Deploy and Host self hosted Process Engineering Suite (based on PlantCraft) on Railway

This template deploys the central platform of Process Engineering Suite (based on PlantCraft) on Railway.

About Hosting Process Engineering Suite (PlantCraft-based) open-source software on Railway (self hosted Process Engineering Suite (PlantCraft-based) template)

This template runs the central platform service of Process Engineering Suite (based on PlantCraft) in your own Railway project.

Why Deploy Process Engineering Suite (PlantCraft-based), the process engineering platform on Railway (Railway Free Trial)

Self-hosting keeps plant assets, signals and notebooks on infrastructure you control, unlike a commercial platform such as Ignition, which bills by licence.

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 Process Engineering Suite (PlantCraft-based) 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.

Railway vs Other Hosting Providers and VPS for Process Engineering Suite (PlantCraft-based) self hosting

Railway runs one service with a managed volume and HTTPS domain; a VPS leaves TLS, updates and disk to you.

Provider	What You Get with Railway	What You Get with the Other Provider
DigitalOcean	One click deploy, managed HTTPS domain and a persistent volume for /data	A Droplet you patch yourself, with Docker and TLS set up by hand
AWS	One service with domain and volume handled for you	Full control of networking, with more services to configure and pay for separately
Hetzner	Deploy without choosing a server, OS or firewall	Low cost servers where you install Docker, backups and security updates

Common Use Cases for hosted Process Engineering Suite (PlantCraft-based)

Plant assets and signals: Add your units, equipment and signals in the UI, then keep them in one shared list that the rest of the platform uses.
Desk for daily work: Each person gets a Desk for their own day, so engineers can track what they are working on without a separate tool.
In-browser Python notebooks: Run analysis in JupyterLite, which is built into the image, so no local install is needed. JupyterLab on a personal computer is a separate upstream option.
API v1 integration: Connect your own scripts or other systems to the platform through API v1 to read and write data.
Read-only MCP server: Let an AI tool you control query plant data through the read-only MCP server, without giving it write access.
LLM assistant, once connected: The assistant stays off until an administrator connects a model, and then calls go directly to that provider.

Dependencies for Process Engineering Suite (PlantCraft-based) Docker hosted on Railway

This template runs one service, the central platform of Process Engineering Suite (based on PlantCraft), independently packaged by the community.

Deployment Dependencies for Managed Process Engineering Suite (PlantCraft-based) Service (one container with SQLite)

One service: the platform app on port 8080, health check /healthz.
One volume: mounted at /data for the SQLite database and session key. Keep one replica.
One template variable: PLANTCRAFT_ADMIN_PASSWORD, generated by Railway.
Omitted: Caddy TLS proxy (Railway's edge handles TLS), the Docker-socket installer, llm-egress, compute-gateway, and optional profile apps.

Implementation Details for Process Engineering Suite (PlantCraft-based) (unmodified PlantCraft 0.6.1 image plus a Railway start script)

ghcr.io/onepush-dev/plantcraft:0.6.1 sits on ghcr.io/onepush-dev/plantcraft-base:0.6.1, the upstream Dockerfile at tag v0.6.1 (commit 527e7c4) built unmodified.

How does Process Engineering Suite (PlantCraft-based) compare against other tools

Process engineering suite vs Ignition (Ignition Alternative)

Scope: Ignition is a general industrial application platform with many connectors and modules. This template deploys only the central platform, with assets, signals, Desk, notebooks and the assistant.
Licence: The PlantCraft code is Apache-2.0, so you pay only for infrastructure. Ignition is commercial, and it wins if you need vendor-supported commercial support.
Assistant: It stays off until an administrator connects a model, and then calls go straight to that provider.

Process engineering suite vs AVEVA PI (AVEVA PI Alternative)

Role: AVEVA PI is a commercial historian built for plant time-series data at scale. This template does not include a historian.
Maturity: AVEVA PI has a long industrial track record, which is where it wins. Upstream labels the project alpha. This template is independent community packaging.
Data path: The packaged site starts empty, so you add your own sources and plant map.

