railway-deploy

name: railway-deploy description: Deploy the OpenClaw gateway to Railway for hosting ClawCity AI agents. Handles project setup, volume configuration, environment variables, and verification.

Railway Deploy Agent

Deploys the openclaw-gateway/ to Railway. The gateway runs two services in a single container: an OpenClaw agent orchestrator (port 18789) and an Express.js provisioning server (Railway's PORT). This skill walks through the complete setup from scratch.

Gateway path: openclaw-gateway/ Live provisioning server: The public URL Railway assigns Internal gateway: http://127.0.0.1:18789 (container-internal only)

Quick Start

When triggered, execute these phases in order:

1. Prerequisites → Verify tools, keys, and accounts
2. Create Project → Initialize Railway project linked to the gateway subdirectory
3. Add Volume → Persistent storage for agent data
4. Environment → Configure all required env vars
5. Deploy → Push the Docker build to Railway
6. Networking → Verify domain and port routing
7. Verify → Health check and test provisioning
8. Connect → Wire up the ClawCity Vercel backend

Phase 1: Prerequisites

Required Accounts & Tools

Verify CLI is Working

railway --version
railway whoami

If not logged in, run railway login and authenticate via browser.

Phase 2: Create Railway Project

Option A: From CLI

# Navigate to the gateway subdirectory
cd openclaw-gateway

# Create a new Railway project (interactive — picks project name)
railway init

# Link to the current directory
railway link

Option B: From Dashboard

1. Go to https://railway.app/new
2. Create empty project
3. Add a service → "Empty Service" or "Deploy from GitHub repo"
4. If GitHub: select the repo and set Root Directory to openclaw-gateway

Dockerfile Path

Railway auto-detects Dockerfile in the root of the linked directory. Since we link to openclaw-gateway/, the Dockerfile at openclaw-gateway/Dockerfile is found automatically.

If deploying from the repo root instead, set:

• Root Directory: openclaw-gateway
• Or set the Dockerfile Path to openclaw-gateway/Dockerfile in service settings

Phase 3: Add Persistent Volume

The gateway stores agent workspaces, sessions, configs, and skills on disk. Without a volume, all agent data is lost on each deploy.

Mount Path

/home/node/.openclaw/

From CLI

railway volume add --mount-path /home/node/.openclaw

From Dashboard

1. Select the service → Volumes tab
2. Add volume
3. Set mount path: /home/node/.openclaw/

What the Volume Stores

Note: startup.sh re-syncs openclaw.json, skills, and HEARTBEAT.md from /home/node/defaults/ into the volume on every boot. This ensures config updates from new Docker builds propagate even though the volume persists.

Phase 4: Configure Environment Variables

Required

Recommended

Auto-Set by Railway

Optional

Set via CLI

railway variables set OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-v1-your-key-here
railway variables set PROVISION_AUTH_TOKEN=your-secret-token
railway variables set OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN=your-gateway-token

Set via Dashboard

Service → Variables tab → Add each key-value pair.

Phase 5: Deploy

Option A: Manual Deploy from CLI

cd openclaw-gateway
railway up

This uploads the directory and builds using the Dockerfile. Watch the build logs for:

• npm install -g openclaw@latest (OpenClaw installation)
• npm install -g clawcity@latest (ClawCity CLI)
• Multi-stage build completing successfully

Option B: GitHub Auto-Deploy

If the Railway project is linked to a GitHub repo:

1. Push to the configured branch (usually main)
2. Railway auto-triggers a build
3. Ensure Root Directory is set to openclaw-gateway in service settings

Build Expectations

The Dockerfile runs a multi-stage build:

1. Builder stage: Compiles provision-server/ TypeScript → JavaScript
2. Production stage: Installs openclaw, clawcity CLI, copies compiled provision server, default configs, and startup script

Expected build time: 2-4 minutes (first build may be longer due to npm installs).

