Deploy and Host Postiz on Railway

Postiz is an open-source social media scheduler with a full REST API — a self-hosted Buffer alternative you can drive programmatically. Beyond its dashboard, Postiz exposes an API and webhooks to create, schedule, and publish posts across 30+ platforms (X, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, and more) from your own code, an automation like n8n, or your product's backend. Own your social-posting API instead of paying per-call SaaS. This template deploys the full modern Postiz stack — including the Temporal engine that actually runs scheduled posts — so your programmatic scheduler is live in minutes.

What This Template Deploys

Service	Purpose
Postiz	The scheduler, REST API, webhooks, and dashboard (port 5000)
PostgreSQL	Posts, accounts, and history
Redis	Queues, rate limiting, and caching
Temporal	The workflow engine that executes scheduled posts
Elasticsearch	Search and indexing (Railway-compatible wrapped image)

All connect over Railway's private network. Postiz serves the API and dashboard, Temporal runs the scheduling workflows that make posts actually publish, and Postgres, Redis, and Elasticsearch back the platform — a self-hosted social-posting API you own.

About Hosting

This template hosts Postiz as a programmable posting backend, and getting its modern architecture right is what makes the API reliably publish — all handled here.

A social-posting API you own — call it from anything. Postiz exposes a REST API and webhooks, so any system that can make an HTTP request — your app's backend, an n8n or cron workflow, a SaaS product adding a "schedule to social" feature — can create and schedule posts across 30+ platforms through one endpoint. Instead of integrating each network's API and paying a per-call scheduling SaaS, you run your own posting API at flat cost. Generate an API key in the dashboard and point your code at it.

Temporal is required now — or the API accepts posts that never publish. Since v2.12, Postiz uses a Temporal workflow engine to execute scheduled posts. Without it, the app and API start and accept requests, but scheduled posts silently never go out — the most common modern Postiz failure. This template includes the full Temporal stack, so posts created via the API or dashboard actually fire on schedule.

The URL variables must match your domain — or OAuth fails. Connecting social accounts uses OAuth callbacks, so MAIN_URL, FRONTEND_URL, and NEXT_PUBLIC_BACKEND_URL (your domain plus /api) must point at your Railway public domain, or account connections fail. This template sets all three automatically, so linking accounts works once you add each platform's API keys, and the API can then post to them. Railway-specific fixes, and webhooks for automation. Elasticsearch's config uses dotted env-var names Railway rejects, so this template uses a wrapped image that writes the config to a file at build time; PORT is set explicitly so routing reaches the container. Posts, accounts, and history persist in PostgreSQL, uploads and Temporal's database on volumes, so everything survives redeploys; JWT_SECRET is auto-generated and the first user becomes admin. Beyond outbound posting, Postiz fires webhooks on events and integrates with automation tools, so you can build two-way flows — trigger a post when your app ships a release, or notify your system when a post publishes.

Typical cost: ~$15–25/month on Railway for the five-service stack — larger than older Postgres-and-Redis-only setups because Temporal and Elasticsearch are now part of Postiz, but it's what makes API-driven scheduling reliable. Postiz is AGPL-licensed and free.

How It Compares

	Postiz API (self-hosted)	Buffer/Ayrshare API	Per-network APIs	Managed Postiz
One API for 30+ platforms	Yes	Yes	No — integrate each	Yes
Cost model	Flat infra	Per post/call	Free but you build it	Subscription
Webhooks + automation	Yes	Varies	Per network	Yes
Own your data + keys	Full — your infra	Vendor	Full	Vendor
Self-hostable	Yes	No	N/A	No

Social-posting API vendors like Ayrshare are convenient but bill per post or per call, which scales badly for a product. Integrating each network's API yourself means maintaining a dozen OAuth flows. Postiz's managed cloud is subscription-priced. Self-hosted Postiz's edge is one REST API across 30+ platforms — with webhooks and the dashboard included — at flat infrastructure cost, so you own the posting API your app or automations call.

