123 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown
123 lines
4.7 KiB
Markdown
---
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pubDatetime: 2025-03-21
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title: "Create your own GitHub alternative with Gitea, Opengist, and Forgejo"
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description: Then you can deploy your apps and websites with Coolify on a cheap VPS. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
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featured: true
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tags:
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- selfhosting
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- coolify
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- github
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- forgejo
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- gitea
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- opengist
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- pikapods
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---
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I mentioned on Mastodon that I was trying to move most of my projects off of Big Tech™️ and one of the ways I am doing that is [hosting similar platforms on my own servers](/posts/selfhosting-coolify).
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Recently I decided to use decentralized and open source platforms for my website deployment and hosting, where I can create a webhook from my GitHub-like platform of choice and instantly deploy that site to Coolify.
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## Another option
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I also use [PikaPods](https://pikapods.com) to deploy more resource intensive apps like Nextcloud as PikaPods doesn't bill you; you just top up your account. This way you're not saddled with an unexpected server bill.
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## First pick a platform
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I am using both [Gitea](https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea) and [Forgejo](https://forgejo.org/), both for very different things. But the idea is to decentralize _git_ as a hosted service that doesn't need to funnel through Big Tech™️ infrastructure.
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Both of these options are extremely lightweight and don't require a ton of resources. Neither will bog down your server.
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Both are using the Gitea _framework_, or _platform_ if you want to call it that. You can do pretty much the same _GitHub-like_ things on both.
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### Simple way of installing
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Either using `docker-compose.yaml` or a service like PikaPods.
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An example of a docker compose file:
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```yaml
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networks:
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forgejo:
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external: false
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services:
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server:
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image: codeberg.org/forgejo/forgejo:10
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container_name: forgejo
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environment:
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- USER_UID=1000
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- USER_GID=1000
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+ - FORGEJO__database__DB_TYPE=postgres
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+ - FORGEJO__database__HOST=db:5432
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+ - FORGEJO__database__NAME=forgejo
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+ - FORGEJO__database__USER=forgejo
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+ - FORGEJO__database__PASSWD=forgejo
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restart: always
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networks:
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- forgejo
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volumes:
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- ./forgejo:/data
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- /etc/timezone:/etc/timezone:ro
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- /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
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ports:
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- "3000:3000"
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- "222:22"
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+ depends_on:
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+ - db
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+
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+ db:
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+ image: postgres:14
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+ restart: always
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+ environment:
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+ - POSTGRES_USER=forgejo
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+ - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=forgejo
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+ - POSTGRES_DB=forgejo
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+ networks:
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+ - forgejo
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+ volumes:
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+ - ./postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data
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```
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_Example of a docker-compose file from the Forgejo website_
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Usually you wouldn't need a full-on database for this; the initial setup just needs sqlite, most self-hosted projects using Forgejo don't need a database like Postgres because most of the time, the scale is smaller[^1].
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This process is similar for Gitea as well.
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## Opengist for hosting your own code snippets
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I discovered [Opengist](https://opengist.io/) sometime last year. The end of last year was an absolute _nightmare_ so I didn't install it, I didn't have the energy. It wasn't until recent events in the US that I thought it might be a good idea to bring all my projects over to Gitea, Forgejo, and host my gists on Opengist.
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Their docker compose example is simple:
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```yaml
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services:
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opengist:
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image: ghcr.io/thomiceli/opengist:1
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container_name: opengist
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restart: unless-stopped
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ports:
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- "6157:6157" # HTTP port
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- "2222:2222" # SSH port, can be removed if you don't use SSH
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volumes:
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- "$HOME/.opengist:/opengist"
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environment:
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# OG_LOG_LEVEL: info
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# other configuration options
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```
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You can configure auth and permissions when you first login or you can add environment variables in a `secrets.env` file on your server. Then run `docker compose up -d` and off you go.
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You can also just run: `docker run --name opengist -p 6157:6157 -v "$HOME/.opengist:/opengist" ghcr.io/thomiceli/opengist:1`
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### Opengist embed example
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<script src="https://gists.tiff.run/tiffmin/4fd4968134134677be6a86c6461c0e5f.js"></script>
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## Your choice
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I know there is a lot of chatter about self-hosting and decentralized networks in general lately and it is definitely a time commitment to roll your own tech stack but I find it works for me. You can do it cheaply or in your own home using your own hardware and internet service[^2]. Either way, there are choices. Self-host is the best one, and I want to convince you of this. But it _is_ your choice to make.
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[^1]: Unless you're uploading large files then maybe something like Postgres is needed.
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[^2]: Be careful; some ISPs don't like giving out static IP addresses on home networks so check with them before doing it. Or, just try it and see what happens.
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