Deploy and Host YT Zero on Railway

YT Zero is a self-hosted YouTube subscriptions reader that provides a calm, chronological feed without recommendations, ads, or algorithmic distractions. Follow channels without a Google account, organize videos, track watch progress, create profiles, schedule content, and optionally download videos for local playback using the built-in yt-dlp integration.

About Hosting YT Zero

Hosting YT Zero on Railway gives you a private, always-available instance accessible from any device. Railway builds the application using its dedicated Dockerfile, exposes the web interface, monitors the /api/health endpoint, and stores application data in a persistent volume mounted at /data. YT Zero uses SQLite by default, so no external database is required for a standard single-instance deployment. The persistent volume contains the database, avatars, cached images, logs, settings, and downloaded videos. After deployment, generate a Railway public domain, open the application, and add or import your YouTube subscriptions.

Common Use Cases

Build a private, chronological YouTube subscription feed without recommendations.
Share one self-hosted instance between household members using separate profiles.
Schedule, organize, download, and watch videos from your own persistent library.

Dependencies for YT Zero Hosting

A Railway service built from the YT Zero repository using Dockerfile.railway.
A Railway persistent volume mounted at /data.

Deployment Dependencies

Implementation Details

The repository includes a Railway-specific Dockerfile that omits Docker’s unsupported VOLUME instruction. Persistent storage is supplied through a Railway Volume instead.

Dockerfile: Dockerfile.railway
Application port: 3001
Volume mount path: /data
Health check: /api/health

YT Zero should run as a single instance when using its default SQLite database. PostgreSQL can be configured through DATABASE_URL if an external database is preferred.

Why Deploy YT Zero 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 YT Zero 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.