--- title: "Deploy Penpot 2 Design and Prototyping" description: "Open-source Figma alternative for design and prototyping, fully yours." category: "Other" url: https://railway.com/deploy/penpot-2-design-and-prototyping --- # Deploy Penpot 2 Design and Prototyping Open-source Figma alternative for design and prototyping, fully yours. **[Deploy Penpot 2 Design and Prototyping on Railway](https://railway.com/template/penpot-2-design-and-prototyping)** Machine-readable deploy manifest (JSON, validated by TemplateCI): https://railway.com/deploy/penpot-2-design-and-prototyping/manifest.json - **Creator:** bento - **Category:** Other - **Total deploys:** 1 ## Template content ### S3 Gateway https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/homarr-labs/dashboard-icons/svg/rclone.svg - **Source:** baranberkay96/penpot-railway ### Postgres https://devicons.railway.app/i/postgresql.svg - **Image:** ghcr.io/railwayapp-templates/postgres-ssl:18 ### Valkey https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/homarr-labs/dashboard-icons/svg/valkey.svg - **Image:** valkey/valkey:8.1.10 - **Start command:** `/bin/sh -c "exec docker-entrypoint.sh valkey-server --requirepass $VALKEY_PASSWORD --maxmemory 128mb --maxmemory-policy volatile-lfu --appendonly no"` ### Backend https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/homarr-labs/dashboard-icons/svg/penpot.svg - **Image:** penpotapp/backend:2.18.3 - **Health check:** /readyz ### MCP https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/homarr-labs/dashboard-icons/svg/penpot.svg - **Image:** penpotapp/mcp:2.18.3 ### Exporter https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/homarr-labs/dashboard-icons/svg/penpot.svg - **Image:** penpotapp/exporter:2.18.3 - **Health check:** /readyz ### Frontend https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/homarr-labs/dashboard-icons/svg/penpot.svg - **Source:** baranberkay96/penpot-railway - **Health check:** /healthz - **Public domain:** Yes ## Buckets - **Bucket** ## Documentation # Deploy and Host Penpot with Railway Penpot is an open-source design and prototyping platform for product teams, built on open standards like SVG, CSS and HTML. This community template runs Penpot 2 on Railway with its backend, exporter, MCP server, PostgreSQL, Valkey and a Railway Bucket for images and fonts. ## About Hosting Penpot Penpot consists of an nginx frontend that serves the web app and routes requests, a JVM backend with the API and real-time collaboration, an exporter that renders PNG, SVG and PDF exports with a headless browser, and an MCP server for AI agents. It needs PostgreSQL and a Redis-compatible store (Valkey). Uploaded images, fonts and thumbnails go to object storage: this template stores them in a Railway Bucket through a small private S3 gateway, because Penpot's S3 client uses an addressing style Railway Buckets do not accept. The frontend image is adjusted for Railway: nginx workers follow the container's CPU quota, internal services are re-resolved after redeploys, and a local healthcheck keeps deploys independent. ## Common Use Cases - UI and UX design for web and mobile products, owned by your team instead of a SaaS vendor. - Interactive prototypes for user testing and stakeholder reviews. - Design systems with shared components, colors and typography across teams. - Developer handoff with inspectable CSS, SVG and code output. - Design work by AI agents through Penpot's MCP server. ## Dependencies for Penpot Hosting - Penpot frontend, backend, exporter and MCP server (`penpotapp/*` images) - PostgreSQL 18 - Valkey 8.1 - S3-compatible object storage (Railway Bucket, reached through an rclone S3 gateway) - Optional: SMTP server for invitations and notifications (Railway Pro plan) ### Deployment Dependencies - Penpot self-hosting guide: https://help.penpot.app/technical-guide/getting-started/ - Penpot configuration reference: https://help.penpot.app/technical-guide/configuration/ - Penpot releases: https://github.com/penpot/penpot/releases - rclone serve s3: https://rclone.org/commands/rclone_serve_s3/ - Railway Buckets: https://docs.railway.com/storage-buckets ### Implementation Details | Service | Image | Role | Public | |---|---|---|---| | `Frontend` | `penpotapp/frontend:2.18.3` + Railway nginx adjustments | Web app, routing, asset delivery | HTTPS domain | | `Backend` | `penpotapp/backend:2.18.3` | API, collaboration, background jobs | — | | `Exporter` | `penpotapp/exporter:2.18.3` | PNG, SVG and PDF exports | — | | `MCP` | `penpotapp/mcp:2.18.3` | AI agent integration | via Frontend | | `Valkey` | `valkey/valkey:8.1.10` | Notifications, rate limits, export queue | — | | `S3 Gateway` | `rclone/rclone:1.75.2` + start script | Private S3 endpoint storing files in the Bucket | — | | `Postgres` | `ghcr.io/railwayapp-templates/postgres-ssl:18` | Database | — | | `Bucket` | Railway Bucket | Images, fonts, thumbnails | — | **First login.** When `Frontend` is healthy, open its domain and create an account. Registration with email and password is open and email verification is off, matching Penpot's default Docker setup. **Restricting sign-ups.** Add `PENPOT_REGISTRATION_DOMAIN_WHITELIST` (for example `yourcompany.com`) to `Backend`, or replace `enable-registration` with `disable-registration` in `Backend.PENPOT_FLAGS` once your team has joined. With registration disabled, new accounts are created with Penpot's command-line tool inside the backend (`python3 manage.py create-profile`). **Email.** Penpot sends email over SMTP, which Railway allows on the Pro plan. Add `enable-smtp` to `PENPOT_FLAGS` and set the `PENPOT_SMTP_*` variables on `Backend`. **Custom domain.** Change `PENPOT_PUBLIC_URI` on `Backend` to `https://{your-domain}`; the other services reference it. **Scaling.** Add replicas to `Frontend` and `Exporter` for more traffic and parallel exports. Give `Backend` more memory and raise `-Xmx` in `JVM_OPTS` for large files. **Pinning and upgrades.** Penpot's components must run the same version. Change `2.18.3` in `services/frontend/Dockerfile` and on the `Backend`, `Exporter` and `MCP` images together, after reading Penpot's upgrade notes; the backend migrates the database on start. ### Why Deploy Penpot on Railway? Railway runs Penpot's frontend, backend, exporter and MCP server together with PostgreSQL, Valkey and storage on a private network with automatic HTTPS, so your team gets a self-hosted Figma alternative without managing servers. Files live in a low-cost Bucket, services scale independently, and you pay for the resources your designers actually use. ## Similar templates - [Rocky Linux](https://railway.com/deploy/rocky-linux) — Hosted Rocky Linux 9 workspace with SSH and persistent storage. 🚀 - [Foundry Virtual Tabletop](https://railway.com/deploy/X5tR6G) — A Self-Hosted & Modern Roleplaying Platform - [Letta Code Remote](https://railway.com/deploy/letta-code-remote) — Run a Letta Code agent 24/7. No inbound ports, just deploy. Open this page in a browser: https://railway.com/deploy/penpot-2-design-and-prototyping