Railway Operations & Build Debugging Skill

This skill provides tools for monitoring the Railway backend status and a comprehensive protocol for resolving build errors, based on project-specific lessons learned.

1. Railway Status Check

Use these commands to check the health and stats of the production server.

# Health Check
read_url_content https://wishlist-app-production.up.railway.app/api/admin/health

# System Stats (Users, Items, Lists)
read_url_content https://wishlist-app-production.up.railway.app/api/admin/stats?key=wishlist-secure-admin-2026-xK9p

# Crawler Logs
read_url_content https://wishlist-app-production.up.railway.app/api/admin/crawler-logs?key=wishlist-secure-admin-2026-xK9p

# Gemini API Status
read_url_content https://wishlist-app-production.up.railway.app/api/admin/gemini-status?key=wishlist-secure-admin-2026-xK9p

Report Format

When reporting status, organize data into a markdown table:

### 🏥 Health Check
- Status: ok
- Uptime: [seconds]
- Version: [version]

### 📊 System Stats
| Category | Count |
|----------|-------|
| Users    | ...   |
| Wishlists| ...   |
| Items    | ...   |

### 🕷️ Crawler Issues
(List recent errors or "None")

### ♊ Gemini Status
(Status and quota usage)

2. Build Debugging Protocol

Use this guide when npm run build fails. This specific protocol was derived from resolving critical build failures in Jan 2026.

🚨 Common Error Types & Fixes

A. "Unterminated string literal" or Corrupted Files

Symptoms: Random syntax errors in valid-looking code, especially in template literals or tailwind classes. Cause: Invisible character corruption or encoding issues. Fix:

1. •Do NOT try to edit the specific line.
2. •Overwrite the entire file using write_to_file with the known-correct content.
3. •If uncertain, delete the file and recreate it.

B. "Cannot find name" (Missing Imports)

Symptoms: Hundreds of errors like Cannot find name 'Dialog', Cannot find name 'Loader2'. Cause: Missing imports, often when copying components or using auto-imports that didn't trigger. Fix:

1. •Grep first: grep_search 'Loader2' src/ to see where it should come from.
2. •Check lucide-react: Ensure the icon is actually exported by the specific version.
3. •Add imports manually: Don't rely on "auto-fix". Open the file and add the import statement.

C. JSX Structure / "Expected corresponding JSX closing tag"

Symptoms: Expected corresponding JSX closing tag or weird indentation issues. Cause: Extra </div>, unclosed custom components (<Label>...</Label> when it should be self-closing or vice versa), or mismatched nesting. Fix:

1. •Fold methods: Use view_file to read the component in chunks (start to 50, 50 to 100) to visually match indentation.
2. •Simplify: Replace complex logic with a temporary placeholder to isolate the unclosed tag.
3. •Label Component: Note that Label might be missing. Use HTML <label className="..."> as a fallback.

D. Strict Type Checks (noUnusedLocals)

Symptoms: Build fails because a variable is declared but never read. Fix (Emergency):

1. •Open client/tsconfig.app.json.
2. •Set "noUnusedLocals": false and "noUnusedParameters": false.
3. •Proceed with build. (Revert later if strictness is required).

🛠️ Verification Checklist

Before declaring "Fixed":

1. • Run Type Check: npm run build (runs tsc -b && vite build).
2. • Run Tests: npm run test -- --run to catch runtime crashes.
3. • Deployment: Push to main and check Railway logs.

3. Railway CLI Commands (Terminal)

⚠️ First Time Setup: Link Project

Before using any CLI commands, you must link the project:

railway link
# Select: hankhuang0516's Projects
# Select: thorough-presence
# Select: production
# Select: wishlist-app

Once linked, you'll see: Project thorough-presence linked successfully! 🎉

Available Commands

Use these commands in the terminal when you need detailed deploy logs.

# Check deployment logs (most recent)
railway logs

# Filter for errors only
railway logs | grep -i "error"

# Filter for failed items
railway logs | grep -i "failed"

# Deploy and watch build output in real-time (best for debugging)
railway up

# List all deployments (to see FAILED status)
railway deployments

# Export logs to file for detailed analysis
railway logs > debug.txt

4. Deployment Protocol (IMPORTANT)

🚀 Standard Deployment Steps

When deploying to Railway, ALWAYS follow this protocol:

1. •

   Print Git Version First - Before running railway up, always print the current git commit as the first line of debug output:

   bash

   # Step 1: Print git version for debugging
   echo "=== Deploying Git Version ===" && git log -1 --oneline
   
   # Step 2: Deploy to Railway
   railway up
   

2. •

   Report Format - When reporting deployment status, always include:

   markdown

   ## 🚀 Deployment Status
   - **Git Version**: `abc1234 commit message here`
   - **Build Logs**: [Railway Link]
   - **Health Check**: ok / failed
   - **Uptime**: X seconds
   

Example Deployment Command (Copy-Paste Ready)

echo "=== Deploying Git Version ===" && git log -1 --oneline && railway up

This ensures every deployment is traceable to a specific git commit for debugging purposes.

Common Error Patterns

5. 🚨 Critical Troubleshooting: Postgres Overwritten

Incident Date: 2026-01-20

💀 The Problem

The Postgres service crashes repeatedly with P1001: Can't reach database server.

🔍 Symptoms

1. •Wrong Runtime: The "Postgres" service environment shows node@20.x instead of Docker/Postgres.
2. •App Logs in DB Service: You see npm start or prisma db push logs appearing inside the Postgres service logs.
3. •Deployment History: Shows a railway up deployment (CLI) replacing the Docker image.

⚠️ Root Cause

Running railway up while linked to the Postgres service instead of the App service.

• •Note: This can happen if the local environment was previously linked to Postgres for debugging, and then railway up is run (by user or Agent) without switching back.

✅ Solution (Browser Rollback)

1. •Go to Railway Dashboard -> Postgres Service.
2. •Click Deployments tab.
3. •Find the last stable deployment (Look for the Docker icon 🐳, usually image ghcr.io/railwayapp-templates/postgres-ssl...).
4. •Click Three Dots (⋮) -> Redeploy.

🛡️ Prevention

• •CRITICAL: Always run railway status IMMEDIATELY BEFORE railway up.
• •Verify the output says Service: wishlist-app (or your app name).
• •If it says Service: Postgres, run railway link to switch.

Last Updated: 2026-01-20 Context: Emergency Build Fix for Wishlist App + Deployment Protocol + Postgres Recovery