Deploy and Host an Ubuntu Terminal (Web Shell + SSH + tmux) on Railway

This template gives you an always-on Ubuntu 24.04 shell. Open your Railway domain for a terminal in the browser, or SSH in through Railway's TCP proxy. Both land in the same tmux session, so a job you start from your laptop is still running when you reconnect from your phone. Your home directory lives on a volume, so repos, GitHub auth and dotfiles survive every redeploy.

About Hosting an Ubuntu Terminal

One service, one volume. The image ships git, gh, Python 3 + uv, tmux, ripgrep, jq, vim, build tools and an OpenSSH server. A ttyd web terminal (basic-auth gated) and sshd (password or key) both drop you into the same tmux session, so you can start a long job from your laptop and pick it up from your phone. SSH host keys are stored on the volume, so your client never sees a "host key changed" warning after a redeploy.

Common Use Cases

A shell that keeps running: start a long script, close the tab, come back later
Code from an iPad, Chromebook or phone: the browser terminal needs no SSH client
A disposable root box with a stable IP for scripts, scraping, cron-style jobs or CI debugging
Keep a persistent workspace for side projects that is reachable from anywhere

Dependencies for Ubuntu Terminal Hosting

None. Single service, no database.

Deployment Dependencies

ttyd web terminal
GitHub CLI

Implementation Details

First use: open your Railway domain, log in with WEB_USER and the generated WEB_PASSWORD (service Variables tab). You are in a tmux session named main; close the tab, reopen it, and everything is still there.

SSH: Railway creates a TCP proxy for port 22 on deploy. Copy the host and port from Settings → Networking and run ssh root@ -p with ROOT_PASSWORD, or add your public key to AUTHORIZED_KEYS and clear ROOT_PASSWORD for key-only login.

Handy commands inside the box:

tmux new -s work opens a second session; tmux ls and tmux attach -t work get back to it
gh auth login or set GH_TOKEN to push to GitHub
apt install works (you are root); anything outside /root is gone after a redeploy

Notes and limits:

You are root. Anything you install outside /root disappears on redeploy; anything under /root stays.
512 MB of RAM is enough for a shell; size up for builds.
There is no Docker daemon inside the box.
The web terminal password is the whole security model for a root shell. Keep it strong and do not share the URL.
Want Claude Code preinstalled? The same author publishes a Claude Code dev box template.

Why Deploy an Ubuntu Terminal 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 an Ubuntu terminal 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.