Deploy a Lovable App on Railway

Lovable is an AI-powered development platform that generates full-stack web applications from natural language prompts. The platform produces code that can be exported to GitHub and deployed to hosting platforms.

Lovable handles the code generation and iteration cycle within its environment. When connected to GitHub, changes made through Lovable's prompt interface automatically sync to a repository, enabling deployment pipelines to external platforms.

This guide covers how to deploy a Lovable-generated app to Railway:

1. Generate and connect to GitHub.
2. Deploy from GitHub repository.
3. Enable continuous deployment.
4. Iterate on your application.

Generate App and Connect to GitHub

Lovable generates code within its platform. To deploy on Railway, the code must first be exported to GitHub.

Create a Project in Lovable

If you already have a Lovable project connected to GitHub, skip to Deploy from GitHub Repo.

1. Sign in to Lovable and create a new project.
2. Use prompts to generate your application. Lovable produces a full-stack application with frontend and backend components as needed.
3. Test the application within Lovable's environment to verify functionality.

Connect to GitHub

The GitHub integration establishes a two-way sync between Lovable and a repository. Changes in Lovable appear in GitHub automatically, and commits to the default branch sync back to Lovable.

Prerequisites:

• GitHub account (create one at github.com)
• Admin or owner access to your Lovable workspace

Connection steps:

1. In Lovable, navigate to Settings → Integrations → GitHub.
2. Click Connect GitHub and authorize Lovable to access your GitHub account.
3. Install the Lovable GitHub App on your personal account or organization.
   • Choose whether to grant access to all repositories or selected ones.
   • Click Install & Authorize.
4. Connect your specific project:
   • Click Connect project in the GitHub settings.
   • Select the GitHub account or organization where the repository should be created.
   • Confirm the transfer to establish two-way sync.

Lovable creates a new repository containing your application code. All subsequent changes made through Lovable's interface push to this repository automatically.

Important constraints:

• The repository name, location, and owner must remain unchanged. Renaming or moving the repository breaks the sync.
• Only the default branch (typically main) syncs with Lovable.
• Each Lovable project connects to exactly one repository.

Deploy from GitHub Repo

Once your Lovable project is connected to GitHub, deploy it to Railway by importing the repository.

1. Create a New Project on Railway:
   • Go to Railway to create a new project.
2. Deploy from GitHub:
   • Select Deploy from GitHub repo and choose the repository created by Lovable.
     • If your Railway account isn't linked to GitHub yet, you'll be prompted to do so.
3. Deploy the App:
   • Click Deploy to start the deployment process.
   • Railway detects the build configuration from your Lovable-generated code and provisions the necessary resources.
   • Once deployed, a Railway service will be created for your app, but it won't be publicly accessible by default.
4. Verify the Deployment:
   • Once the deployment completes, go to View logs to check if the server is running successfully.
   • Review any build or runtime errors in the deployment logs.
5. Set Up a Public URL:
   • Navigate to the Networking section under the Settings tab of your new service.
   • Click Generate Domain to create a public URL for your app.

Your Lovable-generated application is now live on Railway.

Environment Variables

Lovable-generated applications may require environment variables for API keys, database connections, or other configuration.

Add environment variables in Railway:

1. Navigate to your service in Railway.
2. Go to the Variables tab.
3. Add the required variables as key-value pairs.
4. Railway automatically redeploys with the new configuration.

See the Variables guide for detailed information on managing environment variables.

Iterate on Your Application

The Lovable-Railway workflow enables prompt-driven development with automatic deployment.

Development workflow:

1. Open your Lovable project.
2. Describe changes or new features using natural language prompts.
3. Lovable generates the code changes and updates the GitHub repository.
4. Railway detects the commit and begins redeployment automatically.
5. Monitor the deployment in Railway's logs to verify the changes deployed successfully.

Development cycle timing:

• Lovable to GitHub sync occurs within seconds of completing changes.
• Railway deployment time depends on build complexity, typically a few minutes.

Handling deployment failures:

If a deployment fails after a Lovable change:

1. Check Railway's build and deployment logs for errors.
2. Review the changes in GitHub to identify problematic code.
3. Use Lovable's prompt interface to request fixes or adjustments.
4. Lovable will push corrections to GitHub, triggering a new deployment attempt.

Working with branches:

By default, Lovable syncs only with the default branch (usually main). Railway deploys from this same branch.

Lovable offers experimental branch switching in Settings → Account → Labs. When enabled, you can develop features on separate branches before merging to the main branch, which then deploys to Railway.

Railway Templates Marketplace

The Railway templates marketplace provides pre-configured services that can be deployed alongside your Lovable application. Templates include databases, caching systems, message queues, and other infrastructure components commonly needed by web applications.

Adding templates to your project:

1. Navigate to your Railway project containing your Lovable application.
2. Click the + New button to add a service.
3. Select Template to browse the marketplace.
4. Search for the service you need (PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB, etc.).
5. Click Deploy to add the template to your project.

The template service deploys in the same project as your Lovable application. Services within a project can communicate through private networking, and connection details are available as environment variables.

After deploying a template, configure your Lovable application to use the service by adding the connection variables to your Railway service's environment variables.

Browse available templates at the Railway Templates marketplace.

Troubleshooting

Deployment fails after Lovable changes:

• Check Railway logs for build or runtime errors.
• Verify that environment variables are configured correctly.
• Ensure the repository connection remains intact (not renamed or moved).

Changes in Lovable don't trigger Railway deployments:

• Verify GitHub autodeploys are enabled in Railway's service settings.
• Check that the Lovable-GitHub connection is active in Lovable's integration settings.
• Confirm changes were committed to the default branch (main).

Repository connection broken:

• Lovable's GitHub sync breaks if the repository is renamed, moved, or deleted.
• Restore the repository to its original name and location.
• If deleted, restore the repository on GitHub.

Next Steps

Explore these resources to enhance your Lovable application on Railway:

• Add a Database Service
• Monitor your app
• Configure environment variables
• Set up custom domains