Deploy methods
Ship any app, any way it builds.
Railyard picks the build path your repo needs. The release hook, the probe, the swap and the rollback don't care which one ran.
| Method | Source | What runs | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| image:// | A registry tag | Pull and run. No clone, no build. | shipped |
| dockerfile | A repo with a Dockerfile | Clone, docker build, run. | shipped |
| buildpacks | A repo, no Dockerfile | pack build against heroku/builder:24, then run. | shipped |
| nixpacks | A repo, no Dockerfile | Nixpacks writes a Dockerfile, then it builds normally. | shipped |
| role: builder | Any repo method | Build on a dedicated builder, push to a registry, serving hosts pull. | shipped |
| Procfile | A repo with a Procfile | Declares web and worker processes plus the release hook. | shipped |
01 / one pipeline
The build path changes. Nothing after it does.
Image, Dockerfile, buildpacks, Nixpacks, Procfile — every path produces one thing: an image. From there the deploy is identical, right down to the thirty-second redeploy of the same commit.
- Config vars exported into the build
- Release hook runs before traffic moves
- Readiness probe, then a zero-downtime swap
02 / what every build gets
Config vars at build time
Exported into the build the way Heroku and Render do it — an asset precompile that boots the app finds its database URL.
Private repos and submodules
A deploy key clones private repositories; submodules are fetched with the tree.
Build args and secrets
Pass build arguments and mount BuildKit secrets without baking them into a layer.
Persistent volumes
Named volumes at a path you choose, never wiped by a redeploy.
Addons, wired in
Postgres with pgvector, MySQL, Redis, Memcached, object storage — connection strings injected.
Release hooks
Migrations run before the new version takes traffic; a failure stops the deploy.
Proven on commercial software: Campfire, 37signals' paid Rails 8 product, runs through both the Dockerfile path and buildpacks.
Your next deploy could be on a server you own.
Attach a machine with a host, a user and an SSH key. Railyard installs the rest and watches it come online.
Free for one server, forever. No credit card.