Vercel + Railway Deployment

Deploy Nexgent using a split architecture: Vercel for the Next.js frontend and Railway for the Express backend with managed PostgreSQL and Redis.

Architecture

┌─────────────────────┐         ┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│       Vercel        │         │            Railway              │
│                     │         │                                 │
│  ┌───────────────┐  │         │  ┌───────────────┐             │
│  │   Frontend    │  │  HTTPS  │  │    Backend    │             │
│  │   (Next.js)   │──┼────────▶│  │   (Express)   │             │
│  │               │  │   API   │  │               │             │
│  │               │◀─┼─────────┼──│   WebSocket   │             │
│  └───────────────┘  │         │  └───────┬───────┘             │
│                     │         │          │                      │
│  - CDN edge         │         │          │                      │
│  - Auto SSL         │         │  ┌───────┴───────┐             │
│  - Serverless       │         │  │               │             │
└─────────────────────┘         │  ▼               ▼             │
                                │ PostgreSQL    Redis            │
                                │ (managed)    (managed)         │
                                └─────────────────────────────────┘

Benefits:

• Vercel: Optimized for Next.js, global CDN, automatic SSL
• Railway: Simple deployment, managed databases, WebSocket support

Prerequisites

• GitHub account (for deployment integration)
• Vercel account (sign up (opens in a new tab))
• Railway account (sign up (opens in a new tab))
• Jupiter API key (get one (opens in a new tab))

Railway Setup

# Auto-injected by Railway (verify these exist)
DATABASE_URL=<auto-injected>
REDIS_URL=<auto-injected>
 
# Manual configuration
NODE_ENV=production
PORT=4000
 
# CORS - your Vercel domain (add after Vercel setup)
CORS_ORIGIN=https://your-app.vercel.app
 
# Auth
JWT_SECRET=<generate-secure-secret>
 
# External APIs
JUPITER_API_KEY=your-jupiter-api-key
 
# Optional: For live trading
SOLANA_RPC_URL=https://your-rpc-endpoint
WALLET_1=<base58-private-key>

curl https://your-app.up.railway.app/api/v1/health
# Should return: {"status":"ok"}

Vercel Setup

# NextAuth.js
NEXTAUTH_URL=https://your-app.vercel.app
NEXTAUTH_SECRET=<generate-secure-secret>
 
# Backend API (your Railway URL)
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=https://your-app.up.railway.app

Update CORS Settings

After both services are deployed, update the backend CORS setting in Railway:

CORS_ORIGIN=https://your-app.vercel.app

Redeploy the backend service for changes to take effect.

Custom Domains

Vercel Custom Domain

1. Go to your Vercel project → Settings → Domains
2. Add your domain (e.g., app.yourdomain.com)
3. Update DNS records as instructed
4. Vercel automatically provisions SSL

Update environment variables:

NEXTAUTH_URL=https://app.yourdomain.com

Railway Custom Domain

1. Go to your Railway service → Settings → Networking
2. Add custom domain (e.g., api.yourdomain.com)
3. Update DNS records as instructed
4. Railway automatically provisions SSL

Update environment variables:

# Railway backend
CORS_ORIGIN=https://app.yourdomain.com
 
# Vercel frontend
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=https://api.yourdomain.com

Railway Configuration File

Nexgent includes a railway.json in the repository root:

{
  "$schema": "https://railway.app/railway.schema.json",
  "build": {
    "builder": "NIXPACKS",
    "buildCommand": "pnpm install && pnpm build:backend"
  },
  "deploy": {
    "startCommand": "pnpm --filter backend db:migrate:deploy && pnpm --filter backend start",
    "restartPolicyType": "ON_FAILURE",
    "restartPolicyMaxRetries": 10
  }
}

This configures automatic migrations on deploy and restart policies.

Environment Variable Reference

Railway Backend Variables

Vercel Frontend Variables

Monitoring

Railway Logs

1. Go to your Railway project
2. Click on the backend service
3. Select Deployments → View Logs

Vercel Logs

1. Go to your Vercel project
2. Select Deployments → click a deployment
3. View Functions logs

Health Checks

Set up monitoring with services like:

• UptimeRobot (opens in a new tab) (free)
• Better Uptime (opens in a new tab)

Monitor these endpoints:

• Backend: https://api.yourdomain.com/api/v1/health
• Backend: https://api.yourdomain.com/api/v1/ready

Scaling

Railway Scaling

Railway automatically scales based on usage. For higher traffic:

1. Go to Settings → Service
2. Adjust Memory and CPU limits
3. Consider Railway Pro for higher limits

Vercel Scaling

Vercel's serverless functions scale automatically. The free tier is sufficient for most use cases.

Cost Estimation

Free Tier Limits

Troubleshooting

Frontend Can't Connect to Backend

1. Check CORS: Verify CORS_ORIGIN includes your Vercel domain
2. Check URL: Verify NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL is correct
3. Check deployment: Ensure backend is deployed and healthy

Database Connection Errors

1. Check Railway logs for connection errors
2. Verify DATABASE_URL is set correctly
3. Check PostgreSQL service is running in Railway

WebSocket Not Connecting

1. WebSocket uses the same URL as API
2. Verify backend is publicly accessible
3. Check browser console for connection errors

Build Failures

Railway:

# Check build logs in Railway dashboard
# Common issues: missing dependencies, TypeScript errors

Vercel:

# Check build logs in Vercel dashboard
# Ensure NEXT_PUBLIC_* variables are set