How do I deploy railway-image-updater on Railway?

You can deploy railway-image-updater on Railway by clicking the "Deploy Now" button on this page. Railway will automatically set up all the necessary services and configurations for you.

What are the system requirements?

Railway handles all the infrastructure requirements. You only need a web browser to deploy and manage your application.

Is this template free to use?

Yes, this template is free to use within your existing Railway account.

Can I customize this template?

Yes, you can fully customize this template. After deployment, you will have full control of what you've deployed in your Railway project.

How do I get support for this template?

You can get support through our community forum: railway-image-updater-9046fedf, or click "Get template help" for this template for more assistance.

Deploy and Host railway-image-updater on Railway

Railway Image Updater is a lightweight Go service that automatically updates Docker image tags across multiple Railway services in a single API call. Add one step to your CI/CD pipeline and every service sharing an image — web, worker, cron — gets updated and redeployed together.

About Hosting railway-image-updater

Railway Image Updater runs as a small HTTP service inside your Railway project. It exposes a single PUT /update endpoint that your CI/CD pipeline calls after building a new Docker image. The service queries Railway's API to find all services whose image matches any of the provided prefixes, updates each one to the new tag, preserves replica counts, and triggers a deployment — all in one request. Configuration is minimal: set your RAILWAY_API_TOKEN and optionally provide private registry credentials. A /health endpoint is included for readiness probes.

Common Use Cases

Deploying worker and cron services that must run the same image version as the web application
Rolling out a new release across multiple microservices that share a base image
Automating post-build deployments from GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or any CI/CD system

Dependencies for railway-image-updater Hosting

A Railway API token with access to the target project
A CI/CD pipeline or automation tool that can send HTTP requests after building a new image

Deployment Dependencies

A Railway project with one or more services using Docker images you want to keep in sync
Railway CLI (optional, for local development and testing)

Implementation Details

Endpoint: PUT /update

Request body:

{
  "project_id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  "environment_id": "4a744664-7c0a-4806-8cae-a07c6868179c",
  "image_prefixes": ["docker.io/myorg/myapp"],
  "new_version": "v1.2.3"
}

Field	Type	Description
`project_id`	UUID	Your Railway project ID
`environment_id`	UUID	The environment to update (e.g. production, staging)
`image_prefixes`	string[]	Image name prefixes to match — any service whose image starts with one of these will be updated
`new_version`	string	The new image tag to apply (e.g. `v1.2.3`, `sha-abc123`)

Response:

{
  "message": "Successfully updated 2 service(s)",
  "updated_services": ["api", "worker"]
}

Example CI/CD step (GitHub Actions):

- name: Update Railway services
  run: |
    curl -X PUT https://your-updater.railway.app/update \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d '{
        "project_id": "${{ vars.RAILWAY_PROJECT_ID }}",
        "environment_id": "${{ vars.RAILWAY_ENV_ID }}",
        "image_prefixes": ["docker.io/myorg/myapp"],
        "new_version": "${{ github.sha }}"
      }'

Environment variables:

Variable	Required	Description
`RAILWAY_API_TOKEN`	Yes	Railway API token
`PORT`	No	Server port (default: `8080`)
`RAILWAY_DOCKER_REGISTRY_USER`	No	Username for private Docker registries
`RAILWAY_DOCKER_REGISTRY_TOKEN`	No	Token/password for private Docker registries

Source: github.com/returnearly/railway-image-updater

Why Deploy railway-image-updater 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 railway-image-updater 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.