Gogs

beginner

Painless self-hosted Git service.

Overview

Gogs is a self-hosted Git service written in Go that provides a lightweight alternative to GitHub, GitLab, and other Git hosting platforms. Created in 2014 by Unknwon, Gogs was designed with simplicity and minimal resource consumption in mind, making it ideal for individuals, small teams, and organizations who want complete control over their Git repositories without the overhead of more complex solutions. The name 'Gogs' stands for 'Go Git Service' and emphasizes its focus on being painless to deploy and maintain. This Docker stack deploys Gogs as a single-container solution that includes both the web interface and SSH Git access capabilities. The configuration exposes the standard HTTP port 3000 for web-based repository management and port 222 for SSH operations, allowing developers to clone, push, and pull repositories using standard Git commands. Gogs uses SQLite as its default database, which means the entire Git service runs without external database dependencies while maintaining all data in a single volume. This setup is perfect for developers who need a private Git hosting solution, small development teams requiring collaborative coding environments, or homelab enthusiasts wanting to self-host their code repositories. Unlike heavier alternatives, Gogs can run comfortably on Raspberry Pi devices and low-resource VPS instances while still providing essential Git hosting features like issue tracking, pull requests, and user management.

Key Features

Built-in SQLite database requiring no external database server or configuration
SSH Git access on custom port 222 for secure repository operations
Web-based repository browser with syntax highlighting for 100+ programming languages
Issue tracking system with labels, milestones, and assignee management
Pull request workflow with merge conflict detection and resolution
User and organization management with fine-grained repository permissions
Git hook support for custom automation and CI/CD integration
Repository mirroring for backing up external Git repositories

Common Use Cases

1Small software development teams needing private Git repositories with collaboration features
2Individual developers wanting to host personal projects with professional Git workflow tools
3Educational institutions providing students with hands-on Git hosting experience
4Homelab enthusiasts building self-hosted development environments
5Companies requiring on-premises source code hosting for compliance or security reasons
6Open source projects needing lightweight hosting with issue tracking and pull requests
7Development teams migrating from hosted Git services to self-hosted solutions

Prerequisites

Docker and Docker Compose installed on the host system
Minimum 512MB RAM available for the Gogs container
Ports 3000 and 222 available and not used by other services
At least 1GB free disk space for initial setup and repository storage
Basic understanding of Git operations and SSH key management
Network access for users who will clone repositories via SSH or HTTPS

For development & testing. Review security settings, change default credentials, and test thoroughly before production use. See Terms

docker-compose.yml

1services: 
2  gogs: 
3    image: gogs/gogs:latest
4    container_name: gogs
5    restart: unless-stopped
6    volumes: 
7      - gogs_data:/data
8    ports: 
9      - "3000:3000"
10      - "222:22"
11
12volumes: 
13  gogs_data:

.env Template

.env

1# Configuration via web installer

Usage Notes

1Docs: https://gogs.io/docs
2Access at http://localhost:3000 - setup wizard on first visit
3SSH on port 222 for git clone operations
4Uses SQLite by default (easy single-file backup)
5Extremely lightweight - runs on minimal resources
6Similar to Gitea (Gitea forked from Gogs)

Quick Start

terminal

1# 1. Create the compose file
2cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
3services:
4  gogs:
5    image: gogs/gogs:latest
6    container_name: gogs
7    restart: unless-stopped
8    volumes:
9      - gogs_data:/data
10    ports:
11      - "3000:3000"
12      - "222:22"
13
14volumes:
15  gogs_data:
16EOF
17
18# 2. Create the .env file
19cat > .env << 'EOF'
20# Configuration via web installer
21EOF
22
23# 3. Start the services
24docker compose up -d
25
26# 4. View logs
27docker compose logs -f

One-Liner

Run this command to download and set up the recipe in one step:

terminal

1curl -fsSL https://docker.recipes/api/recipes/gogs/run | bash

Troubleshooting

SSH clone fails with connection refused: Ensure port 222 is open in firewall and SSH key is properly configured in Gogs user settings
Installation wizard shows database error: Check that gogs_data volume has proper write permissions and sufficient disk space
Web interface returns 502 bad gateway: Verify container is running with 'docker logs gogs' and restart if necessary
Git push fails with permission denied: Confirm the repository owner has granted push access and SSH key is added to user account
Gogs web UI loads but repositories don't appear: Check volume mount is persistent and SQLite database file exists in /data directory
Cannot access admin panel after setup: Default admin user must be created during initial setup wizard or via command line in container

Community Notes

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