cba0b597-8dda-49ec-abd1-d50886e024be

Use Nix with Node@v20 & Yarn@4.x in nixpacks.toml and railway.toml

Railway logs:

#7 [ 3/11] COPY .nixpacks/nixpkgs-*.nix .nixpacks/nixpkgs-*.nix
#7 DONE 0.2s

#8 [ 4/11] RUN nix-env -if .nixpacks/nixpkgs-*.nix && nix-collect-garbage -d
#8 0.122 error: syntax error, unexpected '@'
#8 0.122        at /app/.nixpacks/nixpkgs-*.nix:19:15:
#8 0.122            18|         '')
#8 0.122            19|         nodejs@20 yarn
#8 0.122              |               ^
#8 0.122            20|       ];

#8 ERROR: process "/bin/bash -ol pipefail -c nix-env -if .nixpacks/nixpkgs-*.nix && nix-collect-garbage -d" did not complete successfully: exit code: 1
-----
> [ 4/11] RUN nix-env -if .nixpacks/nixpkgs-*.nix && nix-collect-garbage -d:
0.122 error: syntax error, unexpected '@'
0.122        at /app/.nixpacks/nixpkgs-*.nix:19:15:
0.122            18|         '')
0.122            19|         nodejs@20 yarn
0.122              |               ^
0.122            20|       ];
-----

Dockerfile:8
-------------------
6 |
7 |     COPY .nixpacks/nixpkgs-*.nix .nixpacks/nixpkgs-*.nix
8 | >>> RUN nix-env -if .nixpacks/nixpkgs-*.nix && nix-collect-garbage -d
9 |
10 |
-------------------
ERROR: failed to solve: process "/bin/bash -ol pipefail -c nix-env -if .nixpacks/nixpkgs-*.nix && nix-collect-garbage -d" did not complete successfully: exit code: 1

Error: Docker build failed

Hello,

yes nixpacksConfigPath is correct, but its also redundant since that is the default value.

You also cant set environment variables in a railway.toml file, you would want to set them on your service in the UI.

nodejs@20 is not a valid package.

nixPkgs = ['nodejs@20', 'yarn'] is not needed, node 20 will be used automatically if your engines.node field in the package.json specifies it, and yarn will be used if you have a yarn lock file.

[phases.install]
cmds = [
    "corepack enable",
    "corepack prepare yarn@4.3.1 --activate",
    "yarn install"
]

Corepack will install the set version of yarn for you if you have it set in the packageManager field in the package.json

[variables]
NODE_VERSION = "20"
YARN_VERSION = "4.3.1"

Doesn't do anything

[phases.build]
cmds = ["yarn workspace @my-app build"]

You already set this in your railway.toml

with all that said -

• set the engines.node field in your package.json to 20

• set the packageManager field in your package.json to yarn@4.3.1

• remove the nixpacks.toml file, it is redundant in this context.

• set the needed variables in the service variables tab.

• use this railway.toml file -

[build]
builder = "nixpacks"
buildCommand = "yarn workspace @my-app build"
watchPatterns = [
    "apps/web/src/**",
    "apps/web/vite.config.mts",
    "packages/**"
]

[deploy]
startCommand = "yarn workspace @my-app preview"
healthcheckPath = "/"
healthcheckTimeout = 180
restartPolicyType = "ON_FAILURE"
restartPolicyMaxRetries = 3

How can I split railway.toml for different apps of my monorepo (like web and server)?

The docs recommend to use railway.toml in root directory, I was thinking to put in apps/web/ and apps/server

Thanks Bordy for the detailed explanation!!

With your suggestion, I got this:

#9 [5/7] COPY . /app/.

#9 DONE 1.6s


#10 [6/7] RUN  yarn workspace @xiroi/apps-web build
#10 0.129 /bin/bash: line 1: yarn: command not found

#10 ERROR: process "/bin/bash -ol pipefail -c yarn workspace @xiroi/apps-web build" did not complete successfully: exit code: 127
-----
> [6/7] RUN  yarn workspace @xiroi/apps-web build:
0.129 /bin/bash: line 1: yarn: command not found
-----

Dockerfile:16
-------------------
14 |     # build phase
15 |     COPY . /app/.
16 | >>> RUN  yarn workspace @xiroi/apps-web build
17 |
18 |     # setup phase
-------------------

ERROR: failed to solve: process "/bin/bash -ol pipefail -c yarn workspace @xiroi/apps-web build" did not complete successfully: exit code: 127

Error: Docker build failed

My settings:

[build]
builder = "nixpacks"
buildCommand = "yarn workspace @xiroi/apps-web build"
# watchPatterns = [
#    "xiroi-apps/web/**",
#    "xiroi-packages/**"
# ]

[deploy]
startCommand = "yarn workspace @xiroi/apps-web preview"
healthcheckPath = "/"
healthcheckTimeout = 180
restartPolicyType = "ON_FAILURE"
restartPolicyMaxRetries = 3

isolated or shared monorepo?

do you not have a yarn lock file?