Phase 6: Configure Networking

How Ports Work

The container exposes two ports internally:

Railway routes its public domain to the PORT env var. The provisioning server listens on PORT (see startup.sh line: LISTEN_PORT="${PORT:-${PROVISION_PORT:-18800}}"). The OpenClaw gateway is only accessed internally by the provisioning server at http://127.0.0.1:18789.

Public Domain

Railway auto-assigns a domain like your-service-production-xxxx.up.railway.app.

To find it:

railway domain

Or in the Dashboard: Service → Settings → Networking → Public Domain.

Custom Domain (Optional)

railway domain add gateway.yourdomain.com

Then add a CNAME record in your DNS pointing to the Railway-assigned domain.

Health Check

Railway can use the /health endpoint for health checks:

• Path: /health
• Expected response: { "status": "ok", "agents": [...] }
• No auth required (health check is before the auth middleware)

Configure in Dashboard: Service → Settings → Health Check Path → /health

Phase 7: Verify Deployment

Step 1: Check Health

GATEWAY_URL="https://your-service-production-xxxx.up.railway.app"

curl "$GATEWAY_URL/health"
# Expected: {"status":"ok","agents":[]}

Step 2: Check Logs

railway logs

Look for these startup messages:

[startup] Starting OpenClaw Gateway + Provisioning Server
[startup] Updating clawcity CLI...
[startup] Syncing openclaw.json into volume
[startup] Syncing clawcity skill into workspace
[startup] Checking skill discovery:
[startup] Starting OpenClaw gateway on :18789...
[startup] OpenClaw gateway running (pid=XX)
[startup] Starting provisioning server on :XXXX...
[provision] Provisioning server running on :XXXX
[provision] Gateway URL: http://127.0.0.1:18789

Step 3: Provision a Test Agent

curl -X POST "$GATEWAY_URL/api/provision" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_PROVISION_AUTH_TOKEN" \
  -d '{
    "agentId": "test-agent-1",
    "agentName": "TestBot",
    "apiKey": "YOUR_CLAWCITY_API_KEY",
    "personalityPreset": "explorer",
    "strategyExploration": 70,
    "strategyTrading": 50,
    "strategyAggression": 30,
    "strategySocial": 50,
    "customInstructions": ""
  }'
# Expected: {"success":true,"agentId":"test-agent-1"}

Step 4: Test Chat

curl -X POST "$GATEWAY_URL/api/chat" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_PROVISION_AUTH_TOKEN" \
  -d '{
    "agentId": "test-agent-1",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello, what can you do?"}]
  }'

Step 5: Clean Up Test Agent

curl -X DELETE "$GATEWAY_URL/api/provision/test-agent-1" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_PROVISION_AUTH_TOKEN"

Phase 8: Connect to ClawCity Backend

The ClawCity Next.js app communicates with the gateway through src/lib/openclaw.ts. Set these env vars in your Vercel deployment (not Railway):

Vercel Environment Variables

Set via Vercel CLI

vercel env add OPENCLAW_PROVISION_URL production
# Paste: https://your-service-production-xxxx.up.railway.app

vercel env add OPENCLAW_PROVISION_TOKEN production
# Paste: your-secret-token

Set via Vercel Dashboard

Project → Settings → Environment Variables → Add both variables for Production.

Verify Connection

After redeploying the Vercel app (or waiting for the next deploy):

1. The builder UI at /builder should be able to provision agents
2. src/lib/openclaw.ts → isOpenClawConfigured() returns true
3. checkGatewayHealth() returns { healthy: true, agents: [...] }

Key Files Reference

Provisioning API Reference

All endpoints (except /health) require Authorization: Bearer <PROVISION_AUTH_TOKEN> when the token is set.

Troubleshooting

Gateway fails to start

Symptom: Logs show WARNING: OpenClaw gateway failed to start

Cause: Usually missing OPENROUTER_API_KEY or insufficient memory.

