How to Deploy an Eliza AI Agent on Railway

If you’re looking to quickly deploy Eliza Starter on Railway, this guide will walk you through the process step by step. Let’s get started!

What is Eliza Starter?

Eliza Starter is a lightweight open-source framework designed to help developers build conversational AI agents quickly and efficiently. It provides all the necessary tools and structure to kickstart projects that integrate AI-driven dialogue systems, making it a great choice for AI enthusiasts and developers.

What is Railway?

Railway is a modern cloud platform that simplifies deploying and managing applications. It offers a seamless developer experience by automating much of the infrastructure setup, allowing you to focus on writing and deploying code with minimal hassle. With Railway, you can deploy projects directly from GitHub and manage environment variables effortlessly.

What You Need

• A GitHub account with access to the Eliza Starter repository.
• A Railway account (sign up for free at Railway).

Steps to Deploy

1. Clone the Eliza Starter Repository

Start by cloning the Eliza Starter repository. You’ll use this as the base for your project.

2. Create a New Railway Instance

Go to Railway and create a new instance:

• Log in to your Railway account.
• Click New Project.

3. Connect Your GitHub Repository

Once you’ve created a new project:

1. Select Deploy from GitHub.
2. Choose your GitHub account and connect the Eliza Starter repository.

4. Configure Environment Variables

1. Open your project in Railway.
2. Navigate to the Variables tab.
3. Click on Raw Editor to open the editor for environment variables.
4. Copy the .env file from the Eliza Starter repository into the Raw Editor.
5. Add or modify the following key-value pair:

   DAEMON_PROCESS=true

• This disables the chat functionality in the terminal to prevent build errors.

5. Deploy

Once the variables are set:

• Click Deploy to build and deploy your project.

Why Set DAEMON_PROCESS=true?

Cloud platforms like Railway do not support interactive terminals. This means that any processes requiring user input or terminal interaction during runtime can cause the deployment to fail. Setting DAEMON_PROCESS=true disables the interactive chat functionality in the terminal, ensuring a smooth and error-free build process.

That’s It!

Your Eliza Starter project should now be live on Railway. If you encounter any issues, refer to the Eliza Starter GitHub repository for troubleshooting tips.

Happy coding! 🚀