I have it. It's already in git

Shared. My root package.json looks like:

"workspaces": [
    "xiroi-apps/*",
    "xiroi-packages/bc/commerce/*",
    "xiroi-packages/bc/communication/*",
    "xiroi-packages/bc/communication/infras,
...
    "xiroi-packages/shared/*",
    "xiroi-packages/shared/infrastructure/*",
    "xiroi-packages/shared/ui/*",
    "xiroi-packages/shared/usecases/*",
    "xiroi-packages/shared/utils/*",
    "xiroi-packages/ui-pages/*"
]

for shared -- you wouldn't want to be setting a root directly in the service settings

put each railway.toml in the subdirectory though, and then set the location with the Railway Config File setting in the service settings

To my xiroi-apps/web/package.json, I added:

    "engines": {
        "node": ">=20",
        "npm": "please-use-yarn",
        "yarn": ">=4.1.0"
    },

Then xiroi-apps/web/railway.toml is:

[build]
builder = "nixpacks"
buildCommand = "yarn build"

[deploy]
startCommand = "yarn preview"
healthcheckPath = "/"
healthcheckTimeout = 180
restartPolicyType = "ON_FAILURE"
restartPolicyMaxRetries = 3

Logs error:

6 DONE 1.6s

#7 [3/5] COPY . /app/.

#7 DONE 1.2s


#8 [4/5] RUN  yarn build

#8 0.209 /bin/bash: line 1: yarn: command not found

#8 ERROR: process "/bin/bash -ol pipefail -c yarn build" did not complete successfully: exit code: 127
-----
> [4/5] RUN  yarn build:
0.209 /bin/bash: line 1: yarn: command not found
-----

Dockerfile:15
-------------------
13 |     # build phase
14 |     COPY . /app/.
15 | >>> RUN  yarn build
16 |
17 |
-------------------
ERROR: failed to solve: process "/bin/bash -ol pipefail -c yarn build" did not complete successfully: exit code: 127

Error: Docker build failed

P.S. My intention is to use a paid plan of Railway when I launch my web & app.

thats great, i hope we can get you up and running, but for that i would greatly appreciate if you made sure to read the information im giving you 🙂

^

Ohhh, it's below Source Repo. I missed the underlined text 😁

No success. This is my "web" service settings:

• Root directory: /xiroi-apps/web

• Railway config file: xiroi-apps/web/railway.toml

Logs:

#8 [4/5] RUN  yarn build
#8 0.081 /bin/bash: line 1: yarn: command not found

#8 ERROR: process "/bin/bash -ol pipefail -c yarn build" did not complete successfully: exit code: 127
-----
> [4/5] RUN  yarn build:

0.081 /bin/bash: line 1: yarn: command not found
-----

Dockerfile:15
-------------------
13 |     # build phase
14 |     COPY . /app/.
15 | >>> RUN  yarn build
16 |
17 |
-------------------
ERROR: failed to solve: process "/bin/bash -ol pipefail -c yarn build" did not complete successfully: exit code: 127

Error: Docker build failed

you wouldn't want to be setting a root directly in the service settings

hahah I'm little confused. My initial config hadn't the root directory in the Web service.
My current config is Railway Config File xiroi-apps/web/railway.toml. I still cannot build it.

*I'm skipping Server service for now.

would you mind if i pull your code, it will help me to understand what you have going on

Yeah, no problem. Let me know what you need for that

your permission is sufficient

in all this messing about somehow the providers option got emptied, add node back to it

Initially I deleted it because my (incorrect) Nix config

"npm": "please-use-yarn" lol

Great Brody!
Everything is building, except for one monorepo package. I'll dig into that one.

The last 1-2 years is quite common to use monorepos. I'd add cases to https://docs.railway.app/tutorials/deploying-a-monorepo for people

easier said than done unfortunately, your issues are incredibly specific to what you have already tried

😅
I didn't know I was unique 😁

your current build command is yarn build and your start command is yarn start shouldnt you be using workspace specific commands?

