Nightscout in Railway

Too complicated? Not what you’re looking for?

Consider a hosted Nightscout service! Check for easier solutions here.

Warning

The free plan has been removed Jul 3rd for new users and Aug 1st for existing users.

Railway.app

Railway

You can easily create a new Railway Nightscout site with a MongoDB Atlas database or a Railway MongoDB database.

Pros:

Nightscout fits in the 5$/month Hobby account
Easy to deploy or migrate an existing site from Heroku
Simple to use and troubleshoot
You can host several Nightscout sites within a single Hobby account
Can use a native Railway MongoDB database ($)

Cons:

The railway.app domain is blocked for safety by some companies
Railway network model causes issues with some follower app and devices

Set up a new Nightscout

Create your Railway and GitHub accounts from a computer.

Note

Do not change device/computer/browser during the setup process!
If you have unexpected issues when creating your site, restart with another browser.

Step 0: Create a database

Note

Make sure you created one before starting your Nightscout web app creation with Railway. Come back here when you have a MONGODB_URI connection string.

Migrating?

Copy the connection string from your previous platform: edit the variables and look for MONGODB_URI. If you don’t see MONGODB_URI but see MONGO_CONNECTION (NOT MONGO_COLLECTION): use its value.

Step 1: Fork `cgm-remote-monitor`

Do you have a GitHub account?

This is not necessary anymore (with a Docker image)

Continue with Step 2.

I don’t have a GitHub Account

You cannot connect Railway to GitHub if you just created your account.
Your GitHub account needs to have been created months ago.

Consider another platform.

I already have a GitHub Account

Update your Nightscout fork

Click here to log in at GitHub: https://github.com/login.
Enter your username or email and your password. Click Sign in

Select your own cgm-remote-monitor project (not nightscout/cgm-remote-monitor)

Your repository will open. If you see This branch is xxx commits behind nightscout:master you need to update.
Select Fetch upstream

Select Fetch and merge

After a moment, your repository should display This branch is up to date with nightscout:master

You have now updated your GitHub cgm-remote-monitor repository.

If you ran into trouble, you can redeploy the project.

Step 2: Create a Railway account

If you already have a Railway account, make sure you have a Hobby plan: go to step g).

a) Open Railway in a new browser tab and click login. Login with GitHub.

b) If the following screen shows-up, select Authorize Railway App.

c) Click on Please agree to the new terms to keep on using Railway.

d) Scroll down and click I agree with Railway's Terms of Service.

e) Scroll down and click I will not deploy any of that.

Warning

The free plan has been removed Jul 3rd for new users and Aug 1st for existing users.

f) You should now see this. You’ve created your Railway account.
If it still shows 200 hours, refresh your browser page.

g) Upgrade your account to a Hobby plan. Click on the Starter Plan information and select Remove Resource Limits.

Enter your credit card information and select Subscribe to a Hobby Plan.

Your card will be billed 1$ that will be refund immediately. Bank fees won’t be refund.

You will be billed 5$ per month.

Step 3 - Deploy Nightscout in Railway

Select below how you want to do this:

Deploy with Docker (recommended)

a) Click on Create a New project.

If you don’t see that, top right, click + New Project.

b) Select Empty project.

c) Select Add a Service.

d) Select Docker Image.

e) In the field Name of the Image type:

nightscout/cgm-remote-monitor:latest

and press <Enter>

f) Select your new service.

g) Select Add variables.

h) Now we need to setup our Nightscout variables.
Click on Raw Editor.

The raw editor will open, leave it like this for now.

i) Compile the information below.

File all necessary fields, click on the Validate button at the bottom of the form, if no error is seen you will have all variables displayed in the text box at the bottom, click on the Copy All button.

Mandatory variables

These three variables below must have a value.

