Getting Started with Go and the Web: Deploy to Railway
This guide aims to show you how to build a web app using Go. You will create and test a simple web server built using Go on your local machine then deploy your web app to Railway.
Railway is a hosting service you can use to deploy your apps. It supports all sorts of deployment configs and has a plethora of features to customize the hosting set up for your app.
Before We Start
To follow along with the guide, you must have Go installed on your machine. Download and install Go here: Download and Install Go.
Git and the GitHub CLI should be installed on your machine. Download and install Git from here: Downloads - Git. Download and install the GitHub CLI from here: Download and Install GitHub CLI.
A GitHub account and a Railway account are required. Sign up for GitHub here: Create GitHub account. And sign up for Railway here: Create Railway account
You must have some familiarity with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, HTTP to keep up with the concepts discussed in the guide.
Lastly, knowledge of Go is useful but not mandatory. This is a beginner guide.
Hello, World! Go
Open your work directory and initialize your project:
go mod init helloworld
Create a new file, main.go:
package main
import "fmt"
func main() {
fmt.Println("Hello, World!")
}
Save the file and test it by running the following command in your terminal in your working directory:
go run main.go
You should the text "Hello, World!" in your terminal output.
Hello, World! Go on the Web
We just created a simple CLI app using Go. Next, let's create a simple web server using Go. Comment out the code you just wrote in the previous step. Above the comment block, add the following code:
package main
import "fmt"
import "net/http"
func main() {
http.HandleFunc("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
fmt.Fprintf(w, "<h1>Hello, World!</h1>")
})
http.ListenAndServe(":80", nil)
}
Save the file and run it. Visit localhost in your browser and you should see the text "Hello, World!" on a webpage.
Deploy using Dockerfile and Railway CLI
Update main.go for Railway to detect the port your app is running on:
package main
import "fmt"
import "net/http"
import "os"
func main() {
port := os.Getenv("PORT")
if port == "" {
port = "8000" // Default to port 8000
}
http.HandleFunc("/", func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
fmt.Fprintf(w, "<h1>Hello, World!</h1>")
})
http.ListenAndServe(":"+port, nil)
}
Create a Dockerfile file and add the following:
# Use the official Go image as a base
FROM golang:1.21-alpine
# Set the working directory
WORKDIR /app
# Copy go.mod and go.sum files (if they exist)
COPY go.mod ./
# Copy the source code
COPY . .
# Build the application
RUN go build -o main .
# Expose the port your app runs on
EXPOSE 8000
# Run the application
CMD ["./main"]
In your terminal, install the Railway CLI tool:
curl -fsSL https://railway.com/install.sh | sh
Login to your Railway account:
railway login --browserless
Create a new Railway project:
railway init
Link your project folder to your Railway project:
railway link
Deploy your app.
railway up
After deployment is complete, assign a domain
railway domain
Visit the Railway generated URL to test if everything is ok.
Create and Upload GitHub Repo
Initialize your project directory as a Git repo.
git init
Commit your project files. In this case it's just the main.go file.
git add main.go
git commit -m "Initial commit"
Authenticate with GitHub
gh auth login
Upload your repo to GitHub
gh repo create my-repo --public --source=. --remote=origin
git push --set-upstream origin master
Replace my-repo with your desired repo name.
Deploy to Railway
Railway offers many ways to deploy your web app. You can use the dashboard, the CLI, the API etc. This article: Railway Deployment Options explains all the numerous ways you can deploy an app on the Railway platform.
We will use the dashboard for a start.
Create a new Railway project
Visit dev.new in your browser. This will redirect you to railway.com/new and you will see a New Project modal with deployment options.
Select Deploy from GitHub repo and choose the repo you created previously.
The Railway platform will read the contents of your repo, initialize the project, build and then deploy it automatically as a service.
Generate a Domain for your project
Select Settings inside your Railway project's service. Under Networking click Generate Domain. This allows you to access your service on the internet.
Railway will generate a domain name for your app. The URL will appear a few seconds after clicking Generate Domain. You will use this URL to access your Go web app on the internet.
Test out your newly generated domain name in your browser. You should see the text "Hello, World!" when you visit the link.
Serve Static files using Go
In your local project folder, create a new folder, static. Create a new file named index.html inside static and add the following code:
<body>
<h1>My Static Website</h1>
</body>
Update the main.go file to serve static files from the static folder. Comment out all the code you have written. Above the comment block, add the following code to main.go:
package main
import "net/http"
func main() {
http.Handle("/", http.FileServer(http.Dir("./static")))
http.ListenAndServe(":80", nil)
}
Test your code:
go run main.go
Visit localhost in your browser and you should see a webpage with the text: "My Static Website"
Update Deployment on Railway
To update your deployment, simply stage and commit the file changes you have made using Git.
git add .
git commit -m "App update"
Then push the updates to GitHub.
git push
Railway will automatically update your project right after pushing your changes to GitHub. Wait a few seconds and visit your app URL to test your changes
Conclusion
Congratulations! You have successfully built a simple web app using Go and deployed it to Railway. You learned how to create a basic web server, serve static files, and utilize GitHub for version control and deployment. Railway makes it easy to deploy and manage your applications with its user-friendly platform and powerful features. Keep experimenting with Go and Railway to build more complex and scalable web applications. Happy coding!
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