Deploy Nautilo on Railway

Railway is the shortest hosted path into Nautilo. The official template creates the complete structure in your Railway workspace. The signed Nautilo CLI then verifies the project, adopts it into durable local custody, starts the services in the right order, and opens first-owner setup.

Get your API keys ready

Start with one key: Venice, OpenRouter, or OpenAI. Any one provides routes for chat, embeddings, and image generation. You can install and claim the Server before adding it.

Recommended for all ten documented functions: Venice, ElevenLabs, Tavily, Browser Use, and CloudConvert. These five keys cover model and media generation, speech, web search, browser tasks, and document conversion. Tavily and Browser Use serve different functions; one does not replace the other. Provider credit, model access, permissions, and additional configuration still apply.

See what each key enables and where to get it. You can add missing services later without creating another Server.

How to fill the Railway file.

Before you begin

You need a Railway account allowed to create projects in the paying workspace, a browser, a password manager, and signed Nautilo CLI 0.1.33 or later. You do not need a Railway PAT, your own OAuth app, Docker, DNS, an SSH key, or a registry credential.

1. Confirm the signed CLI

If this is a new administrator machine, follow Install the signed release CLI first.

nautilo --version
nautilo host adopt --help

Use the latest signed stable CLI. If the version is older than 0.1.33, update it before deploying:

nautilo self-update
nautilo --version

If self-update or host adopt is missing, follow the signed CLI installation instructions above.

2. Deploy the official template

Open the official Nautilo template, choose the workspace that will own and pay for the Server, give the project a useful name, and deploy it.

The template creates Nautilo, Logto, two PostgreSQL services, persistent volumes, and managed HTTPS domains. Logto and Nautilo are deliberately held instead of booting prematurely. The next step releases them safely; a held project is not a failed deployment.

During adoption, the CLI automatically selects the latest signed stable Nautilo runtime and attaches it to the held setup service. You do not select an image or version, and the template does not pin a Nautilo runtime release. Existing running servers are upgraded explicitly through the CLI.

3. Verify before changing anything

Return to Terminal and run:

nautilo host adopt --backend railway

Complete Railway OAuth in the browser. The read-only audit must identify the intended workspace and project, verify the exact template structure, and report that no mutation was authorized. Nautilo will not silently adopt an unrelated or partially matching project.

4. Adopt and finish the Server

nautilo host adopt --backend railway --yes --finish guide

If you filled in the downloaded provider file, use this command instead:

nautilo host adopt --backend railway \
  --provider-config "$HOME/.config/nautilo/providers.toml" \
  --yes --finish guide

This supplies your keys as part of setup. Omit the file option if you prefer to enter them in Nautilo afterward.

The CLI records the project in protected local custody before mutating it, starts Logto and Nautilo in dependency order, verifies HTTPS readiness, and opens the Server Guide. Keep this process running until it completes or gives one clear action.

If the terminal, browser, or network is interrupted, do not deploy another template. Continue the same operation:

nautilo host resume --backend railway

5. Claim the first owner

Follow Create the first owner. Success ends at /help/server, with the Server Guide visible and no generic Genie prompt covering it.

If the setup link expires, or Finish claiming this server keeps saying completion is pending, run nautilo host resume --backend railway again. The CLI opens a fresh setup link for the same Server and preserves the account you started creating. Finish the profile, save the recovery codes privately, and choose Open server guide.

6. Configure intelligence and prove useful value

Sign in as an Owner or Admin and open Server admin → API Keys, or choose API Keys in the Server Guide. Add your starter or full set of keys. Follow the step-by-step key setup, then send one real test message. Sign out and sign back in as the same owner. The Server Guide, not a provider-key dead end, is the default administrator destination after setup.

7. Operate or remove this exact Server

The protected local receipt owns the launch and project identifiers. Use the host inspect, host upgrade, host resume, and host destroy commands from the signed CLI. Closing a terminal or browser does not stop Railway billing.

host upgrade is the only public Railway maintenance entry point that creates the coordinated provider-native backups and encrypted portable recovery copy. If interrupted, host resume continues that same transaction and may use the portable copy to create, verify, and promote a replacement project. Nautilo does not expose a standalone host backup, host restore, or fresh-project recovery command. Prepare the protected recovery input before upgrading: Railway upgrade and recovery.

Alternative: create the project from the CLI

The template is the shortest Human journey. Operators who need deterministic automation can instead use nautilo host plan and nautilo host deploy; see Railway automation. Both routes finish with the same receipt-owned day-two lifecycle.