Morphic on Render

Deploy Morphic, an AI answer engine with generative UI and citations, on Render with Docker, managed Postgres, and Exa neural search.

What This Template Shows

This repo packages Morphic as a Render Blueprint (docker-fork): builds from ./Dockerfile, wires managed Postgres for chat history, and uses Exa instead of self-hosted SearXNG/Redis.

Piece	Role
Morphic	Generative UI answer engine
Render Web Service	Docker Next.js app (standard)
Render Postgres	Chat history (morphic-db)
Exa	Neural web search (SEARCH_API=exa)
LLM provider	Completions (OpenAI / Anthropic / Google / …)

Architecture

flowchart LR
  browser["Browser"] --> web["morphic<br/>Docker Standard"]
  web --> db[("morphic-db<br/>Postgres 17")]
  web --> exa["Exa API"]
  web --> llm["LLM provider"]

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How It Works

1. Click Deploy to Render. Render forks this template and applies render.yaml.
2. Enter EXA_API_KEY on Apply. Add one LLM key on Apply or after deploy on the service.
3. Render builds the Docker image (Next.js) and runs migrations on container start.
4. Open the morphic *.onrender.com URL and ask a question.
5. Chat history persists in Postgres across deploys.

Resource	Type	Plan	Notes
morphic	Web (runtime: docker)	standard	Health /; migrations on boot
morphic-db	Postgres 17	basic-256mb	Private (ipAllowList: [])
morphic-render	Env group		Shared non-secret config

Default region: oregon. Previews are off. Standard is the floor: Starter (512 MB) typically OOMs during the Next.js build/start ("No open ports detected").

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• A Render account
• An Exa API key
• At least one LLM key (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, or AI Gateway)

Deploy

1. Click Deploy to Render above and fork into your GitHub account.
2. On Apply, enter EXA_API_KEY. Optionally paste an LLM key now.
3. Wait until Live (~5–10 minutes first time).
4. Open the public URL. If the model selector is empty, add an LLM key on the service and retry.
5. Run a query and confirm citations stream back.

Smoke test:

curl -sS -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}\n" https://<your-morphic>.onrender.com/

Features

Feature	Description
Docker fork	Builds from ./Dockerfile (no public Morphic image required)
Exa search	Replaces self-hosted SearXNG in Compose
Managed Postgres	DATABASE_URL wired via fromDatabase
Anonymous mode	ENABLE_AUTH=false by default
One Render project	projects / environments wrapper

Configuration

Variable	Source	Description
EXA_API_KEY	Required (sync: false)	Exa neural search
DATABASE_URL / DATABASE_RESTRICTED_URL	Wired	From morphic-db
NODE_ENV	Wired (group)	production
ENABLE_AUTH	Wired (group)	false
ANONYMOUS_USER_ID	Wired (group)	anonymous-user
SEARCH_API	Wired (group)	exa
NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED	Wired (group)	0 (Render Postgres TLS with upstream Node)
OPENAI_API_KEY / ANTHROPIC_API_KEY / GOOGLE_GENERATIVE_AI_API_KEY / AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY	Optional (Dashboard)	Add at least one LLM key after deploy

Upstream config: CONFIGURATION.md.

Cost

Resource	Approx. monthly
Web (Standard)	~$25
Postgres (basic-256mb)	~$6
Total	~$31

Exa and LLM usage are billed by those providers. Do not drop the web plan to Starter unless you have proven the build fits in 512 MB.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
Health check fails / no open ports	Keep Standard. Check build logs for OOM.
Model selector empty	Add an LLM key on the service Environment.
Search errors	Confirm EXA_API_KEY and SEARCH_API=exa.
Postgres TLS / certificate errors	Keep NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0 from the env group.
Empty chat history	Confirm DATABASE_URL wiring and Postgres is Live.

Project Structure

render.yaml       Render Blueprint (Docker web + Postgres)
README.md         This file
LICENSE           MIT (template packaging note) / upstream Apache-2.0 for app
Dockerfile        App image build
app/ …            Morphic source (docker-fork)
assets/           Hero / logo

Learn More

Render:

• Web Services
• PostgreSQL
• Blueprints

Morphic / Exa:

• Upstream Morphic
• Exa
• Configuration

License

Template packaging on Render examples is for one-click deploy. Upstream Morphic is Apache-2.0: see LICENSE. Star that repo if this helped.