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aethex.live/RAILWAY_DEPLOYMENT.md

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Deploying aethex.live to Railway

Railway is a great platform for hosting full-stack applications. Here's how to get your streaming platform running on Railway.

Prerequisites

  • Railway.app account (https://railway.app)
  • GitHub repository connected to Railway
  • Your streaming provider HLS URL

Quick Deploy

Option 1: Deploy from GitHub (Easiest)

  1. Go to https://railway.app/dashboard
  2. Click "New Project"
  3. Select "Deploy from GitHub repo"
  4. Choose your aethex.live repository
  5. Configure:
    • Build Command: npm install && npm run build
    • Start Command: npm start
    • Port: 3000

Option 2: Deploy with Railway CLI

# Install Railway CLI
npm install -g @railway/cli

# Login to Railway
railway login

# Initialize Railway in your project
railway init

# Deploy
railway up

Environment Variables in Railway

  1. Go to your Railway project dashboard
  2. Click "Variables" tab
  3. Add these environment variables:
NEXT_PUBLIC_STREAM_URL=your-hls-stream-url.m3u8
NODE_ENV=production

Optional (if implementing backends):

# Firebase
NEXT_PUBLIC_FIREBASE_API_KEY=...
NEXT_PUBLIC_FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID=...

# Database
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://...

# Chat
NEXT_PUBLIC_WEBSOCKET_URL=wss://your-railway-app.railway.app

# Authentication
NEXTAUTH_URL=https://your-railway-domain.railway.app
NEXTAUTH_SECRET=your-secret-key

Database Setup (Optional)

If you want to use a database on Railway:

  1. In your Railway project, click "Database"
  2. Select PostgreSQL
  3. Railway will automatically set DATABASE_URL environment variable
  4. Connect your app to the database

Custom Domain

  1. Go to Railway project → Settings
  2. Look for "Domains"
  3. Add your custom domain: aethex.live
  4. Update your DNS records to point to Railway's nameservers

Or use CNAME:

Name: aethex
Type: CNAME
Value: (provided by Railway)

Monitoring & Logs

  • View Logs: Railway Dashboard → Logs tab
  • Monitor Resources: Railway Dashboard → Metrics tab
  • Configure Alerts: Railway Dashboard → Settings → Alerts

Troubleshooting

Build fails

  • Check build logs in Railway dashboard
  • Verify package.json has all dependencies
  • Ensure Node version is 20+ (Railway default is recent)

Stream not loading

  • Check NEXT_PUBLIC_STREAM_URL is set correctly
  • Verify HLS URL is publicly accessible
  • Check if CORS is enabled on your stream provider

App crashes

  • View logs in Railway for error messages
  • Check if PORT is correctly set to 3000
  • Ensure memory limit is sufficient (512MB+ recommended)

Domain issues

  • DNS changes can take 24-48 hours to propagate
  • Verify CNAME/A record points to Railway
  • Test with nslookup aethex.live

Advanced Railway Configuration

Create a railway.json file for automatic deployments:

{
  "$schema": "https://railway.app/schema.json",
  "build": {
    "builder": "nixpacks"
  },
  "deploy": {
    "startCommand": "npm start",
    "restartPolicyType": "on_failure",
    "restartPolicyMaxRetries": 3,
    "numReplicas": 1,
    "healthcheckPath": "/",
    "healthcheckTimeout": 30
  }
}

Scaling

As your stream grows:

  1. Increase Memory: Railway Dashboard → Settings → Instance Size
  2. Add More Instances: Set numReplicas in railway.json
  3. Add CDN: Use Cloudflare in front of Railway
  4. Database Optimization: Add indexes, optimize queries

Cost Optimization

Railway charges per hour for usage:

  • CPU: $0.07/month per 1 CPU per hour active
  • Memory: $0.07/month per 1GB per hour active

Estimate: ~$5-15/month for a small streaming app

Tips:

  • Stop unused projects
  • Use Railway's free tier ($5 credit/month)
  • Monitor resource usage in Metrics tab
  • Optimize build size: Use production builds

CI/CD

Railway automatically deploys when you push to main:

  1. Push code to GitHub
  2. Railway detects changes
  3. Auto-builds and deploys
  4. Preview deployments for pull requests

Disable auto-deploy: Railway Dashboard → Settings → Auto Deploy

Useful Railway Commands

# View project status
railway status

# View logs
railway logs

# Open dashboard
railway open

# Set environment variable
railway variables set NEXT_PUBLIC_STREAM_URL=your-url

# Deploy specific branch
railway deploy --branch staging

Next Steps

  1. ✅ Deploy to Railway
  2. ✅ Add custom domain
  3. Implement real chat backend (Firebase/WebSocket)
  4. Add user authentication
  5. Set up analytics
  6. Monitor stream performance

Support

Your stream is now on Railway! 🚀