MONGODB_URI

The MongoDB Connection String to connect to your MongoDB cluster. If you don’t have this from your Mongo database, please re-read installation instructions at Nightscout database before continuing

API_SECRET

A passphrase that must be at least 12 characters long. Avoid special characters, which can cause problems in some cases

DISPLAY_UNITS

Preferred BG units for the site: `mg/dl` or `mmol/l` (or just `mmol`)

Customizations

Leave default values if you don’t want to change them

CUSTOM_TITLE

The display name for the Nightscout site. Appears in the upper left of the main view. Often set to the name of the CGM wearer

THEME

Default setting for new browser views for the color theme of the CGM graph. (`default` `colors` or `colorblindfriendly`)

ENABLE

Plugins to enable for your site. Must be a space-delimited lower-case list. Include the word bridge here if you are receiving data from the Dexcom Share service

SHOW_PLUGINS

Default setting for whether or not these plugins are checked (active) by default not merely enabled. Include plugins here as in the ENABLE line; space-separated and lower-case

TIME_FORMAT

Default setting for new browser views for the time mode. (`12` or `24`)

NIGHT_MODE

Default setting for new browser views for whether Night Mode should be enabled. (`on` or `off`)

BOLUS_RENDER_OVER

U value over which the bolus values are rendered on the chart if the x U and Over option is selected

If you want Nightscout to import directly from Dexcom Share

BRIDGE_USER_NAME

Your Dexcom account username to receive CGM data from the Dexcom Share service. Also make sure to include bridge in your ENABLE line.

BRIDGE_PASSWORD

Your Dexcom account password to receive CGM data from the Dexcom Share service. Also make sure to include bridge in your ENABLE line

BRIDGE_SERVER

If you are bridging from the Dexcom Share service and are anywhere *outside* the US change this to EU. (`US` or `EU`)

Alarms

You can customize alarms or leave them to default values

ALARM_TYPES

`simple` and/or `predict`v. Simple alarms trigger when BG crosses the various thresholds set below. Predict alarms use a formula that forecasts where the BG is going based on its trend. You will *not* get warnings when crossing the BG thresholds set below when using the predict type

ALARM_URGENT_HIGH

Urgent High BG threshold triggers the ALARM_URGENT_HIGH alarm. Set in mg/dL or mmol/L as set in DISPLAY_UNITS variable

ALARM_URGENT_LOW

Urgent Low BG threshold triggers the ALARM_URGENT_LOW alarm. Set in mg/dL or mmol/L as set in DISPLAY_UNITS variable

ALARM_HIGH

High BG threshold triggers the ALARM_HIGH alarm. Set in mg/dL or mmol/L as set in DISPLAY_UNITS variable

ALARM_LOW

Low BG threshold triggers the ALARM_LOW alarm. Set in mg/dL or mmol/L as set in DISPLAY_UNITS variable

ALARM_TIMEAGO_URGENT

Default setting for new browser views for the number of minutes since the last CGM reading to trigger an ALARM_TIMEAGO_URGENT alarm

ALARM_TIMEAGO_WARN

Default setting for new browser views for the number of minutes since the last CGM reading to trigger an ALARM_TIMEAGO_WARN alarm

Now click on the Validate button below

If errors show up below, please correct them and click Validate again.

Click the button above.

j) Return to the Railway Raw editor. Paste the result. Click Update Variables.

k) On the top left of the screen Deploy.

l) Select the Settings tab and click Generate domain.

m) Edit your Nightscout site name and put yours (one that is not already used).

Using the Railway button

a) Click on the Deploy on Railway button below:

Note: this is a private template as the community doesn’t have a Railway account.
It doesn’t include any referral code.

b) If you see this screen, select Connect GitHub to Deploy.

Then select Authorize Railway App.

c) Click Configure

d) Click Install & Authorize

e) You will then see this page, scroll down to define the required variables for creating your Nightscout site.

Mind if you see this you must delete thecgm-remote-monitor fork in GitHub and retry Deploy from a) afterwards.

f) Setup your Nightscout core variables.

