Bounties
Bounties are a community program where you can earn money by answering questions in Central Station. When you help solve another user's problem, you get rewarded. You can use your earnings as Railway credits or withdraw them as cash via Stripe Connect.
How Bounties Work
Bounties are questions from the community that have a cash reward attached. When your answer is accepted as the solution, the bounty amount is added to your Railway earnings. You can use this as Railway credits or withdraw as cash.
The Bounty Lifecycle
- Question Posted: A user asks a question in Central Station.
- Bounty Created: Railway marks the question as bounty-eligible and it appears on the Bounty Board.
- Community Responds: Anyone can reply with a helpful answer.
- Solution Accepted: The original poster (or a moderator) marks a reply as the accepted solution. If someone solves your problem, be a good community member and mark their reply as the solution!
- Review & Payout: Railway reviews the solution and processes the payout.
Finding Bounties
All active bounties are listed on the Bounty Board. You can also opt-in to receive email notifications when new bounties are posted by flipping the "Subscribe to bounties" switch on the Bounty Board.
When Questions Become Bounties
Railway reviews questions in Central Station and selects some to become bounties. When your question is selected:
- You'll receive an email notification letting you know your question was added to the Bounty Board.
- Your question becomes visible on the Bounty Board where the community can help answer it.
- You don't need to do anything differently. Just wait for helpful answers and mark one as the solution when your problem is solved.
Why Some Questions Are Selected
Not every question becomes a bounty. Railway looks for questions that are:
- Clear and well-written: Enough context is provided for someone to understand and help with the problem.
- Relevant: About Railway usage, deployment, configuration, or troubleshooting.
- Answerable: The question has a concrete answer or solution, not just open-ended discussion.
Bounty Amounts
Bounty amounts vary depending on the question. The standard bounty is $10 USD, but some bounties may offer more for complex questions or high-priority topics.
You can see the bounty amount displayed on each question in the Bounty Board, as well as beneath the initial post when viewing an individual thread.
Requesting a Bounty
You can submit your own question as a bounty request in Central Station. This is useful if you have a question you think would benefit from community input and you'd like to incentivize a quick, high-quality answer.
How to Submit a Request
- Go to the Bounty Board and click to create a new bounty.
- Enter a clear title and detailed description of your question.
- Submit your request.
Your request creates a private thread visible only to you and the Railway team. You'll be redirected to this thread after submitting.
What Happens Next
Railway reviews your request to determine if it's a good fit for the bounty program. During this review, the team considers whether the question is clear, relevant to Railway, and likely to benefit from community answers.
If your request is approved:
- Your question is made public and added to the Bounty Board.
- You'll receive an email notification confirming your question is now a bounty.
- The community can start answering, and you can mark the best answer as the solution.
- Railway funds 100% of the bounty reward. You don't pay anything.
If your request is not approved:
- Your thread remains private between you and Railway.
- It will be treated like any other private thread in Central Station.
Tips for Getting Your Request Approved
To increase the chances of your bounty request being approved:
- Be specific: Clearly describe the problem you're trying to solve.
- Provide context: Include relevant details like error messages, configuration, or what you've already tried.
- Keep it focused: Ask one clear question rather than multiple questions in one request.
- Make it relevant: Questions about Railway deployment, configuration, or troubleshooting are most likely to be approved.
Earning from Bounties
When your answer is accepted as the solution to a bounty question, you receive the bounty amount as earnings. Your bounty earnings appear on your workspace's Earnings page alongside any template and referral earnings.
Requirements for Payout
For a bounty to be awarded, the following must be true:
- Your answer is marked as the solution: The original poster, a Conductor, or a Railway team member must mark your reply as the accepted solution.
- Your answer solves the problem: Railway reviews accepted solutions before processing payouts to verify the answer is genuinely helpful.
- You're not the person who asked the question: You cannot win a bounty on your own question.
If an accepted solution doesn't actually solve the problem, Railway may reject it and reopen the bounty for others to answer.
Workspace Selection
Bounty earnings are deposited to your workspace. If you have multiple workspaces, you can choose which one receives your earnings by clicking "Preferred Bounty Workspace" on the Bounty Board.
Withdrawing Your Earnings
You can use your bounty earnings as Railway credits or withdraw them as cash.
Using Earnings as Credits
Your earnings balance is available on the Earnings page and can be applied toward your Railway usage.
Cash Withdrawals
If you prefer to withdraw your earnings as cash:
- Go to your workspace's Earnings page.
- Set up your cash withdrawal account by connecting Stripe Connect.
- Withdraw your available balance.
Once Stripe Connect is set up, you can withdraw earnings from bounties, templates, and referrals, all from the same page.
Notifications
For Question Askers
If your question is selected to become a bounty, you'll receive an email notification letting you know it's been added to the Bounty Board.
For Bounty Hunters
You can opt-in to receive email notifications whenever a new bounty is posted by flipping the "Subscribe to bounties" switch on the Bounty Board.
For Bounty Winners
When your answer is accepted and the payout is processed, you'll receive an email confirmation with:
- The bounty amount awarded
- The question you answered
- The workspace where the earnings were deposited
Tips for Winning Bounties
Here are some ways to increase your chances of having your answer accepted:
- Be clear and specific: Explain your solution step-by-step so anyone can follow along.
- Include relevant context: Reference documentation, configuration examples, or code snippets where helpful.
- Test your solution: If possible, verify your answer works before posting.
- Be respectful: Remember there's a person on the other end who needs help.
Top Contributors
Central Station recognizes top bounty contributors based on activity over the last 30 days. Active participants earn contributor badges (Top 1%, Top 5%, Top 10%) that appear next to their name throughout Central Station.
Getting Started
Ready to start earning?
- Visit the Bounty Board to see open bounties.
- Find a question you can help with.
- Post a helpful, detailed answer.
- If your answer is accepted and verified, you earn the bounty amount.
- Set up your withdrawal account on your Earnings page.
- Withdraw your earnings as cash or use them as Railway credits.
The more you help, the more you earn. Plus, you'll be contributing to a community that helps developers ship faster.