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    Railway Security Guide

    Complete guide to securing Railway deployments for AI-generated applications. Learn how to properly configure environment variables, private networking, and resource limits to protect your Railway-hosted apps.

    Railway Services Are Public by Default

    Railway services are exposed on public URLs by default. AI-generated apps often deploy databases, admin panels, and internal APIs without authentication, making them accessible to anyone who finds the .railway.app URL. Private networking must be explicitly configured.

    Railway Security Checklist

    Follow these 12 steps to secure your Railway deployment. Critical items prevent public exposure of databases and internal services.

    Step 1

    Configure environment variables properly

    Critical

    Use Railway's environment variable system for all secrets instead of committing .env files to repositories.

    Step 2

    Separate development and production

    Critical

    Create separate Railway projects or environments for dev, staging, and production with different credentials.

    Step 3

    Enable private networking

    Critical

    Use Railway's private networking for inter-service communication to prevent exposing internal APIs publicly.

    Step 4

    Configure custom domains with SSL

    Critical

    Set up custom domains with automatic SSL certificates instead of using default railway.app domains in production.

    Step 5

    Review service permissions

    Critical

    Audit which team members have access to production deployments and follow least privilege principle.

    Step 6

    Set resource limits

    Configure memory and CPU limits to prevent resource exhaustion attacks and control costs.

    Step 7

    Enable deployment notifications

    Set up alerts for deployments, crashes, and resource usage to detect anomalies quickly.

    Step 8

    Use health checks

    Configure health check endpoints to detect and restart unhealthy services automatically.

    Step 9

    Review exposed ports

    Ensure only necessary ports are exposed and internal services are not publicly accessible.

    Step 10

    Configure database backups

    Enable automated backups for Railway-managed databases and test restoration procedures.

    Step 11

    Implement log retention

    Configure log forwarding to external services for security event analysis and compliance.

    Step 12

    Review deployment triggers

    Audit which branches and events trigger deployments to prevent unauthorized releases.

    Common Railway Misconfigurations

    Public Database URLs

    Critical

    Database connection strings exposed as public environment variables, allowing anyone to access production data.

    No Environment Separation

    Critical

    Using the same Railway project for dev and production, mixing test data with real user data.

    Exposed Internal Services

    High

    Internal APIs and admin panels publicly accessible without authentication on .railway.app domains.

    Missing Resource Limits

    Medium

    No memory or CPU limits configured, allowing denial of service attacks to rack up unlimited costs.

    Related Resources

    Environment Variables Security

    Best practices for Railway secrets management

    Render Security Guide

    Similar platform security for Render deployments

    Docker Security Basics

    Container security for Railway deployments

    API Security Testing

    Test your Railway-deployed APIs for vulnerabilities

    Scan Your Railway Deployment

    VibeEval can detect publicly exposed services, missing authentication, and environment variable misconfigurations in Railway deployments. Secure your app before attackers find it.

    Start Free Security Scan