Deploy and Host Zotero in your browser on Railway

The Zotero reference manager running in the cloud and streamed to any browser. Collect, organize and cite your research sources from any computer, with your library kept on a volume.

About Hosting Zotero in your browser

The template runs the open source LinuxServer.io image zotero:latest as one Railway service. Zotero runs inside a minimal desktop and is streamed to your browser over Railway's HTTPS domain on port 3000. HTTP basic auth protects it with CUSTOM_USER and a generated PASSWORD that you copy from the service Variables. A volume is mounted at /config, so your library and settings survive restarts and redeploys. The first boot takes a minute or two.

Common Use Cases

Managing research sources and citations from any device
Using Zotero on university or work computers where you cannot install apps
Keeping a research library in one place in the cloud

Dependencies for Zotero in your browser Hosting

No other services: one container plus a volume
Any modern browser on the device you open it from

Implementation Details

Open the Railway domain and sign in with CUSTOM_USER and PASSWORD; Zotero opens full screen. Upload and download files and copy and paste between your device and the cloud through the side panel. Give the service at least 1 GB of memory. Image: lscr.io/zotero:latest (https://github.com/linuxserver/docker-zotero).

Why Deploy Zotero in your browser 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 Zotero in your browser 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.