---
title: "Deploy Soft Serve"
description: "Charm Soft Serve 0.12 self-hosted Git server over SSH and HTTPS with a TUI."
category: "Other"
url: https://railway.com/deploy/soft-serve
---

# Deploy Soft Serve

Charm Soft Serve 0.12 self-hosted Git server over SSH and HTTPS with a TUI.

**[Deploy Soft Serve on Railway](https://railway.com/template/soft-serve)**

Machine-readable deploy manifest (JSON, validated by TemplateCI): https://railway.com/deploy/soft-serve/manifest.json

- **Creator:** Agaz Self-Host
- **Category:** Other

## Template content

### softserve https://github.com/charmbracelet.png

- **Image:** charmcli/soft-serve:v0.12.2
- **Public domain:** Yes

## Documentation

# Deploy and Host Soft Serve on Railway

Soft Serve is a self-hostable Git server from Charm with a delightful terminal UI over SSH. You create, browse and manage repositories with `ssh`, clone and push over SSH or HTTPS, and control access with users, collaborators and access tokens. Git LFS is built in, and it runs as a single small Go binary.

## About Hosting Soft Serve

This template deploys Soft Serve v0.12.2 from the official image with repositories and its database on a Railway volume. SSH is exposed through the Railway TCP proxy and HTTPS through the Railway domain. Anonymous access is off, so every repository is private unless you change it. You must paste your SSH public key into `SOFT_SERVE_INITIAL_ADMIN_KEYS` when deploying; that key becomes the admin. The unencrypted git daemon protocol is disabled. Soft Serve is light and fits the Hobby plan, with storage growing with your repositories. Back up the volume regularly to protect your repositories.

## Common Use Cases

- Private Git hosting for personal projects, dotfiles and small teams
- A lightweight Git remote for deployment scripts and infrastructure code
- Browsing repositories from the terminal over SSH

## Dependencies for Soft Serve Hosting

- `charmcli/soft-serve:v0.12.2` (official image)
- A Railway volume at `/soft-serve`
- A Railway TCP proxy for SSH

### Deployment Dependencies

- [Soft Serve on GitHub](https://github.com/charmbracelet/soft-serve)
- [Soft Serve v0.12.2 release](https://github.com/charmbracelet/soft-serve/releases/tag/v0.12.2)
- [Server settings](https://github.com/charmbracelet/soft-serve#server-settings)
- [Railway TCP proxy](https://docs.railway.com/reference/tcp-proxy)

### Implementation Details

| Service | Image | Networking | Storage |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| softserve | `charmcli/soft-serve:v0.12.2` | public HTTPS on 23232; TCP proxy to SSH 23231 | volume at `/soft-serve` |

```bash
ssh -p                         # TUI
ssh -p   repo create my-app --private
git remote add origin ssh://:/my-app
git push origin main
```

| Variable | Default | Purpose |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `SOFT_SERVE_INITIAL_ADMIN_KEYS` | empty, required | Your SSH public key(s); applied on first start |
| `SOFT_SERVE_ANON_ACCESS` | `no-access` | Anonymous access level |
| `SOFT_SERVE_SSH_PUBLIC_URL` / `SOFT_SERVE_HTTP_PUBLIC_URL` | TCP proxy / domain | Clone URLs shown in the UI |

Notes:

- If several keys are loaded in your SSH agent, use `-o IdentitiesOnly=yes -i `, or Soft Serve may identify you by another key as a guest.
- For HTTPS clones, create a token with `ssh ... token create` and use it as the password.

This is a community-maintained deployment package and does not imply affiliation with or endorsement by the Soft Serve project or its maintainers.

## Why Deploy Soft Serve 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 Soft Serve 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.


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- [Letta Code Remote](https://railway.com/deploy/letta-code-remote) — Run a Letta Code agent 24/7. No inbound ports, just deploy.

Open this page in a browser: https://railway.com/deploy/soft-serve