🚂 Railway Deploy Skill

Stop guessing why your Railway deploy failed. Let your AI agent diagnose & fix it automatically in seconds.

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⭐️ Support This Project ⭐️

This is a free, open-source skill built by a solo founder. If it saves you from one more deploy-crash-debug cycle, please:

Every star & sponsor helps a solo founder keep building free tools for the community. 🙏

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Stop wasting hours debugging Railway deploys. This skill gives your AI agent the power to autonomously diagnose and fix Railway deployment crashes — OOM kills, healthcheck failures, database connection errors, and more. One command → agent collects logs, analyzes configs, matches patterns, and applies the fix.

Railway Deploy Skill is an OpenCode / Claude Code agent skill that supports FastAPI + Next.js + PostgreSQL stacks. All CLI commands verified against official railway --help.

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🆚 Why Not Just Debug Manually?

Feature	Manual Debugging	Railway Deploy Skill
⏱ Time to fix	30 min — 3 hours	30 seconds
🔍 Log analysis	You scroll through logs	Agent reads & matches patterns
📚 Config checking	You check each file manually	Agent reads all files automatically
🧠 Pattern recall	You remember past errors	8 pre-built patterns
✅ CLI accuracy	You might use wrong flags	Verified against railway --help
🔓 Cost	Your billable time	Free, MIT licensed

🆚 vs Railway Built-in AI Agent

Railway's dashboard has a built-in AI agent for deployment diagnosis. Here's how they compare:

Feature	Railway AI Agent (Dashboard)	Railway Deploy Skill (Ours)
💰 Cost	Pay-per-token (Anthropic rates)	Free, unlimited
🔑 API Key	Railway account required	Not needed
📍 Where it works	Only in Railway dashboard	In your local AI agent (OpenCode, Claude Code, Cursor)
🔌 Internet required	✅ Yes (dashboard + cloud LLM)	Depends on your AI model (local = offline, cloud = online)
🎯 Patterns covered	Generic LLM diagnosis	8 specific Railway patterns
⚡ Response time	Depends on LLM API	Instant — local CLI
🔄 Auto-fix	Opens GitHub PR	Edits config files directly + sets env vars
🧩 Customizable	❌ No	✅ Add your own patterns
🔓 Vendor lock-in	Railway-only	Works with any AI agent, any cloud
🚫 Usage limits	✅ Hitting limits is common	❌ No limits, use infinitely
📜 License	Proprietary	MIT

Bottom line: Railway's dashboard AI agent is great for quick diagnosis when you're already in the dashboard — but it's paid per-token, only works online, and can't be customized. This skill is free, works offline in your local AI agent, covers 8 specific Railway failure patterns, and you can add more. Use both — dashboard agent for quick checks, this skill for deep, automated fixes without leaving your editor or hitting token limits.

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✨ Features

Feature	Description
🤖 Fully Autonomous	Agent collects logs, checks env vars, reads configs — no manual input
🔍 8 Failure Patterns	From OOM kills to healthcheck timeouts
⚡ One-Command Fix	Say "deploy crash" — agent handles the rest
🛠 Stack-Specific	FastAPI, Next.js, PostgreSQL, Docker, Railpack
📚 CLI-Accurate	All Railway CLI commands verified against official railway --help
🔓 Open Source	MIT licensed. Free forever. Built by a solo founder.

🚂 Diagnosed Patterns

#	Pattern	Error Signature	Fix
A	Build OOM	Killed, exit 137, Out of memory	Reduce memory, output: "standalone"
B	No Start Command	No start command could be found	Set in railway.json or settings
C	Port Binding	port already in use, service unavailable	Use $PORT env var
D	Database Connection	ECONNREFUSED, timeout	Check DATABASE_URL, reference vars
E	Healthcheck Failure	failed with service unavailable	Add /health, allow healthcheck.railway.app
F	Python Dependencies	ModuleNotFoundError, pip fails	Pin versions, add apt packages
G	Auto-Deploy Failure	Push triggers but deploy fails	Check railway.json, watch patterns
H	Monorepo Issues	Wrong service deploys	Set root directory, absolute paths

📦 Installation

One-Liner (All Agents — Recommended)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FMATheNomad/railway-deploy-skill/main/skills/railway-deploy/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.agents/skills/railway-deploy/SKILL.md

~/.agents/skills/ is compatible with OpenCode, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Windsurf, Cline, and all tools that support the Agent Skills standard.

