Deploy Rails App to Railway

Deploy the current Rails project to Railway using the Railway CLI. Works for both first-time deploys and re-deploys.

Prerequisites Check

Before starting, verify:

# 1. Railway CLI installed?
railway --version

# 2. Logged in?
railway whoami

If not logged in, instruct the user:

Please run: railway login
Then retry deployment.

Step 0: Prepare for Linux Build

Railway runs on Linux. Ensure Gemfile.lock includes the linux platform:

bundle lock --add-platform x86_64-linux

If the project uses a Dockerfile builder (check railway.toml for builder = "DOCKERFILE"), no Procfile is needed, skip creating one.

Only create a Procfile if there is no Dockerfile:

web: bundle exec puma -C config/puma.rb

Step 1: Check Link Status → Deploy Immediately if Already Linked

First: check if already linked:

railway status 2>&1

If output contains Project: → project is already linked. Skip Steps 2, 5 entirely and jump to Step 6 (Deploy).

If output contains "not linked" or an error → not linked yet. Try linking to an existing project first, list available projects:

railway list 2>&1 | grep -i "<app-name>"

If a matching project is found, link it:

railway link --project <project-name> --service <service-name> 2>&1

Only if no existing project is found, init a new one:

railway init -n <app-name>

The app-name should match the current directory name (e.g., my-rails-app).

⚠️ NEVER run railway init when already linked or when an existing project exists. It silently creates a brand-new Railway project. If this happens by mistake:

1. Find the correct project name from railway list
2. Re-link: railway link --project <project-name> --service <service-name>

Step 2: Set Environment Variables

Set required Rails production variables. Use --skip-deploys to avoid triggering premature deploys: