--- title: "Deploy Payload CMS 4 Website (Beta)" description: "One-click Payload 4 website: blog, comments, SEO and MCP for AI agents" category: "CMS" url: https://railway.com/deploy/payload-cms-4-website-beta --- # Deploy Payload CMS 4 Website (Beta) One-click Payload 4 website: blog, comments, SEO and MCP for AI agents **[Deploy Payload CMS 4 Website (Beta) on Railway](https://railway.com/template/payload-cms-4-website-beta)** Machine-readable deploy manifest (JSON, validated by TemplateCI): https://railway.com/deploy/payload-cms-4-website-beta/manifest.json - **Creator:** Rasmus Puls's Projects - **Category:** CMS - **Total deploys:** 4 ## Template content ### Payload-4 https://res.cloudinary.com/hczpmiapo/image/upload/v1732576652/Static%20assets/Logos/payload_V3_mhv6wc.png - **Source:** https://github.com/rpuls/payload-4-boilerplate - **Public domain:** Yes ### Postgres https://devicons.railway.app/i/postgresql.svg - **Image:** ghcr.io/railwayapp-templates/postgres-ssl:18 ## Buckets - **storage-bucket** ## Documentation # Deploy and Host Payload CMS 4 on Railway Launch your own website, blog or content platform with **Payload CMS 4**, the open-source CMS built on Next.js, with PostgreSQL and file storage preconfigured on Railway. One click gives you a live website and an admin panel where your team can write and publish, plus a codebase and a CMS that both connect to AI. No setup, no vendor lock-in, and no development skills required to get started. **Updated to Payload v4.0.0-beta.2 ✅ 20th October 2026** (This template will supersede the popular: [Payload 3 template](https://github.com/rpuls/payload-3-boilerplate) but is currently beta) ## About Hosting Payload CMS 4 on Railway This template deploys a complete **Payload CMS 4** website on Railway in one click: the Payload admin panel and a Next.js frontend in a single service, a **PostgreSQL** database and a private **Railway Bucket** for uploaded images. Database migrations run automatically on every start, and everything is wired together for you. After the deploy, open `/admin`, create your account (the first one is always the admin), and seed demo pages, posts and comments with one click. You can be writing your first page a few minutes after deploying. **Why use a CMS when AI can build a website from scratch?** An AI agent can generate a good-looking website in an afternoon. What it gives you is code, and every text change, new page or blog post means another prompt and another deploy. Most of the people who write for a business are not developers and don't want to be. Payload solves this with two layers, and you can change both without limits: - **Layer 1: the code.** A clean, typed Payload 4 and Next.js project you own completely. Ask a coding agent to turn it into whatever your business needs: a company website, a magazine, a documentation hub, a member portal or a full platform. The repo includes an `AGENTS.md` guide and a Playwright end-to-end test suite, so AI agents can change it safely. - **Layer 2: the CMS.** A visual editor where anyone writes and publishes directly on the website, the way people are used to from WordPress, with drafts, versions, scheduled publishing and live preview. There are no deploys and no prompts, which makes it ideal for employees and colleagues who are not ready for AI tooling yet. **AI-native on both layers.** The CMS has a built-in **MCP server** (`/api/mcp`), so ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor and other AI clients can draft posts and pages or moderate comments with a personal API key. Every agent works with exactly the permissions of the person whose key it uses. This separates responsibilities cleanly: - editors and their AI assistants write and publish content, but cannot change how the site is built; - a few admins or engineers set the architecture in the code; - AI agents can draft and edit, but never delete posts or pages. **You own everything.** Payload is MIT-licensed open source. Your content lives in a standard PostgreSQL database and your files in S3-compatible storage. Nothing ties you to Railway or to any vendor, and you can move your site, your data and your code anywhere that runs Node.js and Postgres, any day. Hosting costs a few dollars a month instead of an enterprise CMS subscription. Payload is widely used and well documented, and this template is built to be read by AI, so most questions you would once have taken to a support desk an AI assistant can now answer for you. ### Payload 4 guide and walkthrough Read the full guide on FUNKYTON: [Payload 4: what's new since Payload 3, and how to launch your site](https://funkyton.com) ## Common Use Cases - Launching a company website, blog or online magazine that non-technical staff can update themselves - Replacing WordPress or a hosted website builder with a self-hosted, open-source CMS you fully own - Publishing with AI assistance: drafting articles and pages in the CMS from ChatGPT, Claude or any MCP client, under per-user permissions - Starting a custom web platform with a coding agent, on a foundation that already has auth, roles, content editing and tests - Agencies and freelancers delivering client sites where clients edit content and developers own the code ## Dependencies for Payload CMS 4 Hosting - Railway account and GitHub account - Hobby plan on Railway ($5/month) - No coding needed to publish content; for customization, a coding agent or basic web development knowledge (Next.js, React, TypeScript) ### Deployment Dependencies - [GitHub repo](https://github.com/rpuls/payload-4-boilerplate) - [Payload 4 guide on FUNKYTON](https://funkyton.com) - [Official Payload CMS](https://payloadcms.com/) - [Payload 3 version of this template (stable)](https://github.com/rpuls/payload-3-boilerplate) ### Implementation Details - **Payload CMS 4** with Next.js 16, React 19 and TypeScript, based on the official Payload website starter - **PostgreSQL**, with migrations run automatically on every start - **Railway Bucket** (S3-compatible) for uploads, served privately through Payload, so files survive redeploys - Pages built from blocks: hero, content, media, call to action, archive and forms - Blog with nested categories, tags, related posts, search, SEO fields, redirects and sitemaps - Comment system with moderation, a spam honeypot and a "pending comments" dashboard widget - Roles: the first account is an admin, and new accounts are editors - Drafts, versions, scheduled publishing and live preview out of the box - **Built-in MCP server** for AI agents, with per-user API keys and per-collection AI instructions - `AGENTS.md` and a Playwright end-to-end suite, so coding agents can maintain the site safely - Optional SMTP email for password resets - Fully open source (MIT), ready to extend and integrate **Into digital independence?** If you like owning your website and data, you might also like [My Own Suite](https://myownsuite.org/): open-source software that turns one machine into your own private cloud for photos, files, documents and passwords. Self-hosting made approachable, no sysadmin skills needed. ## Why Deploy Payload CMS 4 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 Payload CMS 4 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. ## Similar templates - [Libredesk - Complete Setup](https://railway.com/deploy/libredesk-complete-setup) — Complete self-hosted omnichannel customer support desk. - [Paperless-ngx](https://railway.com/deploy/paperless-ngx-3) — Paperless-ngx — document management with OCR and full-text search - [Instatic CMS - Postgres](https://railway.com/deploy/instatic-cms-postgres) — Design, build and manage powerful static sites from state-of-the-art CMS Open this page in a browser: https://railway.com/deploy/payload-cms-4-website-beta