Deploy and Host xoxn Payload cms template on Railway

xoxn is the CMS I built for my own site, xorxnor, cut down so anyone who makes things can use it. You get projects told in scenes (photos, schematics, a 3D model you can turn, code typing in next to a video), a blog, pages with forms and a one-page resume, all in a terminal look, on payload and next.

About Hosting xoxn Payload cms template

It's one app, so the site and the admin deploy together from the Dockerfile. It needs a Postgres database, and I'd add a Railway Bucket too, because without one your uploads are gone on the next deploy. On the first start it makes its tables, then the owner account from SUPERADMIN_EMAIL and SUPERADMIN_PASSWORD. It checks those two on every start, so if you change them in Railway and redeploy, your sign-in changes with them (handy if you lose the password). Railway makes the secrets for you. After that you can use it as an empty CMS, or turn on ALLOW_SEED and fill it with placeholder content to look around first.

Common Use Cases

A portfolio where every project shows how it was built, from the schematic to the code
A blog and a few pages next to the work, edited from the same admin
A resume you send as its own link per job, each one tailored (with a PDF that fits one page)
A coming-soon page with a waitlist while the real site is still getting filled in

Dependencies for xoxn Payload cms template Hosting

Postgres, for the content, the account and the settings
A Railway Bucket for uploads (optional, but the uploads won't survive a redeploy without it)

Implementation Details

The variables I deploy it with, with Postgres and Bucket picked up by their service names:

DATABASE_URI="${{Postgres.DATABASE_URL}}"
PAYLOAD_SECRET="${{secret(64, "abcdef0123456789")}}"
SUPERADMIN_EMAIL="you@example.com"           # the owner sign-in, checked on every start
SUPERADMIN_PASSWORD="a-long-password-here"   # 12+ characters
ALLOW_SEED="false"                           # true shows "seed the database" on the admin home
BUCKET="${{Bucket.BUCKET}}"                  # plus ACCESS_KEY_ID, SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, ENDPOINT, REGION

To try it with content, set ALLOW_SEED to true, press seed the database on the admin home, then set it back to false (seeding replaces everything, so do it before you add your own). Your name, logo and colors go in the admin under CMS settings and Appearance. The terminal palettes come from kitty-themes, and the font is Departure Mono, forever.

Why Deploy xoxn Payload cms template 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 xoxn Payload cms template 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.