diff --git a/deploy/railway/README.md b/deploy/railway/README.md
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+# Buzz on Railway
+
+This directory contains Buzz's first-party Railway template draft. It is intentionally scoped to Railway only; the repository README deploy button should be wired after the public image and automatic migrations PRs land.
+
+```markdown
+[![Deploy on Railway](https://railway.com/button.svg)](https://railway.com/deploy/buzz?referralCode=buzz)
+```
+
+## Template shape
+
+`railway.template.json` models the current full Buzz deployment as six Railway services:
+
+- `Buzz` (`ghcr.io/block/buzz:main`) — the relay and bundled web UI. `:main` is the rolling pre-release image published from the repository's default branch; production operators should pin `:sha-<7>` or a semver tag once releases exist.
+- `Postgres` — persistent database volume with daily backups requested in the template.
+- `Redis` — authenticated persistent pub/sub/cache service.
+- `Typesense` — persistent search service.
+- `MinIO` — S3-compatible media/object storage.
+- `MinIO Init` — idempotently creates the `buzz-media` bucket.
+
+The only required user input is `RELAY_OWNER_PUBKEY`, a 64-character hex Nostr public key. Railway generates the relay key, database password, Redis password, Typesense key, MinIO password, and git hook HMAC secret with `${{secret(...)}}`.
+
+## Buzz-specific defaults
+
+The template uses the environment names read by `crates/buzz-relay/src/config.rs`. The app router itself exposes `/_readiness`, so Railway can health-check the public service without using Buzz's separate health-only port:
+
+- `RELAY_URL=wss://${{RAILWAY_PUBLIC_DOMAIN}}`
+- `RELAY_OWNER_PUBKEY=<required user input>`
+- `DATABASE_URL=${{Postgres.DATABASE_URL}}`
+- `REDIS_URL=${{Redis.REDIS_URL}}`
+- `TYPESENSE_URL=http://${{Typesense.RAILWAY_PRIVATE_DOMAIN}}:${{Typesense.PORT}}`
+- `TYPESENSE_API_KEY=${{Typesense.TYPESENSE_API_KEY}}`
+- `BUZZ_S3_*` from the MinIO service; MinIO also sets `MINIO_DOMAIN=${{RAILWAY_PRIVATE_DOMAIN}}` so path-style S3 requests work on Railway private networking.
+- `BUZZ_GIT_REPO_PATH=/data/git`
+- `BUZZ_REQUIRE_AUTH_TOKEN=true`
+- `BUZZ_REQUIRE_RELAY_MEMBERSHIP=true`
+- `BUZZ_ALLOW_NIP_OA_AUTH=true`
+
+Railway terminates TLS, so the public relay URL is `wss://` and CORS/media URLs use `https://`.
+
+## Validation status
+
+This template is mechanically valid JSON and follows the v2 template mechanics observed in Railway's Plausible, NocoDB, and Typesense templates: service refs, generated secrets, `serviceDomains`, `volumeMounts`, and app health checks.
+
+End-to-end click-through validation is intentionally blocked until:
+
+1. `ghcr.io/block/buzz:main` is publicly published by the image pipeline.
+2. Buzz owns fresh-database migrations at startup or through the same image.
+
+Until both land, this template should be treated as first-party deploy wiring, not a proven production install.
+
+## Operational notes for users
+
+Back up these values and volumes before relying on a Railway deployment:
+
+- The owner private key corresponding to `RELAY_OWNER_PUBKEY` — Railway only stores the public key.
+- `BUZZ_RELAY_PRIVATE_KEY` and `BUZZ_GIT_HOOK_HMAC_SECRET`.
+- Postgres data.
+- MinIO media/object data.
+- The Buzz `/data` volume that stores git name-reservation state.
diff --git a/deploy/railway/railway.template.json b/deploy/railway/railway.template.json
new file mode 100644
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+{
+  "$schema": "https://railway.com/railway.schema.json",
+  "name": "Buzz",
+  "description": "Self-host a Buzz Nostr relay with Postgres, Redis, Typesense, and S3-compatible media storage.",
+  "services": {
+    "buzz": {
+      "name": "Buzz",
+      "source": {
+        "image": "ghcr.io/block/buzz:main"
+      },
+      "deploy": {
+        "healthcheckPath": "/_readiness",
+        "restartPolicyType": "ON_FAILURE",
+        "restartPolicyMaxRetries": 10
+      },
+      "networking": {
+        "serviceDomains": {
+          "buzz": {}
+        }
+      },
+      "variables": {
+        "BUZZ_BIND_ADDR": "0.0.0.0:${{PORT}}",
+        "BUZZ_METRICS_PORT": "9102",
+        "BUZZ_RELAY_PRIVATE_KEY": "${{secret(64, 'abcdef0123456789')}}",
+        "BUZZ_REQUIRE_AUTH_TOKEN": "true",
+        "BUZZ_REQUIRE_RELAY_MEMBERSHIP": "true",
+        "BUZZ_ALLOW_NIP_OA_AUTH": "true",
+        "BUZZ_CORS_ORIGINS": "https://${{RAILWAY_PUBLIC_DOMAIN}}",
+        "BUZZ_GIT_REPO_PATH": "/data/git",
+        "BUZZ_GIT_HOOK_HMAC_SECRET": "${{secret(64, 'abcdef0123456789')}}",
+        "BUZZ_GIT_CONFORMANCE_PROBE": "true",
+        "BUZZ_S3_ENDPOINT": "http://${{MinIO.RAILWAY_PRIVATE_DOMAIN}}:${{MinIO.PORT}}",
+        "BUZZ_S3_ACCESS_KEY": "${{MinIO.MINIO_ROOT_USER}}",
