Railway New

New Project / Service / Database

Create Railway projects, services, and databases with proper configuration.

When to Use

• User says "deploy to railway" (add service if linked, init if not)
• User says "create a railway project", "init", "new project" (explicit new project)
• User says "link to railway", "connect to railway"
• User says "create a service", "add a backend", "new api service"
• User says "create a vite app", "create a react website", "make a python api"
• User says "deploy from github.com/user/repo", "create service from this repo"
• User says "add postgres", "add a database", "add redis", "add mysql", "add mongo"
• User says "connect to postgres", "wire up the database", "connect my api to redis"
• User says "add postgres and connect to the server"
• Setting up code + Railway service together

Prerequisites

Check CLI installed:

command -v railway

If not installed:

Install Railway CLI:

npm install -g @railway/cli

or

brew install railway

Check authenticated:

railway whoami --json

If not authenticated:

Run railway login to authenticate.

Decision Flow

railway status --json (in current dir)
     │
┌────┴────┐
Linked    Not Linked
  │            │
  │       Check parent: cd .. && railway status --json
  │            │
  │       ┌────┴────┐
  │    Parent      Not linked
  │    Linked      anywhere
  │       │            │
  │   Add service   railway list
  │   Set rootDir      │
  │   Deploy       ┌───┴───┐
  │       │      Match?  No match
  │       │        │        │
  │       │      Link    Init new
  └───────┴────────┴────────┘
           │
    User wants service?
           │
     ┌─────┴─────┐
    Yes         No
     │           │
Scaffold code   Done
     │
railway add --service
     │
Configure if needed
     │
Ready to deploy

Check Current State

railway status --json

• If linked: Add a service to the existing project (see below)
• If not linked: Check if a PARENT directory is linked (see below)

When Already Linked

Default behavior: "deploy to railway" = add a service to the linked project.

Do NOT create a new project unless user EXPLICITLY says:

• "new project", "create a project", "init a project"
• "separate project", "different project"

App names like "flappy-bird" or "my-api" are SERVICE names, not project names.

User: "create a vite app called foo and deploy to railway"
Project: Already linked to "my-project"

WRONG: railway init -n foo
RIGHT: railway add --service foo

Parent Directory Linking

Railway CLI walks up the directory tree to find a linked project. If you're in a subdirectory:

cd .. && railway status --json

If parent is linked, you don't need to init/link the subdirectory. Instead:

1. Create service: railway add --service <name>
2. Set rootDirectory to subdirectory path via environment skill
3. Deploy from root: railway up

If no parent is linked, proceed with init or link flow.

Init vs Link Decision

Skip this section if already linked - just add a service instead.

Only use this section when NO project is linked (directly or via parent).

Check User's Projects

The output can be large. Run in a subagent and extract only:

• Project id and name
• Workspace id and name

railway list --json

Decision Logic

1. User explicitly says "new project" → Use railway init
2. User names an existing project → Use railway link
3. Directory name matches existing project → Ask: link existing or create new?
4. No matching projects → Use railway init
5. Ambiguous → Ask user

Create New Project

railway init -n <name>

Options:

• -n, --name - Project name (auto-generated if omitted in non-interactive mode)
• -w, --workspace - Workspace name or ID (required if multiple workspaces exist)

Multiple Workspaces

If the user has multiple workspaces, railway init requires the --workspace flag.

Get workspace IDs from:

railway whoami --json

The workspaces array contains { id, name } for each workspace.

Inferring workspace from user input: If user says "deploy into xxx workspace" or "create project in my-team", match the name against the workspaces array and use the corresponding ID:

# User says: "create a project in my personal workspace"
railway whoami --json | jq '.workspaces[] | select(.name | test("personal"; "i"))'
# Use the matched ID: railway init -n myapp --workspace <matched-id>

Link Existing Project

railway link -p <project>

Options:

• -p, --project - Project name or ID
• -e, --environment - Environment (default: production)
• -s, --service - Service to link
• -t, --team - Team/workspace

Create Service

After project is linked, create a service:

railway add --service <name>

For GitHub repo sources: Create an empty service, then invoke the railway-environment skill to configure the source via staged changes API. Do NOT use railway add --repo - it requires GitHub app integration which often fails.

Flow:

1. railway add --service my-api
2. Invoke railway-environment skill to set source.repo and source.branch
3. Apply changes to trigger deployment

Configure Based on Project Type

Reference railpack.md for build configuration. Reference monorepo.md for monorepo patterns.

Static site (Vite, CRA, Astro static):

• Railpack auto-detects common output dirs (dist, build)
• If non-standard output dir: invoke railway-environment skill to set RAILPACK_STATIC_FILE_ROOT
• Do NOT use railway variables CLI - always use the environment skill

Node.js SSR (Next.js, Nuxt, Express):

• Verify start script exists in package.json
• If custom start needed: invoke railway-environment skill to set startCommand

Python (FastAPI, Django, Flask):

• Verify requirements.txt or pyproject.toml exists
• Auto-detected by Railpack, usually no config needed

Go:

• Verify go.mod exists
• Auto-detected, no config needed

Monorepo Configuration

Critical decision: Root directory vs custom commands.