Because railway.toml is already in the frontend app (xiroi-apps/web/railway.toml with package.json's name @xiroi/apps-web), I guess it runs from the same directory xiroi-apps/web, instead of yarn workspace @xiroi/apps-web build that I run from the root directory.

your root directory is / thus the scripts from the root directory are used.

you want to be in the root directory, but you need to be using workspace specific build and start commands

That was it.
The build was successful, Brody!

For the deployment, what Railway config do you recommend?

[deploy]
startCommand = "yarn workspace @xiroi/apps-web preview"
healthcheckPath = "/"
healthcheckTimeout = 180
restartPolicyType = "ON_FAILURE"
restartPolicyMaxRetries = 3

Logs

=== Successfully Built! ===

Run:
docker run -it us-west1.registry.rlwy.net/96a41a31-4b99-4571-9d8f-a0ea733a7fb2:42ff8b32-5ea2-4e0b-a559-8abcce8c5be3

Build time: 215.07 seconds

====================
Starting Healthcheck
====================
Path: /
Retry window: 3m0s

Attempt #1 failed with service unavailable. Continuing to retry for 2m49s
Attempt #2 failed with service unavailable. Continuing to retry for 2m38s
...

1/1 replicas never became healthy!
Healthcheck failed!

lemme look

well the deploy failed -

Error bundling tamagui config: The service was stopped: write EPIPE (run with DEBUG=tamagui to see stack)
No bundled config generated, maybe an error in bundling. Set DEBUG=tamagui and re-run to get logs.

after you fix that, you will need to read this - https://docs.railway.app/guides/fixing-common-errors#application-failed-to-respond

and now you will need this -

Great!
I'm searching where UI library Tamagui breaks

just noticed you are running a dev server via vite

In /web?

yeah

The first time hosting with Vite. server field is for local development, you run it with vite. preview fields with vite preview

question, are you fixed on the .toml file, or can we move to a .json file? you would get a much better dx with a railway.json file since it has the schema

we will need to use caddy, ill get you setup, just working out a plan of attack

Ohhh cool, .toml is done.

you got it, give me a few mins and ill come up with a plan to get you running with a production web server

About the Tamagui issue. I can build and run the web locally with vite preview on [http://localhost:4173](http://localhost:4173).

i dont think we need to worry about that, that error does not appear in the build logs

and its not going to appear in the deploy logs after we only have caddy running

The first time I heard Caddy. The marketing website https://caddyserver.com/ is going high 😎

we wont be using most of its features, railway handles https for us, we just need a user friendly http server

A note: my web can work without my server, only needs Supabase (auth) and Powersync (db sync) connections. The rest is a local-first approach.

sounds good

does your frontend depend on another workspace other than shared-utils-logging ?

Ohh, good finding. "build": "yarn workspace @xiroi/shared-utils-logging build && tsc && vite build" is a past config. I gonna replace it for tsc && vite build

so is the frontend just depending on types from other packages?

Yes

Pushed the commit about deletion of this

this nixpacks stuff really annoying, how do you feel about a dockerfile?

Very comfortable. nixpacks' packages were really difficult when I experimented with them

No docker compose, only dockerfile?

only Dockerfile, ill write one for you

sorry this is taking so long, got it mostly running but yarn is still running in the background for some reason

put these files in the web folder

1299168786821414912
1299168787148312636
1299168787551227959

you'll also need to change the config file path to use the .json extension now

this going from yarn running caddy, to just caddy when i switched to the dockerfile, ~250mb before

250 mb before? With this new config, it will be smaller and faster to build?

Good job! Now build time reduced from +3min to 2min

yeah faster builds since less nixpacks stuff, and faster deploys, since now the final image basically only contains the caddy binary and your dist folder

What do you think is going wrong https://web-staging-4672.up.railway.app/ ?

you would likely have a better idea than me -

vendor_react_native_web-Rn6azkte.js:1 Uncaught (in promise) TypeError: ss is not a function
    at vendor_react_native_web-Rn6azkte.js:1:9786

This happened in the localhost and just needed to refresh in a new tab… But apparently not working in production

I mark this ticket as SOLVED. Amazing help, Brody!

Say to the team that you're providing next level support 🪄

thank you, hopefully this support is worth an upgrade to Pro? 🙂

I'll see the demand the first months of the launch next month, and adjust the paid plan accordingly. I confidence I can grow with Railway after exploring many options.

And because it's a consumer web & app, hopefully the demand will high

i wish you the best of luck then!