Deploy and Host Plandex on Railway

Plandex is an open-source terminal AI coding agent with 10k+ GitHub stars built for what other AI coding tools can't handle — large, multi-file, real-world development tasks. 2M token context window, tree-sitter project maps for 30+ languages, a cumulative diff review sandbox, full plan version control with branching and rollback, and a BYO API key model that routes through 11+ providers from a single self-hosted server.

With Plandex Cloud winding down, self-hosting on Railway is now the primary path forward — your team's shared AI coding server, your API keys, your code, fully under your control.

What This Template Deploys

Service	Purpose
Plandex Server	Go-based API server with embedded LiteLLM proxy — manages plans, context, conversation history, and multi-provider LLM routing on port `8099`
PostgreSQL 18	Persistent database for plan metadata, user accounts, and migrations
Plan Storage Volume (`/plandex-server`)	Persistent volume for plan file state — plan history and diffs survive every redeploy

The Plandex CLI runs on developer machines and connects to this Railway server. LLM API keys stay on developer machines — never stored server-side.

About Hosting Plandex

Plandex is a client-server architecture: the CLI runs locally and the server handles plan orchestration, multi-file context management, version control, and model routing. Running the server in production requires PostgreSQL for metadata, a persistent volume for plan storage, and a public HTTPS endpoint for CLI connections. Without a managed host, you're configuring Docker Compose, PostgreSQL, SSL, and volume mounts manually.

Railway provisions all of it. This template deploys the Plandex server pre-connected to a Railway PostgreSQL instance with a persistent plan storage volume — your team connects immediately after deploy by pointing the CLI at your Railway domain.

Typical cost: ~$5–10/month on Railway's Hobby plan for the full stack. GitHub Copilot costs $10–19/user/month. Cursor costs $20/user/month. Plandex self-hosted on Railway gives your entire team a shared AI coding server at flat compute cost — you pay only your LLM API usage, not a per-seat subscription.

Deploy in Under 5 Minutes

Click Deploy on Railway — Plandex server and PostgreSQL provision automatically
Open your Railway-assigned URL — the server is live on port 8099

Install the Plandex CLI on your local machine:

curl -sL https://plandex.ai/install.sh | bash

Point the CLI at your Railway server:

export PLANDEX_API_URL=https://your-railway-domain.up.railway.app
plandex sign-in

cd into your project, run plandex new, and start building with AI

No server management. No Docker configuration. No SSL certificates to manage.

Common Use Cases

Self-hosted Plandex Cloud replacement — Plandex Cloud is winding down; deploy on Railway to keep all your AI coding workflows running on infrastructure you control with no feature loss and no migration overhead
Self-hosted alternative to Cursor — replace $20/user/month per-seat billing with a shared team server at flat compute cost; BYO API keys mean you control your LLM spend
Large codebase refactoring and feature development — plan and execute changes across 50+ files with a 2M token context window and tree-sitter maps; where GitHub Copilot suggests snippets, Plandex executes multi-step implementations
Team AI coding server with shared plan history — multiple developers connect to the same Railway-hosted Plandex server; share plans, review AI changes, and collaborate on AI-assisted development without per-seat licensing
Autonomous debugging and command execution — Plandex runs terminal commands, detects errors, and iterates automatically in full-auto mode — or waits for your review at each step in controlled mode
Multi-model AI coding workflows — mix Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, and Ollama in a single plan using model packs; optimise for speed, cost, or quality per task

Configuration

Variable	Required	Description
`DATABASE_URL`	✅ Auto-injected	PostgreSQL connection string — injected from the Railway PostgreSQL service
`GOENV`	Pre-set	`development` — skips email verification. Set to `production` for SMTP-verified signups
`LOCAL_MODE`	Pre-set	`1` — disables email verification in development mode
`PLANDEX_BASE_DIR`	Pre-set	`/plandex-server` — plan file storage directory, matches the persistent volume mount
`PORT`	Pre-set	`8099` — Plandex server port, auto-configured
`API_HOST`	Required in production	Your Railway public URL — required when `GOENV=production`
`SMTP_HOST`	Optional	SMTP server for email verification in production mode
`SMTP_PORT`	Optional	SMTP port — typically `587`
`SMTP_USER`	Optional	SMTP username
`SMTP_PASSWORD`	Optional	SMTP password

For team deployments, set GOENV=production and configure SMTP variables to enable email-verified account creation. In development mode with LOCAL_MODE=1, any email address signs in immediately without verification.