Deploy in Under 5 Minutes

Click Deploy on Railway — the full stack (Postiz, Postgres, Redis, Temporal, Elasticsearch) builds (~5 minutes)
Confirm the URL variables point at your Railway domain and JWT_SECRET is set
Wait for Temporal's auto-setup, then open your Postiz domain and register the first user (admin)
Add each social platform's API keys, connect accounts, and generate a Postiz API key
Call the API from your app, n8n, or a script to create and schedule posts programmatically

Point a webhook at your system to be notified when posts publish.

Common Use Cases

Programmatic posting — schedule to 30+ platforms from your app's backend via one REST API
Automation workflows — trigger social posts from n8n, cron, or CI on your own events
Data-owned publishing — keep content, accounts, and API keys on your infrastructure

Configuration

Variable	Required	Description
`MAIN_URL` / `FRONTEND_URL`	Required	Your Railway domain — for OAuth callbacks and links
`NEXT_PUBLIC_BACKEND_URL`	Required	Your Railway domain plus `/api`
`JWT_SECRET`	Generated	Signs session tokens — rotating it logs everyone out
Storage volumes	Pre-set	Persist uploads, Postgres, and Temporal data

Temporal is mandatory, and URLs must match. Since v2.12 Postiz needs Temporal to run scheduled posts — this template includes it, so posts created via the API actually publish. MAIN_URL, FRONTEND_URL, and NEXT_PUBLIC_BACKEND_URL must point at your Railway domain or OAuth account-connection fails.

Generate an API key to go programmatic. Create a Postiz API key in the dashboard, then call the REST API from your app, automation, or scripts. A wrapped Elasticsearch image and explicit PORT handle Railway's requirements; data persists on volumes.

Dependencies for Postiz Hosting

Railway account — ~$15–25/month for the five-service stack
PostgreSQL, Redis, Temporal, and Elasticsearch (all included and wired)
Persistent volumes for uploads and databases (included)
API keys for each social platform you connect; an HTTP client or automation to call the API

Deployment Dependencies

Implementation Details

The template runs ghcr.io/gitroomhq/postiz-app with the full modern stack: PostgreSQL, Redis, a Temporal service (the engine that executes scheduled posts), and Elasticsearch, connected over Railway's private network via reference variables. Since Postiz v2.12, Temporal is a hard dependency for the scheduler — without it the API accepts posts that never publish — so including it is essential for programmatic use.

Postiz exposes a REST API and webhooks for creating, scheduling, and managing posts across 30+ platforms; an API key generated in the dashboard is used as a bearer token, so applications, automation tools (n8n, cron), or a product backend can drive scheduling without touching each network's API directly. Two Railway-specific adaptations are applied: a wrapped Elasticsearch image writes its config to a file at build time because Railway rejects dotted env-var names, and PORT is set explicitly so routing reaches the container. The public URL variables are set to the Railway domain so OAuth callbacks resolve, and JWT_SECRET is auto-generated. Multi-user mode is available via IS_GENERAL=true. Data persists on volumes, so posts, accounts, and history survive redeploys; on first boot Temporal auto-configures and the first user becomes admin. PostgreSQL and the volumes are the backup targets.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I schedule posts from my own code? Yes — that's the point of this perspective. Postiz exposes a REST API (and webhooks); generate an API key in the dashboard and call it from your app, an n8n or cron workflow, or your product's backend to create and schedule posts across 30+ platforms.

How is this cheaper than a posting-API vendor? Vendors like Ayrshare bill per post or per call, which scales badly. Self-hosted Postiz is flat infrastructure cost regardless of volume, and you own the API and data.

Why Deploy Postiz 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 Postiz on Railway you get a self-hosted social-posting API with the hard parts solved — the full Temporal stack so API-scheduled posts actually publish, the OAuth URLs and Railway-specific Elasticsearch fix handled, and persistence wired. Schedule to 30+ platforms programmatically from your own code, self-hosted on infrastructure you own.