Does NestJS Work With Railway?
NestJS deploys seamlessly on Railway with zero friction—Railway handles Node.js as a first-class runtime and NestJS apps require only standard environment configuration.
Quick Facts
How NestJS Works With Railway
NestJS applications deploy to Railway through standard Node.js container detection. Railway automatically detects your `package.json`, installs dependencies, and runs the build/start scripts you define. NestJS projects work out-of-the-box since they follow conventional Node.js patterns: a build step (`npm run build`) that compiles TypeScript to JavaScript, and a start command (`npm start` or `node dist/main.js`) that launches the application. Railway's environment variable system integrates smoothly with NestJS's ConfigModule, allowing you to manage database connections, API keys, and service URLs across development and production environments. The platform also provides first-class PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and Redis services that you can link directly to your NestJS app—Railway injects connection strings as environment variables automatically, eliminating manual configuration. You can deploy from GitHub with automatic CI/CD, set up custom domains, manage secrets securely, and scale horizontally. The developer experience is streamlined: push code, Railway builds and deploys within minutes.
Best Use Cases
Quick Setup
npm install -g @nestjs/cli && nest new my-app && cd my-app// src/app.module.ts
import { Module } from '@nestjs/common';
import { ConfigModule } from '@nestjs/config';
import { TypeOrmModule } from '@nestjs/typeorm';
@Module({
imports: [
ConfigModule.forRoot({
isGlobal: true,
envFilePath: '.env',
}),
TypeOrmModule.forRoot({
type: 'postgres',
host: process.env.DATABASE_HOST,
port: parseInt(process.env.DATABASE_PORT) || 5432,
username: process.env.DATABASE_USER,
password: process.env.DATABASE_PASSWORD,
database: process.env.DATABASE_NAME,
autoLoadEntities: true,
synchronize: process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production',
}),
],
})
export class AppModule {}Known Issues & Gotchas
Build scripts must complete within Railway's timeout (typically 30 minutes for standard plans)
Fix: Optimize your TypeScript compilation and dependencies. Use `npm ci` instead of `npm install` in production builds. Consider disabling source maps in production builds to reduce compilation time.
Node memory limits can cause OOM crashes if NestJS is memory-intensive (large request bodies, heavy processing)
Fix: Monitor memory usage in Railway's metrics dashboard. Upgrade to a plan with more RAM, or implement request size limits and pagination in your NestJS controllers.
Cold starts on hobby tier can take 10-30 seconds, impacting perceived performance
Fix: Use Railway's Standard tier or higher for production apps, or implement health check endpoints that warm up critical services.
Alternatives
- •Vercel + NestJS (Vercel serverless) + external database—better for edge performance but requires serverless function patterns
- •Heroku + NestJS—simpler but less transparent pricing and older infrastructure compared to Railway
- •Docker + any VPS (AWS EC2, DigitalOcean, Linode)—maximum control and flexibility but requires DevOps expertise
Resources
Related Compatibility Guides
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