+        "BUZZ_S3_SECRET_KEY": "${{MinIO.MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD}}",
+        "BUZZ_S3_BUCKET": "buzz-media",
+        "BUZZ_MEDIA_BASE_URL": "https://${{RAILWAY_PUBLIC_DOMAIN}}/media",
+        "DATABASE_URL": "${{Postgres.DATABASE_URL}}",
+        "REDIS_URL": "${{Redis.REDIS_URL}}",
+        "RELAY_OWNER_PUBKEY": {
+          "description": "Required: 64-character hex Nostr public key for the relay owner. Generate or back up the matching private key outside Railway.",
+          "isOptional": false
+        },
+        "RELAY_URL": "wss://${{RAILWAY_PUBLIC_DOMAIN}}",
+        "TYPESENSE_API_KEY": "${{Typesense.TYPESENSE_API_KEY}}",
+        "TYPESENSE_URL": "http://${{Typesense.RAILWAY_PRIVATE_DOMAIN}}:${{Typesense.PORT}}"
+      },
+      "volumeMounts": [
+        {
+          "mountPath": "/data",
+          "volumeName": "buzz-data"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    "postgres": {
+      "name": "Postgres",
+      "source": {
+        "image": "ghcr.io/railwayapp-templates/postgres-ssl:17"
+      },
+      "deploy": {
+        "restartPolicyType": "ON_FAILURE",
+        "restartPolicyMaxRetries": 10
+      },
+      "variables": {
+        "PGDATA": "/var/lib/postgresql/data",
+        "POSTGRES_DB": "buzz",
+        "POSTGRES_PASSWORD": "${{secret(32)}}",
+        "POSTGRES_USER": "buzz"
+      },
+      "volumeMounts": [
+        {
+          "mountPath": "/var/lib/postgresql/data",
+          "volumeName": "postgres-data",
+          "backupSchedules": [
+            "DAILY"
+          ]
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    "redis": {
+      "name": "Redis",
+      "source": {
+        "image": "redis:8-alpine"
+      },
+      "deploy": {
+        "startCommand": "/bin/sh -c \"rm -rf $RAILWAY_VOLUME_MOUNT_PATH/lost+found && exec redis-server --requirepass $REDIS_PASSWORD --appendonly yes --dir $RAILWAY_VOLUME_MOUNT_PATH\"",
+        "restartPolicyType": "ON_FAILURE",
+        "restartPolicyMaxRetries": 10
+      },
+      "variables": {
+        "REDIS_PASSWORD": "${{secret(32)}}",
+        "REDIS_URL": "redis://:${{REDIS_PASSWORD}}@${{RAILWAY_PRIVATE_DOMAIN}}:6379"
+      },
+      "volumeMounts": [
+        {
+          "mountPath": "/data",
+          "volumeName": "redis-data"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    "typesense": {
+      "name": "Typesense",
+      "source": {
+        "image": "typesense/typesense:30.2"
+      },
+      "deploy": {
+        "startCommand": "typesense-server --data-dir $RAILWAY_VOLUME_MOUNT_PATH --api-key $TYPESENSE_API_KEY --enable-cors",
+        "healthcheckPath": "/health",
+        "restartPolicyType": "ON_FAILURE",
+        "restartPolicyMaxRetries": 10
+      },
+      "variables": {
+        "PORT": "8108",
+        "TYPESENSE_API_KEY": "${{secret(32)}}"
+      },
+      "volumeMounts": [
+        {
+          "mountPath": "/data",
+          "volumeName": "typesense-data"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    "minio": {
+      "name": "MinIO",
+      "source": {
+        "image": "minio/minio:RELEASE.2025-09-07T16-13-09Z"
+      },
+      "deploy": {
+        "startCommand": "server $RAILWAY_VOLUME_MOUNT_PATH --address :$PORT",
+        "healthcheckPath": "/minio/health/live",
+        "restartPolicyType": "ON_FAILURE",
+        "restartPolicyMaxRetries": 10
+      },
+      "variables": {
+        "MINIO_BROWSER": "off",
+        "MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD": "${{secret(32)}}",
+        "MINIO_ROOT_USER": "buzz",
+        "PORT": "9000",
+        "MINIO_DOMAIN": "${{RAILWAY_PRIVATE_DOMAIN}}"
+      },
+      "volumeMounts": [
+        {
+          "mountPath": "/data",
+          "volumeName": "minio-data"
+        }
+      ]
+    },
+    "minio-init": {
+      "name": "MinIO Init",
+      "source": {
+        "image": "minio/mc:RELEASE.2025-08-13T08-35-41Z"
+      },
+      "deploy": {
+        "startCommand": "/bin/sh -c \"until mc alias set local http://${{MinIO.RAILWAY_PRIVATE_DOMAIN}}:${{MinIO.PORT}} ${{MinIO.MINIO_ROOT_USER}} ${{MinIO.MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD}}; do sleep 2; done; mc mb --ignore-existing local/buzz-media; mc anonymous set none local/buzz-media\"",
+        "restartPolicyType": "ON_FAILURE",
+        "restartPolicyMaxRetries": 10
+      }
+    }
+  },
+  "canvasConfig": {
+    "services": {
+      "buzz": {
+        "x": 0,
+        "y": 0
+      },
+      "postgres": {
+        "x": -280,
+        "y": 180
+      },
+      "redis": {
+        "x": 0,
+        "y": 180
+      },
+      "typesense": {
+        "x": 280,
+        "y": 180
+      },
+      "minio": {
+        "x": 560,
+        "y": 180
+      },
+      "minio-init": {
+        "x": 560,
+        "y": 360
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}