Deploy and Host Strapi v5 + Postgres on Railway

Strapi is an open-source headless CMS for building content APIs and admin workflows. This Railway template deploys a Strapi v5 project backed by a private Postgres database, generated production secrets, and persistent local uploads.

Published marketplace code: strapi-source-20260617

Published template ID: 72befc61-0842-4ab3-9500-8bfa151cc545

About Hosting Strapi v5 + Postgres

Strapi does not publish official Docker images, so this template uses the official Strapi project generator inside a Node.js runtime and persists the generated Strapi app on a Railway volume. The first boot creates a Strapi v5 app configured for Postgres; later restarts reuse the persisted app and database.

The Strapi service is public on port 1337. Postgres is private inside the Railway project network.

Why Deploy Strapi v5 + Postgres on Railway

Railway can provision the Strapi runtime, private Postgres database, generated secrets, persistent uploads, and public HTTPS routing in one deploy flow. This gives teams a durable Strapi v5 starting point while leaving production-specific storage and email providers configurable after deploy.

Common Use Cases

• Headless CMS for websites and apps
• Content API backend for frontend teams
• Admin panel for editors
• REST and GraphQL-ready content platform
• Starter Strapi v5 deployment with Postgres persistence

Dependencies for Strapi v5

Deployment Dependencies

• Node.js 22 runtime
• Strapi v5 generated with create-strapi-app
• Postgres 17 for Strapi content and admin state
• Persistent Strapi app/uploads volume at /srv/app
• Generated Strapi secrets: APP_KEYS, API_TOKEN_SALT, ADMIN_JWT_SECRET, JWT_SECRET, TRANSFER_TOKEN_SALT, and ENCRYPTION_KEY

Post-Deploy Setup

Open /admin on the public Strapi URL and create the first admin user. Then create content types, configure roles/permissions, and add storage/email providers if needed.

This template does not bundle S3/R2 credentials, SMTP credentials, or a prebuilt custom Strapi schema.

Persistence

Strapi content/admin state persists in Postgres. The generated Strapi project and local uploads persist on the Strapi service volume at /srv/app. For production media at scale, configure an external upload provider such as S3 or Cloudflare R2 after deploy.

Validation Evidence - 2026-06-17

• Fresh Strapi marketplace search justified the build: legacy strapi had 2,840 deploys/96 health; visible Strapi 5 had 308 deploys/84 health; several v5/S3 results had low deploy counts or missing images.
• Source project strapi-source-20260617 deployed strapi and postgres to SUCCESS.
• Source Strapi /_health returned HTTP 204 after first app generation/build.
• Source /admin returned HTTP 200 and /admin/init reported hasAdmin: false before setup.
• Source first admin registration and login returned HTTP 200.
• Source /_health returned HTTP 204 after a strapi restart; /admin/init reported hasAdmin: true; admin login still returned HTTP 200.
• Public-template test project strapi-test deployed both services to SUCCESS.
• Public-template Strapi /_health returned HTTP 204 after first app generation/build.
• Public-template /admin returned HTTP 200 and /admin/init reported hasAdmin: false before setup.
• Public-template first admin registration and login returned HTTP 200.
• Public-template /_health returned HTTP 204 after a strapi restart; /admin/init reported hasAdmin: true; admin login still returned HTTP 200.
• Source and public-template test projects were deleted after validation; cleanup audit returned [].