launchfast-mcp/RAILWAY_DEPLOY.md

🚀 Professional Amazon & Alibaba research tools for Claude AI - Product research, keyword intelligence, and supplier discovery via MCP

# 🚂 Railway Deployment Guide - LaunchFast MCP Server

Deploy your MCP server to Railway in **under 5 minutes** for easy team access.

---

## 🎯 Why Railway?

- ✅ **One command deployment** - `railway up`
- ✅ **Auto HTTPS** - Free SSL certificates
- ✅ **Zero config** - Works out of the box
- ✅ **GitHub integration** - Auto-deploy on push
- ✅ **Free tier** - $5/month credit included
- ✅ **Team friendly** - One URL for everyone

---

## 📋 Prerequisites

- [x] Railway CLI installed and logged in (you're already set!)
- [x] Git repo linked to Railway
- [x] LaunchFast API credentials

---

## 🚀 Deployment Steps

### Step 1: Set Environment Variables

```bash
railway variables set LAUNCHFAST_API_URL=https://launchfastlegacyx.com
railway variables set LAUNCHFAST_API_KEY=lf_your_api_key_here
railway variables set LAUNCHFAST_USER_ID=your_user_id_here
railway variables set ALLOWED_ORIGINS=*
railway variables set PORT=3000
```

**Important**: Use your actual LaunchFast credentials from the admin dashboard.

### Step 2: Deploy

```bash
# Make sure all changes are committed
git add .
git commit -m "Add Railway deployment config"

# Deploy to Railway
railway up

# Or if auto-deploy is enabled, just push:
git push origin main
```

### Step 3: Get Your URL

```bash
railway domain
```

This will show your Railway URL, something like:
```
https://launchfast-mcp-production.up.railway.app
```

**Save this URL** - your team will use it to connect!

### Step 4: Verify Deployment

```bash
# Check health endpoint
curl https://your-app.up.railway.app/health

# Expected response:
{
  "status": "healthy",
  "service": "launchfast-mcp",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "timestamp": "2025-01-02T..."
}
```

---

## 👥 Team Connection (Super Simple!)

Now your team just adds this to their Claude Desktop config:

### macOS/Linux
Edit: `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`

### Windows
Edit: `%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json`

### Config (ONE URL for everyone!)

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "launchfast": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/create-client"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_SERVER_URL": "https://your-app.up.railway.app/sse"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

**That's it!** No API keys to distribute, no local installation, just one URL.

---

## 🔒 Security with Team API Keys

If you want per-user tracking, you can still use individual API keys:

### Option 1: Shared Server (Current)
- One set of credentials in Railway
- Everyone shares the same LaunchFast account
- Simplest setup

### Option 2: Per-User Keys
Update the server to accept API keys from clients:

**Server** (Railway env vars):
```bash
# Remove these from Railway:
railway variables delete LAUNCHFAST_API_KEY
railway variables delete LAUNCHFAST_USER_ID

# Keep only:
railway variables set LAUNCHFAST_API_URL=https://launchfastlegacyx.com
```

**Client** (each team member):
```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "launchfast": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/create-client"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_SERVER_URL": "https://your-app.up.railway.app/sse",
        "LAUNCHFAST_API_KEY": "lf_individual_key_here",
        "LAUNCHFAST_USER_ID": "individual_user_id_here"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

---

## 📊 Monitoring

### View Logs
```bash
railway logs
```

### View Metrics
```bash
railway status
```

### View in Dashboard
```bash
railway open
```

This opens Railway dashboard in browser where you can see:
- CPU/Memory usage
- Request count
- Error rates
- Deployment history

---

## 🔄 Updates & Redeploy

### Automatic (Recommended)
Railway auto-deploys when you push to `main`:

