deploy

Deploy

Deploy code from the current directory to Railway using railway up.

When to Use

• User asks to "deploy", "ship", "push code"
• User says "railway up" or "deploy to Railway"
• User wants to deploy local code changes
• User says "deploy and fix any issues" (use --ci mode)

Commit Message

Always use the -m flag with a descriptive commit message summarizing what's being deployed:

railway up --detach -m "Add user authentication endpoint"

Good commit messages:

• Describe what changed: "Fix memory leak in worker process"
• Reference tickets/issues: "Implement feature #123"
• Be concise but meaningful: "Update deps and fix build warnings"

Modes

Detach Mode (default)

Starts deploy and returns immediately. Use for most deploys.

railway up --detach -m "Deploy description here"

CI Mode

Streams build logs until complete. Use when user wants to watch the build or needs to debug issues.

railway up --ci -m "Deploy description here"

When to use CI mode:

• User says "deploy and watch", "deploy and fix issues"
• User is debugging build failures
• User wants to see build output

Deploy Specific Service

Default is linked service. To deploy to a different service:

railway up --detach --service backend -m "Deploy description here"

Deploy to Unlinked Project

Deploy to a project without linking first:

railway up --project <project-id> --environment production --detach -m "Deploy description here"

Requires both --project and --environment flags.

CLI Options

Flag	Description
-m, --message <MSG>	Commit message describing the deploy (always use this)
-d, --detach	Don't attach to logs (default)
-c, --ci	Stream build logs, exit when done
-s, --service <NAME>	Target service (defaults to linked)
-e, --environment <NAME>	Target environment (defaults to linked)
-p, --project <ID>	Target project (requires --environment)
[PATH]	Path to deploy (defaults to current directory)

Directory Linking

Railway CLI walks UP the directory tree to find a linked project. If you're in a subdirectory of a linked project, you don't need to relink.

For subdirectory deployments, prefer setting rootDirectory via the environment skill, then deploy normally with railway up.

After Deploy

Detach mode

Deploying to <service>...

Use deployment skill to check build status (with --lines flag).

CI mode

Build logs stream inline. If build fails, the error will be in the output.

Do NOT run railway logs --build after CI mode - the logs already streamed. If you need more context, use deployment skill with --lines flag (never stream).

Composability

• Check status after deploy: Use service skill
• View logs: Use deployment skill
• Fix config issues: Use environment skill
• Redeploy after config fix: Use environment skill

Error Handling

No Project Linked

No Railway project linked. Run `railway link` first.

No Service Linked

No service linked. Use --service flag or run `railway service` to select one.

Build Failure (CI mode)

The build logs already streamed - analyze them directly from the railway up --ci output. Do NOT run railway logs after CI mode (it streams forever without --lines).

Common issues:

• Missing dependencies → check package.json/requirements.txt
• Build command wrong → use environment skill to fix
• Dockerfile issues → check dockerfile path