Fix:

# Verify env var is set
railway variables

# Check if OPENROUTER_API_KEY is present and valid

Volume permissions error

Symptom: EACCES: permission denied errors in logs

Cause: Railway volume may mount as root-owned.

Fix: startup.sh already runs chown -R node:node /home/node/.openclaw at boot. If this still fails, check that the container starts as root (it does by default — the CMD runs startup.sh as root, which then drops to node user via su).

Agent provisioning works but chat fails

Symptom: POST /api/provision succeeds, POST /api/chat returns gateway error.

Cause: The OpenClaw gateway on port 18789 may not be running, or OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN mismatch.

Fix:

# Check logs for gateway status
railway logs | grep -E "gateway|18789"

# Verify the gateway token matches what provision-server uses
# OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN must match on both sides

Build fails on npm install

Symptom: Docker build fails during npm install -g openclaw@latest

Cause: The openclaw package has a git dependency on libsignal-node that requires git + HTTPS.

Fix: The Dockerfile already configures git to rewrite SSH URLs to HTTPS. If it still fails, check Railway's build environment has internet access and the dependency hasn't changed its URL.

"Session file locked" errors

Symptom: Agents fail with session lock errors after redeploy.

Cause: Stale .lock files from the previous container run persist on the volume.

Fix: startup.sh cleans up lock files and stale sessions on every boot:

find /home/node/.openclaw/agents -name "*.lock" -delete
find /home/node/.openclaw/agents -path "*/sessions/*.jsonl" -delete

If the issue persists mid-run, restart the Railway service.

ClawCity builder can't connect

Symptom: Builder UI shows "Failed to connect to OpenClaw gateway"

Cause: OPENCLAW_PROVISION_URL or OPENCLAW_PROVISION_TOKEN not set in Vercel, or the Railway service is down.

Fix:

1. Verify Railway service is running: curl https://your-service.up.railway.app/health
2. Verify Vercel env vars: check OPENCLAW_PROVISION_URL and OPENCLAW_PROVISION_TOKEN are set for the correct environment (Production/Preview)
3. Redeploy Vercel app after adding env vars

Agent Execution Summary

+---------------------------------------------------------+
|  RAILWAY DEPLOY AGENT                                    |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                          |
|  1. PREREQUISITES:                                       |
|     * Railway CLI installed and authenticated            |
|     * OpenRouter API key ready                           |
|     * ClawCity API key(s) for test agents                |
|                                                          |
|  2. CREATE PROJECT:                                      |
|     * railway init in openclaw-gateway/                  |
|     * Link directory to Railway service                  |
|                                                          |
|  3. ADD VOLUME:                                          |
|     * Mount /home/node/.openclaw/                        |
|     * Persists agent data across deploys                 |
|                                                          |
|  4. ENVIRONMENT:                                         |
|     * Set OPENROUTER_API_KEY (required)                  |
|     * Set PROVISION_AUTH_TOKEN (recommended)              |
|     * Set OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN (recommended)           |
|                                                          |
|  5. DEPLOY:                                              |
|     * railway up (or GitHub auto-deploy)                 |
|     * Verify Docker multi-stage build succeeds           |
|                                                          |
|  6. NETWORKING:                                          |
|     * Railway PORT -> provision server (public)          |
|     * 18789 -> OpenClaw gateway (internal only)          |
|     * Set /health as health check path                   |
|                                                          |
|  7. VERIFY:                                              |
|     * GET /health returns ok                             |
|     * Provision, chat, deprovision a test agent          |
|     * Check startup logs for all services running        |
|                                                          |
|  8. CONNECT:                                             |
|     * Set OPENCLAW_PROVISION_URL in Vercel               |
|     * Set OPENCLAW_PROVISION_TOKEN in Vercel             |
|     * Builder UI can provision agents end-to-end         |
|                                                          |
+----------------------------------------------------------+