Isolated monorepo (apps don't share code):

• Set Root Directory to the app's subdirectory (e.g., /frontend)
• Only that directory's code is available during build

Shared monorepo (TypeScript workspaces, shared packages):

• Do NOT set root directory
• Set custom build/start commands to filter the package:
  • pnpm: pnpm --filter <package> build
  • npm: npm run build --workspace=packages/<package>
  • yarn: yarn workspace <package> build
  • Turborepo: turbo run build --filter=<package>
• Set watch paths to prevent unnecessary rebuilds

See monorepo.md for detailed patterns.

Project Setup Guidance

Analyze the codebase to ensure Railway compatibility.

Analyze Codebase

Check for existing project files:

• package.json → Node.js project
• requirements.txt, pyproject.toml → Python project
• go.mod → Go project
• Cargo.toml → Rust project
• index.html → Static site
• None → Guide scaffolding

Monorepo detection:

• pnpm-workspace.yaml → pnpm workspace (shared monorepo)
• package.json with workspaces field → npm/yarn workspace (shared monorepo)
• turbo.json → Turborepo (shared monorepo)
• Multiple subdirs with separate package.json but no workspace config → isolated monorepo

Scaffolding Hints

If no code exists, suggest minimal patterns from railpack.md:

Static site:

Create an index.html file in the root directory.

Vite React:

npm create vite@latest . -- --template react

Astro:

npm create astro@latest

Python FastAPI:

Create main.py with FastAPI app and requirements.txt with dependencies.

Go:

Create main.go with HTTP server listening on PORT env var.

Databases

For adding databases (Postgres, Redis, MySQL, MongoDB), use the railway-railway-database skill.

The railway-railway-database skill handles:

• Creating database services
• Connection variable references
• Wiring services to databases

Composability

• After service created: Use railway-deploy skill to push code
• For advanced config: Use railway-environment skill (buildCommand, startCommand)
• For domains: Use railway-domain skill
• For status checks: Use railway-status skill
• For service operations (rename, delete, status): Use railway-service skill

Error Handling

CLI Not Installed

Railway CLI not installed. Install with:
  npm install -g @railway/cli
or
  brew install railway

Not Authenticated

Not logged in to Railway. Run: railway login

No Workspaces

No workspaces found. Create one at railway.com or verify authentication.

Project Name Taken

Project name already exists. Either:
- Link to existing: railway link -p <name>
- Use different name: railway init -n <other-name>

Service Name Taken

Service name already exists in this project. Use a different name:
  railway add --service <other-name>

Examples

Create HTML Static Site

User: "create a simple html site and deploy to railway"

1. Check status → not linked
2. railway init -n my-site
3. Guide: create index.html
4. railway add --service my-site
5. No config needed (index.html in root auto-detected)
6. Use deploy skill: railway up
7. Use domain skill for public URL

Create Vite React Service

User: "create a vite react service"

1. Check status → linked (or init/link first)
2. Scaffold: npm create vite@latest frontend -- --template react
3. railway add --service frontend
4. No config needed (Vite dist output auto-detected)
5. Use deploy skill: railway up

Add Python API to Project

User: "add a python api to my project"

1. Check status → linked
2. Guide: create main.py with FastAPI, requirements.txt
3. railway add --service api
4. No config needed (FastAPI auto-detected)
5. Use deploy skill

Link and Add Service

User: "connect to my backend project and add a worker service"

1. railway list --json → find "backend"
2. railway link -p backend
3. railway add --service worker
4. Guide setup based on worker type

Deploy to Railway (Ambiguous)

User: "deploy to railway"

1. railway status → not linked
2. railway list → has projects
3. Directory is "my-app", found project "my-app"
4. Ask: "Found existing project 'my-app'. Link to it or create new?"
5. User: "link"
6. railway link -p my-app
7. Ask: "Create a service for this code?"

Add Service to Isolated Monorepo

User: "create a static site in the frontend directory"

1. Check: /frontend has its own package.json, no workspace config
2. This is isolated monorepo → use root directory
3. railway add --service frontend
4. Invoke environment skill to set rootDirectory: /frontend
5. Set watch paths: /frontend/**

Add Service to TypeScript Monorepo

User: "add a new api package to this turborepo"

1. Check: turbo.json exists, pnpm-workspace.yaml exists
2. This is shared monorepo → use custom commands, NOT root directory
3. Guide: create packages/api with package.json
4. railway add --service api
5. Invoke environment skill to set buildCommand and startCommand (do NOT set rootDirectory)
6. Set watch paths: /packages/api/**, /packages/shared/**

Deploy Existing pnpm Workspace Package

User: "deploy the backend package to railway"

1. Check: pnpm-workspace.yaml exists → shared monorepo
2. railway add --service backend
3. Invoke environment skill to set buildCommand and startCommand
4. Set watch paths for backend + any shared deps

Deploy Subdirectory of Linked Project

User: "create a vite app in my-app directory and deploy to railway"
CWD: ~/projects/my-project/my-app (parent already linked to "my-project")

1. Check status in my-app → not linked
2. Check parent: cd .. && railway status → IS linked to "my-project"
3. DON'T init/link the subdirectory
4. Scaffold: bun create vite my-app --template react-ts
5. cd my-app && bun install
6. railway add --service my-app
7. Invoke environment skill to set rootDirectory: /my-app
8. Deploy from root: railway up