What errors do you see in your build/deploy logs?

No worries, but the dashboard alone doesn’t show enough. We need the actual failed log.

Open your Railway service -> click the latest red/failed deployment -> Logs.

If it fails while installing/building, check Build logs.

If it builds fine but crashes after starting, check Deploy logs.

The most common beginner deploy issues are:

• app is listening on localhost instead of 0.0.0.0
• app is using a hardcoded port instead of process.env.PORT
• package.json has no correct start script
• missing env vars
• a package is missing from dependencies

If it’s Node/Express, the server should usually listen like:

app.listen(process.env.PORT, '0.0.0.0')

Paste the last 30-ish lines from the failed build/deploy logs here and we can point to the exact fix.

Hi Nathy,

I think you need to add a custom Start Command in Railway so Railway knows how to run your app.

How to add a Start Command in Railway

1. Open your Railway project.
2. Select the service that keeps crashing.
3. Go to Settings.
4. Find the Deploy or Build / Deploy section.
5. Look for Start Command.
6. Enter the command needed to start your app.
7. Save the changes.
8. Redeploy the service.

Common Start Command examples

Node.js

npm start

or:

node index.js

Python

python app.py

FastAPI

uvicorn main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port $PORT

Notes

Make sure your app listens on Railway's $PORT. Do not hardcode ports like 3000, 5000, or 8000 unless you know exactly why you need to.

If you are using Docker

If your Start Command uses $PORT, wrap it with /bin/sh -c so the variable is read correctly.

Example for FastAPI:

/bin/sh -c "exec uvicorn main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port $PORT"

Example for Node.js:

/bin/sh -c "exec node index.js"

After redeploying, check the deploy logs again. The first red error line usually shows the real reason why the app is crashing.