Plandex vs. AI Coding Alternatives

	Plandex (self-hosted)	GitHub Copilot	Cursor	Claude Code
Cost	~$5–10/mo flat	$10–19/user/mo	$20/user/mo	BYO API only
Per-seat billing	✅ None	❌ Yes	❌ Yes	✅ None
Context window	✅ 2M tokens direct	⚠️ Limited	⚠️ Limited	✅ Large
Multi-file execution	✅ 50+ files	⚠️ Inline only	⚠️ Composer	✅ Yes
Plan version control	✅ Branch + rollback	❌ No	❌ No	❌ No
Diff review sandbox	✅ Yes	❌ No	⚠️ Limited	❌ No
Self-hostable	✅ Yes	❌ No	❌ No	❌ No
BYO API keys	✅ Yes	❌ No	⚠️ Partial	✅ Yes
Multi-model support	✅ 11+ providers	❌ GitHub only	✅ Yes	❌ Anthropic only
Team shared server	✅ Yes	❌ Per-seat	❌ Per-seat	❌ Local only

Dependencies for Plandex Hosting

Railway account — Hobby plan (~$5–10/month) covers the full stack
LLM API key per developer — Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, DeepSeek, or OpenRouter

Deployment Dependencies

Plandex GitHub Repository — source and releases
Plandex Documentation — CLI setup and server configuration
Plandex Docker Hub — server image
Railway Volumes Documentation — plan storage setup

Implementation Details

This template deploys plandexai/plandex-server:latest alongside Railway-managed PostgreSQL over private networking. The Go server embeds a Python LiteLLM proxy subprocess routing API calls to Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, OpenRouter, Ollama, and DeepSeek. LLM keys are passed via CLI per session and never stored server-side. Plan files and version history persist on the /plandex-server volume; user accounts and metadata persist in PostgreSQL. Both survive redeploys and version updates independently.

Frequently Asked Questions

Plandex Cloud is winding down — how do I migrate to self-hosting? Deploy this Railway template, set PLANDEX_API_URL to your Railway domain, and create a new account. Existing Plandex Cloud plan history is not automatically migrated, but all new plans run on your instance with identical functionality and full data ownership.

How much does Plandex self-hosted cost vs Cursor or GitHub Copilot? The Railway server runs at ~$5–10/month flat for the full stack. GitHub Copilot costs $10–19/user/month per seat. Cursor costs $20/user/month. For a 5-person team, that's $50–100/month in seat licensing versus ~$5–10/month flat on Railway plus your actual LLM API usage.

How is Plandex different from GitHub Copilot or Cursor? Copilot and Cursor are inline autocomplete tools — they suggest code as you type. Plandex plans and executes multi-step implementations across 50+ files with a 2M token context window, built-in plan version control, branching, rollback, and a diff review sandbox. It's designed for tasks where autocomplete falls short: large refactors, full feature builds, and complex debugging across a real codebase.

Do my API keys get stored on the Railway server? No. LLM API keys stay on developer machines and are passed through the CLI per session. The Plandex server never stores API credentials. Your code context is processed through the server for plan orchestration but is not retained beyond the active plan session.

Can multiple developers share the same Railway-hosted server? Yes. The Plandex server is designed for team use. Each developer installs the CLI, points it at the same Railway URL, creates their own account, and works on independent plans. Plan history is per-user by default with optional sharing.

How do I update Plandex to a newer version? Update the image tag in your Railway service settings to the latest release (e.g. plandexai/plandex-server:2.1.0) and redeploy. PostgreSQL data and plan storage volume are unaffected. Update the CLI on developer machines separately via the install script.

Why Deploy and Host Plandex 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 Plandex on Railway, you get a production-ready shared AI coding server for your team — 2M token context, plan version control, multi-model routing, diff review sandbox, and full data ownership — at ~$5–10/month flat with no per-seat fees.