Process engineering suite vs a spreadsheet and a historian (Spreadsheet and Historian Alternative)

Structure: A spreadsheet holds numbers without asset context. Here, assets and signals are linked records, and Desk gives each person a shared view of their day.
Analysis: Python notebooks run in the browser through JupyterLite built into the image.
Limits: A dedicated historian stores years of plant data better than this template's SQLite volume on one replica.

PlantCraft with Docker Compose vs Railway (Docker Compose Alternative)

Scope: The upstream Compose file runs the full suite, including the TLS proxy, installer, egress proxy, compute gateway and optional apps. This template runs only the central platform service.
Operations: Railway handles TLS at its edge and gives you a public domain. Docker Compose gives you full control of the network and every optional app.
Installs: App installs are off on Railway because the installer needs the Docker socket, which Railway cannot provide.

How to use Process Engineering Suite (PlantCraft-based) on Railway?

Open the public URL that Railway gives the plantcraft service. The sign-in page loads over HTTPS, and the session cookies are HTTPS-only.
Sign in with the username admin and the password in the PLANTCRAFT_ADMIN_PASSWORD variable on the plantcraft Variables tab. The password is generated for you, and a changed value applies after a redeploy.
Add your sources and a plant map in the UI. The packaged site is empty on purpose, so nothing appears until you add it.
The assistant stays off until an administrator connects a model in Setup. Once connected, language-model calls go straight to that provider, because the upstream llm-egress proxy is not included in this template.
Check that the service is healthy by requesting the health endpoint:

curl https://your-domain/healthz

How to self host Process Engineering Suite (PlantCraft-based) on other VPS Services (Process Engineering Suite (PlantCraft-based) self hosting guide)

Clone the Repository

Clone the upstream repository at tag v0.6.1 onto your server, then change into it.

git clone --branch v0.6.1 https://github.com/PlantCraft/PlantCraft.git
cd PlantCraft

Install Dependencies

Install Docker with the Compose plugin on your VPS.

Configure Environment Variables

Copy the example environment file and set your-domain as the hostname.

cp deploy/.env.example deploy/.env

Start the Process Engineering Suite (PlantCraft-based) Application

Run the offline installer with ./install.sh (add --demo for the demo plant), or run make preview with Docker to start the whole suite at https://localhost:8260.

Pricing and License of Process Engineering Suite (PlantCraft-based) (Process Engineering Suite (PlantCraft-based) pricing)

The code is Apache-2.0 licensed, so you can self-host it, modify it and share it without paying a license fee.

Process Engineering Suite (PlantCraft-based) hosted vs self hosted comparison (Pricing, features, costs, and more)

Process Engineering Suite (based on PlantCraft) is free Apache-2.0 software, so self hosting mainly costs the infrastructure you run it on.

Monthly cost of self hosting Process Engineering Suite (PlantCraft-based) on Railway

Railway bills by usage, so the monthly cost depends on the RAM, CPU, volume size and services you run.

System Requirements for Hosting Process Engineering Suite (PlantCraft-based) on a VPS

Give the VPS enough RAM and CPU for the platform container, plus disk for /data. The omitted historian, analytics and other profile apps need the upstream installer on a host with a Docker socket; they cannot run here.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How do I sign in?

Sign in at your Railway domain as admin with the password in the PLANTCRAFT_ADMIN_PASSWORD variable on the plantcraft service.

Why does this listing use a neutral name?

Upstream TRADEMARKS.md says the Apache-2.0 licence does not grant the PlantCraft names or logos. This listing is a process engineering suite based on PlantCraft, independent community packaging, not the PlantCraft project.

Which apps are included?

Only the central platform: people and access, assets and signals, Desk, notebooks, the assistant, API v1 and MCP. Historian, Analytics, View, Alarms, Models, Documents and Simulator are not included.

Does the assistant call a model out of the box?

No. The assistant stays off, and nothing is called until an administrator connects a model in Setup.

Can I install optional apps from the UI?

No. App installs are switched off, and the installer cannot run without a Docker socket.

What should I back up?

Back up the /data volume, which holds the SQLite database and the session key.