Cloud Deployment

Deploy Jack The Butler to Railway, Render, or Zeabur in minutes.

Cloud platforms offer the fastest way to get Jack running. One-click deployment handles server provisioning, SSL, and automatic restarts.

One-Click Deploy

Click any button below to deploy Jack to your preferred platform:

Deploy on Railway Deploy on Render Deploy on Zeabur

Volume Configuration

Important: Configure a persistent volume to prevent data loss on redeployment. Without a volume, your database resets each time you deploy.

Jack stores its SQLite database in the /app/data directory. You need to mount a persistent volume to this path:

Railway

  1. Go to your deployed service
  2. Click Settings → Volumes
  3. Click Add Volume
  4. Set mount path to /app/data
  5. Click Create Volume
  6. Redeploy the service

Render

  1. Go to your service dashboard
  2. Click Disks in the left sidebar
  3. Click Add Disk
  4. Set mount path to /app/data
  5. Choose size (1GB is sufficient for most properties)
  6. Click Save

Zeabur

  1. Open your service settings
  2. Go to Volumes section
  3. Add a volume mounted at /app/data
  4. Save and redeploy

Environment Variables

Jack requires two environment variables for security. These should be set automatically during deployment, but verify they exist:

Variable Description
JWT_SECRET Secret for signing auth tokens (min 32 chars)
ENCRYPTION_KEY Key for encrypting sensitive data (min 32 chars)
DATABASE_PATH Path to SQLite database (default: ./data/jack.db)
PORT Server port (default: 3000)

Generate secure secrets with: 

openssl rand -base64 32

Custom Domain

Each platform supports custom domains. After deployment:

  1. Add your domain in the platform's settings
  2. Configure DNS (usually a CNAME record to the platform URL)
  3. SSL certificate is provisioned automatically

Expected Costs

Railway ~$5/month (usage-based)
Render Free tier available, $7/month for always-on
Zeabur ~$5/month (usage-based)

All platforms offer free tiers suitable for testing. Production deployments with persistent storage typically cost $5-10/month.

Next Steps

After deployment:

  1. Access your deployment URL
  2. Complete the Setup Wizard
  3. Configure your AI provider
  4. Connect communication channels