> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.towbar.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Railpack

> Build a detected source project with a pinned Railpack frontend.

Choose `railpack` for source detection when a Dockerfile is unnecessary. The manifest pins the Railpack version and frontend image, selects a repository context, and may provide `railpack.json` for project-specific configuration.

## Example manifest

This is the validated example from the Towbar `examples/platform-modes` project. Replace the documentation IP, domain, and image choices with values for your environment.

```yaml title=".towbar/apps/railpack.app.yml" theme={"system"}
id: railpack-example
name: Railpack example
deployment:
  type: railpack
  context: examples/platform-modes/node-app
  version: 0.36.1
  image: ghcr.io/railwayapp/railpack-frontend@sha256:b9166320856c8bbb88789e89077d5a66a7d4cef8afa2e1e232307fb9a92c094e
  configFile: railpack.json
  architecture: amd64
  cache:
    enabled: true
    scope: platform-railpack-example
container:
  port: 3000
health:
  path: /health
environments:
  production:
    server: 192.0.2.10
```

## Configure it

The example pins an amd64 builder and sends only `examples/platform-modes/node-app` as its context. `container.port` and `health.path` still describe the finished runtime container. Review the generated build result before enabling automatic deployment.

Railpack builds reject build secrets so credentials cannot enter a layer or shared cache. Use the Dockerfile mode if the build itself must authenticate to a private dependency.

Map the named environment to a branch, register and prepare its server, then sync the repository. Start with a manual deployment and verify the running service before opting into automation. See [Application manifest](/docs/apps/manifest) for shared fields and [Deployment modes](/docs/platform-deployments) to compare modes.