Deploy and Host Wiki.js on Railway

Wiki.js is a modern, lightweight, and highly powerful wiki and knowledge base platform with robust markdown support. One-click deploy on Railway with optional PostgreSQL companion database.

About Hosting

Wiki.js (requarks/wiki) provides a full-featured wiki experience with:

• Beautiful, responsive UI with real-time editing
• Markdown, WYSIWYG, and drag-and-drop editors
• Role-based access control
• Multi-language support
• REST API for integrations
• Support for PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server, and SQLite
• Docker-based deployment on any platform

Deploying on Railway means you get automatic HTTPS, zero-config storage, and continuous updates.

Why Deploy Wiki.js

Wiki.js is one of the most popular open-source wiki solutions because it offers:

• Zero cost — completely free and open source (AGPL-3.0)
• Modern editor — Markdown, WYSIWYG, or code editor modes
• Powerful search — full-text search across all pages
• Version control — track changes, roll back, diff history
• Themes and templates — customize the look and feel
• OAuth2/LDAP/SSO — integrate with your identity provider

Common Use Cases

1. Team Documentation — centralize wikis for engineering, product, marketing teams
2. Project Knowledge Base — track decisions, architecture, API docs, runbooks
3. Personal Notes and Planning — structured knowledge management for individuals
4. Open Source Project Docs — public-facing documentation portals with versioning

Deploy

Click the button above to deploy Wiki.js on Railway. You will be prompted to:

1. Create a new project in your Railway workspace or select an existing one
2. Wait for the automatic build and deployment (usually 1-3 minutes)
3. Add a PostgreSQL companion database service from the Integrations tab
4. Once deployed, access Wiki.js at your Railway-provided URL (e.g., https://wikijs-template-production.up.railway.app)
5. Complete the setup wizard to create your admin account and configure settings

First-Time Setup

After deployment:

1. Browse to your Railway-provided URL
2. Create your first admin account via the setup wizard
3. Configure your wiki — set site name, logo, language, and theme in Settings > General
4. (Optional) Set up authentication — Wiki.js supports OAuth2, LDAP, SAML 2.0, OpenID Connect

Postgres Setup

If using PostgreSQL:

1. Add a Redis cache service for session storage from the Integrations tab
2. Set the REDIS_HOST variable to your Redis service host from the Variables tab
3. Wiki.js will use the database credentials (DB_USER, DB_PASS) configured on wikijs-app

Configuration

Copy .env.example to configure database credentials:

• DB_TYPE: Database engine type — default postgres
• DB_HOST: PostgreSQL/MySQL host — required when using postgres
• DB_PORT: Database port — default 5432
• DB_NAME: Database name — default wikijs
• DB_USER: Database user — default wikijs
• DB_PASS: Database password — auto-generated on first deploy, must be set for non-postgres
• PORT: Service port (Railway sets automatically) — default 3000
• WIKI_PORT: Wiki.js application port — default 3000
• URL_BASE: Public URL (required after deploy for asset serving)

Environment Variables

The template includes the following configurable variables. Edit them in your Railway project's Variables tab to customize behavior.

Important: Set URL_BASE to your application's public URL after deployment so all static assets and links resolve correctly.

Template Functions for Secrets

When setting DB_PASS in production, use Railway's secret generator:

DB_PASS = ${{ generate(32) }}

This generates a cryptographically secure random 32-character string that remains hidden in UI logs and the API.

Troubleshooting

"Connection refused" on database: Ensure you've connected a postgres service from the Integrations tab and the DB_HOST points to it. Verify the connection via railway exec -s wikijs-app 'psql $DATABASE_URL'.

Pages returning 404 or blank: Set your URL_BASE variable in the Railway Variables tab to match your deployed URL (including protocol), e.g., https://your-app.up.railway.app.

White screen after setup: Clear browser cache or try incognito mode; verify the database schema was updated on first boot by checking build logs for "Database Connection Successful".

Dependencies for wikijs-template

This template depends on the following services being configured in your Railway project:

• wikijs-app: The main Wiki.js application container (auto-configured from this repository)
• PostgreSQL database: Optional but recommended; add via railway add postgres --service wikijs-app and connect from the Integrations tab
• Redis (optional): For session storage in multi-process deployments; add via railway add redis --service wikijs-app

Deployment Dependencies

License

This template is released under the MIT license. Wiki.js itself (the application being deployed) uses the AGPL-3.0 license.