```bash
git add .
git commit -m "Update MCP server"
git push origin main
```

Railway will automatically:
1. Build your app
2. Run health checks
3. Switch to new version with zero downtime

### Manual
```bash
railway up
```

---

## 💰 Pricing

**Free Tier**:
- $5/month credit (included free)
- ~500 hours/month execution time
- Perfect for small teams (5-10 people)

**Pro Tier** ($20/month):
- $20 credit/month
- Priority support
- Custom domains
- Better for larger teams

**Estimate**: For typical team usage (50 queries/day):
- ~$2-5/month on free tier
- Well within the $5 free credit

---

## 🐛 Troubleshooting

### Deployment Failed

**Check build logs**:
```bash
railway logs --deployment
```

**Common issues**:
- Missing environment variables
- Build errors (run `npm run build` locally first)
- Port conflicts (Railway uses PORT env var automatically)

### Server Not Responding

**Check service status**:
```bash
railway status
```

**Restart service**:
```bash
railway restart
```

**Check health endpoint**:
```bash
curl https://your-app.up.railway.app/health
```

### Team Can't Connect

**Verify URL**:
```bash
railway domain
```

**Check ALLOWED_ORIGINS**:
```bash
railway variables
```

Should show `ALLOWED_ORIGINS=*` (allows all origins)

**Test SSE endpoint**:
```bash
curl https://your-app.up.railway.app/sse
```

Should return SSE stream headers.

---

## 🎯 Custom Domain (Optional)

### Add Custom Domain

```bash
railway domain add mcp.yourcompany.com
```

Then update DNS with the provided CNAME record.

### Update Team Configs

Replace Railway URL with your custom domain:
```json
{
  "env": {
    "MCP_SERVER_URL": "https://mcp.yourcompany.com/sse"
  }
}
```

---

## 📋 Deployment Checklist

Before sharing with team:

- [ ] Railway deployment successful
- [ ] Health endpoint returns `{"status":"healthy"}`
- [ ] SSE endpoint accessible at `/sse`
- [ ] Environment variables set correctly
- [ ] Tested with your own Claude Desktop
- [ ] Documented team connection instructions
- [ ] Set up monitoring/alerts (optional)
- [ ] Custom domain configured (optional)

---

## 🚀 Quick Deploy Script

Save this as `deploy.sh`:

```bash
#!/bin/bash

echo "🚂 Deploying LaunchFast MCP to Railway..."

# Check if variables are set
if ! railway variables | grep -q "LAUNCHFAST_API_KEY"; then
    echo "❌ Environment variables not set!"
    echo "Run: railway variables set LAUNCHFAST_API_KEY=..."
    exit 1
fi

# Build locally first
echo "📦 Building..."
npm run build

if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
    echo "❌ Build failed!"
    exit 1
fi

# Commit changes
echo "💾 Committing changes..."
git add .
git commit -m "Deploy to Railway" || true

# Deploy
echo "🚀 Deploying..."
railway up

# Get URL
echo ""
echo "✅ Deployment complete!"
echo ""
echo "Your MCP server URL:"
railway domain
echo ""
echo "Health check:"
DOMAIN=$(railway domain | tail -1)
curl -s "https://$DOMAIN/health" | json_pp
echo ""
echo "📋 Share this URL with your team:"
echo "https://$DOMAIN/sse"
```

Make executable:
```bash
chmod +x deploy.sh
./deploy.sh
```

---

## 📞 Team Distribution Template

Send this to your team:

---

**Subject**: 🚀 LaunchFast MCP Server - Now Hosted!

Hi team,

Our LaunchFast MCP server is now live on Railway! Super simple setup:

**1. Add this to your Claude Desktop config:**

📍 Config location:
- macOS: `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
- Windows: `%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json`

📝 Add this:
```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "launchfast": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/create-client"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_SERVER_URL": "https://YOUR-RAILWAY-URL-HERE/sse"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

**2. Restart Claude Desktop**

**3. Test it:**
```
Research the Amazon market for "portable chargers"
```

**Need help?** Reply to this email or ping me on Slack!

---

## 🎊 You're Done!

Your MCP server is now:
- ✅ Hosted on Railway
- ✅ Accessible via HTTPS
- ✅ Auto-deploys on git push
- ✅ Zero-config for team members
- ✅ One URL for everyone

**Next steps**:
1. Test the deployment yourself
2. Share connection instructions with team
3. Monitor usage in Railway dashboard

**Railway Commands Cheat Sheet**:
```bash
railway logs          # View logs
railway status        # Check status
railway restart       # Restart service
railway domain        # Get URL
railway open          # Open dashboard
railway variables     # View env vars
```

Happy deploying! 🚂