Deploy Warmbly

Deploy and Host self hosted Warmbly (Cold Email Platform) on Railway

This template deploys the open-source Warmbly cold email platform with campaigns, a unified inbox, and mailbox warmup, all running on infrastructure you control.

About Hosting Warmbly open-source software on Railway (self hosted Warmbly template)

Warmbly is open-source cold email and mailbox warmup software released under the Apache-2.0 license, and this template runs it on Railway as a set of eight services you own.

Why Deploy Warmbly, the open-source cold email platform on Railway (Railway Free Trial)

Instantly bills per seat and per mailbox, and your sending history and replies sit on their servers.

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 Warmbly 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.

Railway vs Other Hosting Providers and VPS for Warmbly self hosting

Warmbly runs as eight services with Postgres, Redis and NATS, so hosting choice affects setup effort.

Choose Railway for a fast working deployment, and a VPS when you want control of every layer.

Common Use Cases for hosted Warmbly

• Multi-step cold email campaigns from mailboxes you already own: Build sequences that send from the Google or Microsoft mailboxes your team already uses, with per-mailbox caps and spacing so no single address gets pushed too hard.
• Warming new mailboxes in a monitored pool: When you add a fresh domain or mailbox, run it through Warmbly's warmup pool so it builds a sending history before you start real outreach.
• A unified inbox for every reply across mailboxes: Pull replies from all connected mailboxes into one shared inbox, so your team sees opens, clicks, and responses in one place as they happen.
• A lightweight CRM with pipelines and deals: Track contacts, move them through pipelines, and manage deals and tasks alongside your campaigns without wiring up a separate CRM tool.
• Reply automations with AI steps: Set up visual reply playbooks that route responses, trigger follow-ups, and run AI steps, so routine replies get handled while your team focuses on the conversations that matter.

Dependencies for Warmbly Docker hosted on Railway

This template runs Warmbly as eight Railway services, with Postgres and Redis supplied as references.

Deployment Dependencies for Managed Warmbly Service (Warmbly app service (backend API, consumer and worker in one container) plus web, admin, realtime, tracking, NATS, Postgres and Redis)

The Warmbly service listens on port 8080, mounts a volume at /data and checks /health. Web, admin, realtime and tracking each get a public domain.

Implementation Details for Warmbly (Using onepush-dev images built from the upstream v0.6.72 images)

The images are built from upstream v0.6.72 and published under onepush-dev, for example ghcr.io/onepush-dev/warmbly-core:0.6.72 for the combined backend.

Google and Microsoft mailbox OAuth use optional BOX_GOOGLE_ and BOX_OUTLOOK_ variables.

How does Warmbly compare against other tools

Warmbly vs Instantly (Instantly Alternative)

• Hosting: Instantly is a hosted SaaS cold email tool. Warmbly is open-source (Apache-2.0) and you run it on infrastructure you control, so your campaign data and mailbox credentials stay with you.
• Mailboxes: Warmbly sends from mailboxes you already own over SMTP and IMAP, and a Google or Microsoft OAuth app is optional rather than required.
• Where Instantly wins: it is ready to use with no servers to manage, so if you do not want to operate anything, the hosted option is simpler.

Warmbly vs Lemlist (Lemlist Alternative)

• Hosting: Lemlist is a hosted SaaS cold email tool. Warmbly gives you the same kind of multi-step sequences on a stack you self-host.
• Built in: Warmbly bundles a unified inbox, a lightweight CRM with pipelines and deals, and reply automations with AI steps in one platform.
• Where Lemlist wins: its managed service removes the need to back up keys, monitor services and handle upgrades yourself.

Warmbly vs Mautic (Mautic Alternative)

• Focus: Mautic is a self-hosted marketing automation platform. Warmbly is built specifically for cold email campaigns and mailbox warmup from your own mailboxes.
• Warmup: Warmbly includes a pool of monitored mailboxes for warmup, which a general marketing automation tool does not provide.
• Where Mautic wins: if your need is broad marketing automation rather than outbound email, it covers far more of that ground.

Warmbly with Docker Compose on a VPS vs Warmbly on Railway (Railway Deployment Comparison)

• Setup: A Docker Compose install on a VPS means you wire up services and volumes yourself. On Railway, the template creates the 8 services, generates the secrets and pre-creates the owner account.
• Operations: On a VPS you control the host and networking directly. On Railway, the platform handles hosting, so you spend less time on server upkeep.
• Where the VPS wins: you get full control of the machine and network, and you can tune it exactly to your needs.

How to use Warmbly on Railway?

1. Wait for all 8 services to turn green in your project. This usually takes about three minutes after the deploy starts, since migrations run first and the worker and consumer start once the backend answers its health check.
2. Open the web service domain from the Railway dashboard. This is the app you will use day to day.
3. Sign in with WARMBLY_BOOTSTRAP_EMAIL and WARMBLY_ADMIN_PASSWORD. Both are in the Warmbly service Variables tab, and the email is admin@ followed by your web domain.
4. Connect a mailbox over SMTP and IMAP. No Google or Microsoft OAuth app is required for this path.
5. Start warmup on that mailbox, then build your first campaign once warmup is running.
6. Set the SMTP variables on the Warmbly service so platform mail, such as login codes and alerts, stops going to logs.

Check the backend from your terminal:

curl -s https://your-api-domain/health

How to self host Warmbly on other VPS Services (Warmbly self hosting guide)

Warmbly is open source under Apache-2.0, so you can run the same stack on any VPS instead of Railway. The steps below follow the upstream flow.

Clone the Repository

You can fetch the upstream source if you want to read it first:

git clone https://github.com/warmbly/warmbly.git
cd warmbly

Install Dependencies

Install Docker with Compose v2 on your server. Upstream suggests about 4 GB of RAM for the whole stack, so size your VPS accordingly.

Configure Environment Variables

Use the upstream one-command installer, which writes a .env and starts the platform:

curl -fsSL https://warmbly.com/install.sh | sh

Then follow the upstream self-hosting guide at docs.warmbly.com for secrets, HTTPS, mail and backups.

Start the Warmbly Application

Once the installer finishes, the stack runs under Docker Compose. Railway handles the infrastructure, certificates and service wiring for you.

Official Pricing of Warmbly (Warmbly pricing)

Warmbly is open source under the Apache-2.0 license, and the self-hosted platform is free to run.

Warmbly hosted vs self hosted comparison (Pricing, features, costs, and more)

Warmbly also runs a hosted service. Self-hosting gives you the open-source platform on your own infrastructure, so you control where your data lives.

Monthly cost of self hosting Warmbly on Railway

Railway bills on usage, so your monthly cost depends on the RAM and CPU your services use, how large your volumes grow, and how many services you run.

System Requirements for Hosting Warmbly on a VPS

If you self-host on a VPS instead, plan for enough memory and disk to run the whole stack.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Where do I find the login email and password?

The login email is admin@ followed by your web service domain, and the password is the WARMBLY_ADMIN_PASSWORD value in the Warmbly service Variables tab.

Do I need Google or Microsoft OAuth to get started?

No. You can connect mailboxes over SMTP and IMAP without any OAuth app.

Why does platform mail show up in logs?

By default MAIL_TRANSPORT is set to log, so platform emails are written to the service logs instead of being sent.

Why must I enroll a passkey or TOTP for the admin panel?

The admin panel requires a second factor before it grants access, so you must enroll a passkey or TOTP the first time you open it.

Which keys must I back up?

Back up KMS_LOCAL_MASTER_KEY and CREDENTIALS_ENCRYPTION_KEY.

Should tracking use its own domain?

Yes, it is a good idea.