OpenCode

mkdir -p ~/.config/opencode/skills/railway-deploy
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FMATheNomad/railway-deploy-skill/main/skills/railway-deploy/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.config/opencode/skills/railway-deploy/SKILL.md

Claude Code

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/railway-deploy
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FMATheNomad/railway-deploy-skill/main/skills/railway-deploy/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/railway-deploy/SKILL.md

Prerequisites

• Railway CLI installed & authenticated → railway login
• Project linked → railway link
• Your agent of choice (OpenCode, Claude Code, Cursor, etc.)

🚀 Usage

Start a session with your AI agent and say:

"Railway deploy crash, diagnose using railway-deploy skill"

Or be more specific:

"Build failed with exit code 137 — check memory issue" "Auto-deploy error after git push" "FastAPI app deploy succeeds but healthcheck fails" "Database connection refused after deploy"

What Happens Automatically

graph LR
    A[User Reports Crash] --> B[railway logs]
    A --> C[railway variable list]
    A --> D[Read Config Files]
    B --> E{Classify Error}
    C --> E
    D --> E
    E --> F[Match Against 8 Patterns]
    F --> G[Apply Fix]
    G --> H[Verify: railway up]

Loading

Example Session

# Agent runs these automatically:
$ railway logs --lines 100
$ railway logs --build --lines 50
$ railway variable list --kv
$ railway status

# Agent reads project files:
# → package.json, railway.json, Dockerfile, next.config.ts

# Agent identifies pattern:
# → Pattern A: Build OOM (exit code 137)

# Agent applies fix:
# → Adds output: "standalone" to next.config.ts
# → railway variable set NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=2048

# Agent verifies:
$ railway up
$ railway logs --lines 30
$ railway logs --build --lines 20

🛠 Supported Stack

Technology	Status	Notes
Next.js	✅	Requires output: "standalone"
FastAPI	✅	Tested with uvicorn & hypercorn
PostgreSQL	✅	Railway plugin & external
Docker	✅	Multi-stage build, shell form env vars
Railpack	✅	Default Railway builder
Python 3.11+	✅	pip, requirements.txt
TypeScript / JavaScript	✅	npm, yarn, pnpm, bun
Express / Nest.js	✅	Works with Node.js start commands
Django / Flask	✅	Works with Python start commands

📋 Railway CLI Commands (Verified)

All commands verified against official railway --help output:

railway logs --lines 100              # View last 100 log lines
railway logs --build                  # Build logs only
railway logs --http                   # HTTP request logs
railway logs --filter "@level:error"  # Filter by error level
railway variable list --kv            # List env vars in KEY=VALUE format
railway variable set KEY=VALUE        # Set environment variable
railway up --detach                   # Deploy in background
railway redeploy -y                   # Redeploy without confirmation
railway restart -y                    # Restart without rebuilding
railway deployment list --json        # List all deployments
railway service status                # Check service health
railway connect postgres              # Open psql shell

🗺 Roadmap

• Pattern I: Docker build fails — native module compilation errors
• Pattern J: Redis connection — common Redis integration issues
• Pattern K: Cron job failures — scheduled task debugging
• Auto PR creation — agent creates PR with fix
• Slack/Discord webhook — notify on deploy failure
• Railway MCP server — direct API integration without CLI
• Support for more frameworks — Django, Remix, Nuxt, Laravel

🤝 Contributing

Found a missing pattern? See CONTRIBUTING.md for how to add it.

📚 References

• Railway Documentation
• Railway CLI Reference
• Railway Config as Code
• Railway Troubleshooting Guides
• OpenCode Skills
• skills.sh

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⭐️ Support the Project ⭐️

Built by a solo founder who got tired of debugging Railway deploys manually.
If this skill saves you time, please support it — every bit counts:

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Ship faster. Crash less. Deploy with confidence.
Free for everyone. MIT licensed.