Migrating from Heroku

If you’re migrating your project from Heroku, display all variables in Heroku and copy all those with a value into Railway.
See below how to add variables in Railway but use your Heroku variables values.

API_SECRET will be your Nightscout site password, it needs to be at least 12 characters long and you should NOT use spaces if you use @ or ! symbols remember you will probably need to express them using Percent encoding in your uploader and downloader apps. If you’re not sure on how to do this, it is recommended to use only letters (uppercase + lowercase) and digits.

Warning

The API_SECRET is the main password allowing full access to your Nightscout site. Make sure it’s reasonably secure (mix uppercase and lowercase letters, plus digits) and do no not share it publicly. If you think you exposed it by mistake, it is recommended that you change it.

g) At Step 3 you created your database and came back with a MONGODB_URI string. Time has come to use it here.

Dexcom Bridge

h) If you use Dexcom bridge you need to configure these two variables with your Dexcom credentials:

If you’re using Dexcom Share in the US you should put US, in any other case it must be EU.
If you don’t see it proposed at this point you’ll need to browse the list below to find it and modify it.

Remember to add bridge at the end of the enable variable in the list below.

MOST COMMON ERRORS

The most common error on initial Nightscout setups is that people incorrectly use an old account or an old password. To test your username and password, go to Dexcom’s Clarity page (check here for USA accounts and here for the others) and try logging in to your Dexcom account. If your account info isn’t valid, or you don’t see any data in your Clarity account… you need to figure out your actual credentials before moving ahead. See here for troubleshooting tips and information on your Dexcom account.

Password

Some people have had problems with their bridge connecting when their Dexcom passwords are entirely numeric. If you have connection issues in that case, try changing your password to something with a mix of numbers and letters.

Hint

You need to have at least one follower to use Dexcom Share. See here.

i) Many optional variables are already setup for you, open the caret to see them and eventually modify them (recommended).

Select the units you’re using in DISPLAY_UNITS acceptable choices are mg/dl or mmol/L (or just mmol).

You can update the alarms values. See here for the meaning of each one.

If you want to ensure that ONLY someone with permission to view your site (e.g., a token or the API_SECRET) is able to view the data, you should configure the AUTH_DEFAULT_ROLES variable in as denied.
If you want your site to be visible to anybody leave it as readable.

A common list of enable variables is predefined, you can change them if you know why.
It’s recommended that you leave them like this for now.

Just remember to add bridge at the end if your get your BG values from Dexcom Share.

You can modify the variables values, check the documentation for the meaning of each one.
Make sure you don’t make typo errors, some will crash your site (like for example LANGUAGE value in upercase).

j) You can now Deploy, and wait until it is complete.

If you see this message, deploy didn’t complete, let’s fix this manually.

j1) Select Settings and scroll down to Service.
Disconnect your Source Repo with the cross at the end of the line.

j2) Confirm Disconnect.

j3) Select Connect Repo.

You should be able to select your GitHub cgm-remote-monitor repository.

Your Railway app will now automatically deploy.

Recommended

You should change your Railway site name now in order to make it easier to remember. You can also do this later, before setting your uploaders.

Using the help page

a) Click on Create a New project.

If you don’t see that, top right, click + New Project.

b) Select Deploy from GitHub repo.

c) Select Configure GitHub App.

d) Choose Only select repositories, in the Select repositories drop-down select your own fork of cgm-remote-monitor.
Then, at the bottom, click Install & Authorize.

e) You should be back to Deploy from GitHub repo, select it.

f) Now you can select your own GitHub repository.

g) Select Add variables.

h) The Nightscout project will deploy in the background, just ignore it: now we need to setup our Nightscout variables.
Click on Raw Editor.

The raw editor will open, leave it like this for now.

i) Compile the information below.

File all necessary fields, click on the Validate button at the bottom of the form, if no error is seen you will have all variables displayed in the text box at the bottom, click on the Copy All button.