Deploy and Host KIE AI Image Generator on Railway

A self-hosted AI image generation web app powered by the KIE.ai API, with Cloudflare R2 storage and a responsive gallery. Generate images from text prompts, track progress in real time, and browse everything you've created in one place.

About Hosting KIE AI Image Generator on Railway

The app runs as a single Dockerized Next.js service. SQLite (via Drizzle ORM) handles task/image metadata inside the container, while generated images are uploaded to a Cloudflare R2 bucket you provide. Railway builds the Docker image, provisions the public HTTPS domain, and keeps the service running — you just supply your KIE.ai and R2 credentials.

Tech Stack

Next.js (App Router, TypeScript)
shadcn/ui + Tailwind CSS
Drizzle ORM + SQLite (better-sqlite3)
Cloudflare R2 (S3-compatible storage)
SWR for real-time task polling

Why Deploy

Text-to-image generation via the KIE.ai API (SeeDream 4.5, extensible to other models)
Real-time progress — polls task status and auto-updates when the KIE.ai callback fires
Gallery — paginated grid of every generated image with full-size view, download, and delete
Optional password gate — lock the app down with ADMIN_PASSWORD if you're hosting it for yourself
Flexible model registry — add new KIE.ai models by editing one file, no UI changes needed

Dependencies for KIE AI Image Generator

Deployment Dependencies

A KIE.ai account and API key
A Cloudflare R2 bucket (S3-compatible object storage) for generated images

Required Environment Variables

Variable	Description
`KIE_API_KEY`	Your KIE.ai API key
`NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL`	Public URL of this deployment (used for KIE.ai callbacks) — set this to your Railway-generated domain
`R2_ACCOUNT_ID`	Cloudflare account ID
`R2_ACCESS_KEY_ID`	R2 access key
`R2_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY`	R2 secret key
`R2_BUCKET_NAME`	R2 bucket name
`R2_PUBLIC_URL`	Public URL of your R2 bucket (custom domain or `r2.dev` subdomain)
`ADMIN_PASSWORD`	Optional password gate for the app
`AUTH_SECRET`	Required if `ADMIN_PASSWORD` is set — secret used to sign the session cookie

Getting Started

Deploy the template and fill in the required variables above.
Once the service shows a green "Success" status, copy its public domain and set it as NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL (redeploy after changing it, since KIE.ai callbacks depend on it).
Open the deployed URL, enter a prompt, and generate your first image.
Visit /gallery to browse everything you've generated.

Common Use Cases

Personal AI image generation tool without per-seat SaaS pricing
Prototyping prompts against KIE.ai models with a proper UI instead of raw API calls
Small team/internal tool for generating marketing or creative assets

Source

Repository: github.com/zahidakhyar/web-ui-kie-ai
License: MIT