SSL-enabled Postgres 18 Image

Postgres 18 template for Railway deployment and hosting.

Largely taken from the Railway's repository with changes to support Postgres 18.

⚠️ Important: Upgrading from PostgreSQL 17 or Earlier

DO NOT simply change the image version and restart your service. PostgreSQL 18 introduced breaking changes to the data directory structure that will result in data loss if not handled properly.

The Problem

• PostgreSQL 17 and earlier use /var/lib/postgresql/data as the data directory
• PostgreSQL 18+ uses /var/lib/postgresql/18/docker (version-specific path)
• PostgreSQL 18 cannot read PostgreSQL 17 database files directly

Migration Steps

If you're upgrading from PostgreSQL 17:

1. Create a backup of your existing database using pg_dumpall
2. Deploy a NEW PostgreSQL 18 service (don't reuse the old volume)
3. Use Railway's PostgreSQL Migration template or manually restore your backup
4. Update your application to use the new database URL
5. Verify everything works before deleting the old service

For New Deployments

If you're deploying a fresh PostgreSQL 18 database, you can use this template directly. Just ensure your Railway volume is mounted to /var/lib/postgresql (not /var/lib/postgresql/data).

Volume Mount Configuration

• Volume Mount Path: /var/lib/postgresql
• PGDATA (auto-set): /var/lib/postgresql/18/docker

See Railway's PostgreSQL upgrade guide for detailed migration instructions.