PostgreSQL — no database addon required. A volume is mounted at `/paperclip` for persistent config, database files, and storage. The public Railway domain is injected at deploy time. A custom entrypoint writes the full server configuration from environment variables on first boot — no setup page, no manual config editing, no log scraping. The bootstrap admin invite URL is generated automatically and appears in the service logs.

## Common Use Cases

- Evaluating Paperclip on Railway with minimal setup and no database addon cost
- Running a small AI agent company with org charts, task assignments, and per-agent budgets
- Orchestrating multiple LLM-backed agents (Claude, Gemini, OpenAI) from a single dashboard
- Importing pre-built agent company definitions from [companies.sh](https://companies.sh) with a single command

## Dependencies for Paperclip Hosting

- API key from at least one LLM provider: Anthropic (`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`), OpenAI (`OPENAI_API_KEY`), or Google Gemini (`GEMINI_API_KEY`)
- No database addon required — embedded PostgreSQL is included

### Deployment Dependencies

- [Paperclip GitHub repo](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip) — open-source AI agent orchestration platform (MIT licence)
- [Paperclip documentation](https://docs.paperclip.ing) — official docs for agent setup, adapters, and API reference
- [alphasecio/paperclip](https://github.com/alphasecio/paperclip) — source repository for this template
- [Deployment guide](https://alphasec.io/stop-hiring-start-orchestrating-running-an-ai-agent-company-with-paperclip-on-railway/) — step-by-step walkthrough with agent setup instructions

### Implementation Details

A custom `entrypoint.sh` runs at container start. It detects whether `DATABASE_URL` is set and configures Paperclip accordingly — embedded PostgreSQL when absent, external Postgres when present. This means you can upgrade from Lite to the production template by simply adding a Railway Postgres addon and setting `DATABASE_URL`, without any other changes.

After deploy, the bootstrap admin invite URL appears in Railway service logs. Search logs for `invite` to find it. Set `PAPERCLIP_AUTH_DISABLE_SIGN_UP=true` in Railway Variables after creating your admin account.

**LLM adapter reference:**

| Provider | Adapter | Environment Variable |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | `claude_local` | `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` |
| OpenAI | `opencode_local` | `OPENAI_API_KEY` |
| Gemini | `opencode_local` | `GEMINI_API_KEY` |

For Gemini, select `opencode_local` as the adapter in agent settings and choose your model (e.g. `gemini-2.5-flash`). The `gemini_local` adapter requires interactive OAuth and will not work in a Railway container.

## Why Deploy Paperclip 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 Paperclip 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.

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