Railway and Render are managed platforms that deploy directly from a GitHub repository. Both handle HTTPS, DNS, and container orchestration automatically — no VPS configuration needed.
Both platforms offer free tiers that spin down idle services after a period of inactivity. A sleeping server cannot receive requests from Claude.ai. For reliable operation, use a paid plan or deploy to an always-on host (a VPS with Docker or bare Node.js).
Deploy on Railway
Connect your GitHub repository
Choose Deploy from GitHub repo and select your Reacher repository.Railway detects the Dockerfile automatically and uses it to build the image.
Configure the start command
In the service settings under Deploy, confirm the start command is:If Railway does not detect it automatically, set it explicitly. Set environment variables
Navigate to the Variables tab of your service and add the following:| Variable | Required | Value |
|---|
MCP_SECRET | Yes | A random secret (openssl rand -hex 32) |
TAILSCALE_API_KEY | Yes | Your Tailscale API key |
GITHUB_TOKEN | Yes | Your GitHub personal access token |
PROXY_ALLOWED_DOMAINS | Yes | Comma-separated list, e.g. api.github.com |
PORT | No | Railway injects PORT automatically; you can omit this |
.env.example that apply to your setup. Deploy
Railway builds and deploys automatically after you save the variables. Watch the build logs from the Deployments tab.
Get your public URL
Once deployed, go to Settings > Networking and click Generate Domain. Railway assigns a public HTTPS URL.Use this to connect Claude.ai:https://your-app.up.railway.app/mcp?token=YOUR_MCP_SECRET
Connect to Claude.ai
Go to Claude.ai > Settings > Integrations > Add custom connector and paste the URL from the previous step.
Auto-deploys
Railway redeploys automatically on every push to your connected branch. No manual trigger needed.Deploy on Render
Create a new Web Service
Go to render.com, click New, and select Web Service. Connect your GitHub repository
Authorize Render to access your GitHub account if prompted, then select your Reacher repository and branch.
Configure the service
Set the following in the service configuration:
- Runtime:
Node
- Root Directory: leave blank (or
. if your repo root contains index.js)
- Build Command:
npm install
- Start Command:
node index.js
Set environment variables
Scroll to the Environment Variables section and add:| Variable | Required | Value |
|---|
MCP_SECRET | Yes | A random secret (openssl rand -hex 32) |
TAILSCALE_API_KEY | Yes | Your Tailscale API key |
GITHUB_TOKEN | Yes | Your GitHub personal access token |
PROXY_ALLOWED_DOMAINS | Yes | Comma-separated list, e.g. api.github.com |
.env.example that apply to your setup.Render injects PORT automatically. Do not set it manually — Render assigns the port and expects your app to listen on process.env.PORT.
Deploy
Click Create Web Service. Render builds from your repository and starts the container. Monitor progress in the Logs tab.
Get your public URL
Render assigns a public HTTPS URL in the format https://your-app.onrender.com. It is shown at the top of the service dashboard.Use this to connect Claude.ai:https://your-app.onrender.com/mcp?token=YOUR_MCP_SECRET
Connect to Claude.ai
Go to Claude.ai > Settings > Integrations > Add custom connector and paste the URL from the previous step.
Auto-deploys
Render redeploys automatically on every push to your connected branch. This can be disabled in the service settings if you prefer manual deploys.Health check path
For both platforms, set the health check path to /health. Note that this endpoint requires the MCP_SECRET token as a query parameter (?token=YOUR_SECRET) — configure your platform’s health check accordingly, or use a platform-level TCP check on port 3000 instead.
Environment variable reference
See .env.example for the full list of supported variables and descriptions. 
