---
title: "Deploy SeaweedFS | Open Source S3, MinIO Alternative"
description: "Self Host SeaweedFS. Object storage with S3 compatibility & full S3 API"
category: "Storage"
url: https://railway.com/deploy/seaweedfs
---

# Deploy SeaweedFS | Open Source S3, MinIO Alternative

Self Host SeaweedFS. Object storage with S3 compatibility & full S3 API

**[Deploy SeaweedFS | Open Source S3, MinIO Alternative on Railway](https://railway.com/template/seaweedfs)**

- **Creator:** Heimdall
- **Category:** Storage
- **Total deploys:** 3

## Template content

### SeaweedFS https://raw.githubusercontent.com/seaweedfs/seaweedfs/master/note/seaweedfs.png

- **Image:** chrislusf/seaweedfs:4.22
- **Start command:** `/bin/sh -c 'weed server -s3 -dir=/data -ip.bind=0.0.0.0 -master.volumeSizeLimitMB=1024 & sleep 30 && echo "s3.configure -access_key=$S3_ACCESS_KEY -secret_key=$S3_SECRET_KEY -user admin -actions Admin,Read,Write,List,Tagging -apply" | weed shell; wait'`
- **Public domain:** Yes

## Documentation

![SeaweedFS logo](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/seaweedfs/seaweedfs/master/note/seaweedfs.png)

# Deploy and Host SeaweedFS on Railway

Deploy SeaweedFS as a self-hosted S3-compatible object storage system on Railway with one click. SeaweedFS is a distributed file system optimized for storing and serving billions of files with O(1) disk seek — making it ideal for media storage, backups, and any application that speaks the S3 protocol.

This Railway template pre-configures SeaweedFS with master, volume server, filer, and S3 gateway running as a single service. It includes persistent volume storage, S3 authentication with access/secret keys, and a public endpoint ready for S3 client connections.

## Getting Started with SeaweedFS on Railway

After deployment completes, your SeaweedFS S3 endpoint is live at the generated Railway domain. Configure any S3-compatible client (AWS CLI, s3cmd, boto3, rclone) using the `S3_ACCESS_KEY` and `S3_SECRET_KEY` from your Railway environment variables.

To create your first bucket and upload a file using AWS CLI:

```
aws configure set aws_access_key_id YOUR_ACCESS_KEY
aws configure set aws_secret_access_key YOUR_SECRET_KEY
aws --endpoint-url https://your-seaweedfs.up.railway.app s3 mb s3://my-bucket
aws --endpoint-url https://your-seaweedfs.up.railway.app s3 cp ./file.txt s3://my-bucket/
```

The filer UI is available on port 8888 internally for browsing stored files. The master dashboard runs on port 9333 for cluster status monitoring.

## About Hosting SeaweedFS

SeaweedFS is an open-source (Apache 2.0) distributed file system inspired by Facebook's Haystack paper. It solves the "billions of small files" problem that traditional file systems and object stores handle poorly — each file requires only 40 bytes of metadata overhead and a single O(1) disk read to serve.

Key features:

- Full Amazon S3 API compatibility (buckets, multipart uploads, versioning, lifecycle policies, object lock)
- WebDAV support for mounting as a network drive
- POSIX FUSE mount for local directory access
- Cloud tiering to AWS S3, Google Cloud, Azure, and BackBlaze
- Erasure coding (10.4) for cost-efficient warm storage
- Filer metadata backed by LevelDB, MySQL, Postgres, Redis, or 10+ other stores
- Cross-datacenter active-active async replication
- Kubernetes CSI driver for persistent volumes

## Why Deploy SeaweedFS on Railway

Self-host SeaweedFS on Railway for managed S3-compatible storage without AWS vendor lock-in:

- One-click deploy with persistent volume and S3 auth pre-configured
- No AWS bills — pay only for Railway infrastructure usage
- Full S3 API means any existing S3 client or SDK works unchanged
- Single container runs the entire stack (master + volume + filer + S3)
- Scale storage by adjusting Railway volume size — no cluster management

## Common Use Cases for Self-Hosted SeaweedFS

- **Application blob storage** — Store user uploads, avatars, documents behind an S3 API that your app already knows how to use
- **Media serving at scale** — Serve millions of images with O(1) disk reads, no hot-spotting on popular files
- **Backup destination** — Use rclone, restic, or duplicati with SeaweedFS as an S3-compatible backup target
- **Development S3 mock** — Replace AWS S3 in local/staging environments with a real S3-compatible endpoint

## Dependencies for Self-Hosting SeaweedFS on Railway

- **SeaweedFS** — `chrislusf/seaweedfs:4.22` (76MB compressed, linux/amd64 + arm64)

### Environment Variables Reference

| Variable | Description | Example |
|----------|-------------|---------|
| `PORT` | S3 gateway listening port | `8333` |
| `S3_ACCESS_KEY` | S3 authentication access key | Generated hex string |
| `S3_SECRET_KEY` | S3 authentication secret key | Generated hex string |
| `RAILWAY_RUN_UID` | Run container as root for volume permissions | `0` |

### Deployment Dependencies

- **Runtime:** Go binary (statically compiled, no external dependencies)
- **Docker Hub:** [chrislusf/seaweedfs](https://hub.docker.com/r/chrislusf/seaweedfs)
- **GitHub:** [seaweedfs/seaweedfs](https://github.com/seaweedfs/seaweedfs) (~31,900 stars)
- **Docs:** [SeaweedFS Wiki](https://github.com/seaweedfs/seaweedfs/wiki)

## Hardware Requirements for Self-Hosting SeaweedFS

| Resource | Minimum | Recommended |
|----------|---------|-------------|
| CPU | 1 vCPU | 2 vCPU |
| RAM | 1 GB | 2 GB |
| Storage | 1 GB (metadata only) | 10+ GB (depends on data volume) |
| Runtime | Docker or bare metal | Docker with persistent volume |

## Self-Hosting SeaweedFS with Docker

Run SeaweedFS locally with S3 gateway enabled:

```
docker run -d \
  --name seaweedfs \
  -p 8333:8333 \
  -p 9333:9333 \
  -v seaweedfs_data:/data \
  chrislusf/seaweedfs:4.22 \
  server -s3 -dir=/data -ip.bind=0.0.0.0 -master.volumeSizeLimitMB=1024
```

For a multi-node production setup with docker-compose:

```
services:
  seaweedfs:
    image: chrislusf/seaweedfs:4.22
    ports:
      - "8333:8333"
      - "9333:9333"
      - "8888:8888"
    volumes:
      - seaweedfs_data:/data
    command: "server -s3 -dir=/data -ip.bind=0.0.0.0 -master.volumeSizeLimitMB=1024"

volumes:
  seaweedfs_data:
```

Configure S3 credentials after startup via `weed shell`:

```
docker exec seaweedfs weed shell <

## Similar templates

- [Garage S3 Storage](https://railway.com/deploy/garage-s3-storage) — Ultra-light S3 server: fast, open-source, plug-and-play.
- [Redis](https://railway.com/deploy/redis-1) — Self Host Latest Redis with Railway
- [EasyImg](https://railway.com/deploy/easyimg) — Simple self-hostable Nuxt.js personal image hosting system.

Open this page in a browser: https://railway.com/deploy/seaweedfs