Deploy an Astro App

Astro is the web framework for content-driven websites. It's a JavaScript framework optimized for building fast, content-driven websites. It also supports every major UI framework, allowing you to bring in your existing components and benefit from Astro's optimized client build performance.

This guide covers how to deploy an Astro app to Railway in four ways:

One-click deploy from a template.
From a GitHub repository.
Using the CLI.
Using a Dockerfile.

Now, let's create an Astro app!

Create an Astro App

Note: If you already have an Astro app locally or on GitHub, you can skip this step and go straight to the Deploy Astro Apps on Railway.

To create a new Astro app, ensure that you have Node installed on your machine.

Run the following command in your terminal to create a new Astro app:

npm create astro@latest

Follow the prompts and provide a directory name, such as blog, where you'd like to set up your app.

When prompted to choose how you'd like to start your project, select Use blog template. For TypeScript, choose Yes.

For the remaining options, select the defaults and press Enter. All necessary dependencies will then be installed.

A new Astro app will be provisioned for you in the blog directory.

Run the Astro App locally

Enter your project directory using cd blog.

Start the local dev server by running the following command:

npm run dev

Open your browser and go to http://localhost:4321 to see your app.

Enable Server side rendering (SSR)

Astro has several SSR adapters. These adapters are used to run your project on the server and handle SSR requests.

Let's add the Node adapter to enable SSR in our blog project.

Run the command below in your terminal:

npx astro add node

Select Yes at the prompt to proceed. The Node adapter will be installed, and our Astro config file will be updated accordingly.

Open up the astro.config.mjs file:

// @ts-check
import { defineConfig } from 'astro/config';
import mdx from '@astrojs/mdx';

import sitemap from '@astrojs/sitemap';

import node from '@astrojs/node';

// https://astro.build/config
export default defineConfig({
  site: 'https://example.com',
  integrations: [mdx(), sitemap()],
  output: 'server',

  adapter: node({
    mode: 'standalone',
  }),
});

In the config file, output is set to server, meaning every page in the app is server-rendered by default.

For mostly static sites, set output to hybrid. This allows you to add export const prerender = false to any file that needs to be server-rendered on demand.

Modify Start Script and Astro config

Astro builds your project into a dist directory. In standalone mode, a server starts when the server entry point is executed, which is by default located at ./dist/server/entry.mjs.

In this mode, the server handles file serving as well as page and API routes.

Open up the package.json file and modify the start script from astro dev to node ./dist/server/entry.mjs.

{
    "name": "astroblog",
    "type": "module",
    "version": "0.0.1",
    "scripts": {
        "dev": "astro dev",
        "start": "node ./dist/server/entry.mjs",
        "build": "astro check && astro build",
        "preview": "astro preview",
        "astro": "astro"
    },
    "dependencies": {
        "@astrojs/check": "^0.9.4",
        "@astrojs/mdx": "^3.1.8",
        "@astrojs/node": "^8.3.4",
        "@astrojs/rss": "^4.0.9",
        "@astrojs/sitemap": "^3.2.1",
        "astro": "^4.16.6",
        "typescript": "^5.6.3"
    }
}

Open the astro.config.mjs file and configure the server to run on host 0.0.0.0 by adding the following block inside the defineConfig function.

...
server: {
    host: '0.0.0.0'
},

Your app needs to listen on either 0.0.0.0 or :: to accept traffic. If not configured properly, you'll encounter a 502 error.

Deploy the Astro App to Railway

Railway offers multiple ways to deploy your Astro app, depending on your setup and preference.

One-Click Deploy from a Template

If you’re looking for the fastest way to get started, the one-click deploy option is ideal.

Click the button below to begin:

We highly recommend that you eject from the template after deployment to create a copy of the repo on your GitHub account.

Note: You can also choose from a variety of Astro app templates created by the community.

Deploy from the CLI

Install the Railway CLI:
- Install the CLI and authenticate it using your Railway account.
Initialize a Railway Project:
- Run the command below in your Vue app directory.
```
railway init
```
- Follow the prompts to name your project.
- After the project is created, click the provided link to view it in your browser.
Deploy the Application:
- Use the command below to deploy your app:
```
railway up
```
- This command will scan, compress and upload your app's files to Railway. You’ll see real-time deployment logs in your terminal.
- Once the deployment completes, go to View logs to check if the service is running successfully.
Set Up a Public URL:
- Navigate to the Networking section under the Settings tab of your new service.
- Click Generate Domain to create a public URL for your app.

screenshot of the deployed Astro service

Deploy from a GitHub Repo

To deploy an Astro app to Railway directly from GitHub, follow the steps below:

Create a New Project on Railway:
- Go to Railway to create a new project.
Deploy from GitHub:
- Select Deploy from GitHub repo and choose your repository.
  - If your Railway account isn’t linked to GitHub yet, you’ll be prompted to do so.
Deploy the App:
- Click Deploy to start the deployment process.
- Once the deployed, a Railway service will be created for your app, but it won’t be publicly accessible by default.
Verify the Deployment:
- Once the deployment completes, go to View logs to check if the server is running successfully.
Set Up a Public URL:
- Navigate to the Networking section under the Settings tab of your new service.
- Click Generate Domain to create a public URL for your app.

Use a Dockerfile

Create a Dockerfile in the blog or Astro app's root directory.

Add the content below to the Dockerfile:

# Use the Node alpine official image
# https://hub.docker.com/_/node
FROM node:lts-alpine

# Create and change to the app directory.
WORKDIR /app

# Copy the files to the container image
COPY package*.json ./

# Install packages
RUN npm ci

# Copy local code to the container image.
COPY . ./

# Build the app.
RUN npm run build

# Serve the app
CMD ["npm", "run", "start"]