Minecraft Server on Railway/Koyeb

This is a Docker-based Minecra## Important Notes

• Railway/Koyeb free tiers have CPU and memory limits - modded Minecraft servers often need 2-4GB RAM
• Consider upgrading to paid plans for better performance and stability
• Monitor resource usage in your dashboard - check for OOM (Out of Memory) errors
• Back up your world data regularly
• The HTTP server only responds to health checks - actual Minecraft connections use TCP Edition server setup with a health check HTTP server for deployment on Railway or Koyeb.

Features

• Automatically downloads the latest Minecraft server version
• Includes HTTP health check server to prevent timeouts
• Uses lightweight Alpine Linux base image for better performance
• Configurable server properties
• Ready for Railway/Koyeb deployment

Deployment

Railway Deployment

1. Push to GitHub: Commit and push this code to a GitHub repository.

2. Connect to Railway:

   • Go to railway.app
   • Connect your GitHub repository
   • Railway will auto-detect the Dockerfile

3. Environment Variables:

   • PORT: Set to 8080 (for health checks)
   • MAX_MEMORY: Set to 1G (conservative for free tier)
   • INITIAL_MEMORY: Set to 512M

4. Port Configuration: Railway will use the PORT variable for HTTP health checks. Minecraft runs on 25565 internally.

5. Public URL: Railway provides a domain, but for Minecraft connections, you'll need the Railway TCP proxy or use the internal networking.

Koyeb Deployment

1. Push to GitHub: Commit and push this code to a GitHub repository.

2. Create Koyeb Account: Sign up at koyeb.com

3. Deploy Service:

   • Go to dashboard → Create Service → Docker
   • Connect your GitHub repository
   • Set port: 8080 (HTTP for health checks)
   • Add TCP port 25565 for Minecraft connections
   • Environment variables: MAX_MEMORY=1G, INITIAL_MEMORY=512M

4. Persistence: Add a volume mount for /minecraft to persist world data.

Configuration

Edit server.properties to customize your server:

• motd: Server message
• difficulty: easy/medium/hard
• max-players: Maximum players (keep low for free tiers)
• online-mode: Set to false if you want cracked clients (not recommended)

Environment Variables

• PORT: HTTP port for health checks (default: 8080)
• MAX_MEMORY: Maximum Java heap size (default: 1G - conservative for Railway)
• INITIAL_MEMORY: Initial Java heap size (default: 512M)

Local Testing

To test locally with Docker:

docker build -t minecraft-server .
docker run -p 8080:8080 -p 25565:25565 -e PORT=8080 minecraft-server

Connect Minecraft to localhost:25565

Important Notes

• Railway/Koyeb free tiers have CPU and memory limits
• Consider upgrading to paid plans for better performance
• Monitor resource usage in your dashboard
• Back up your world data regularly
• The HTTP server only responds to health checks - actual Minecraft connections use TCP

Troubleshooting

• 502 Bad Gateway: Usually means the HTTP health check server isn't responding
• Out of Memory (OOM) errors: Increase MAX_MEMORY/INITIAL_MEMORY environment variables or upgrade your plan
• Server crashes: Check memory allocation and mod compatibility
• Connection refused: Ensure port 25565 is properly exposed
• Slow performance: Increase MEMORY or upgrade your plan
• Railway deployment failures: Check Railway metrics for memory usage patterns

License

This setup uses the official Minecraft server software. Make sure to comply with Mojang's EULA.