Deploy and Host Unkey on Railway

Unkey is an open-source API management platform that allows developers to secure their services with low-latency API key authentication. It provides out-of-the-box features such as rate limiting, usage tracking, and temporary keys, enabling you to build and scale your API infrastructure without creating a custom authentication layer from scratch.

About Hosting Unkey

Hosting Unkey involves deploying a high-performance Go-based backend alongside supporting data services.

Unkey is designed for speed (targeting <40ms key verification), and its architecture relies on:

• MySQL for persistent data (API configs, key metadata, encrypted hashes)
• Redis for real-time state management and rate-limiting counters

Earlier versions depended on third-party providers like PlanetScale. The modern Unkey stack is now fully self-hostable, meaning you can run the API and Dashboard entirely using open-source databases.

Railway simplifies this process by:

• Provisioning databases automatically
• Injecting environment variables securely
• Connecting services via a private internal network

Common Use Cases

SaaS API Authentication

Issue and manage unique API keys for customers with built-in revocation and rotation.

AI / LLM Usage Guardrails

Apply per-user rate limits and usage caps to prevent runaway AI costs.

Microservices Gateway

Secure internal service-to-service communication using short-lived or metadata-tagged keys.

Dependencies for Unkey Hosting

Required Services

• MySQL

  • Stores API configurations
  • Key metadata
  • Encrypted key hashes

• Redis

  • High-speed rate limiting
  • Temporary counters
  • Session and state data

Deployment Dependencies

• Unkey GitHub Repository
• Official Unkey Documentation
• Railway MySQL Documentation

Railway Implementation Details

MySQL Connection String

When configuring Unkey on Railway, ensure the database URL uses the Go MySQL driver format:

${{MySQL.MYSQLUSER}}:${{MySQL.MYSQLPASSWORD}}@tcp(${{MySQL.MYSQLHOST}}:${{MySQL.MYSQLPORT}})/${{MySQL.MYSQLDATABASE}}?parseTime=true

Set this value to:

UNKEY_DATABASE_PRIMARY

Redis Connection String

Use the following format for Redis:

redis://default:${{Redis.REDISPASSWORD}}@${{Redis.REDISHOST}}:${{Redis.REDISPORT}}

Set this value to:

UNKEY_REDIS_URL

Root Key Generation

Generate a secure root key directly in Railway using its random generator:

UNKEY_ROOT_KEY=${{random.hex(32)}}

This key is required to bootstrap and administer Unkey securely.

Why Deploy Unkey on Railway?

Railway is a single platform for deploying full infrastructure stacks.

Benefits include:

• Zero-config database provisioning
• Secure internal networking
• Automatic environment variable injection
• Vertical and horizontal scaling
• One-click deployments for services and databases

By deploying Unkey on Railway, you can support a production-grade API authentication layer with minimal operational overhead.

Host your servers, databases, APIs, and AI workloads—all in one place.

Summary

• ✅ Fully self-hosted Unkey stack
• ✅ MySQL + Redis architecture
• ✅ Railway-managed infrastructure
• ✅ Secure, scalable, low-latency API auth

Perfect for SaaS platforms, AI products, and internal microservices.