Deploying Forgejo Lightweight Git Server on Ubuntu 24.04

#git #docker #devops #opensource

Forgejo is a community-managed, lightweight Git server forked from Gitea, offering repository hosting, code review, issue tracking, and CI/CD with a strong focus on open governance. This guide deploys Forgejo with a MariaDB backend using Docker Compose, with Traefik handling automatic HTTPS. By the end, you'll have a self-hosted Forgejo instance served securely at your domain.

Set Up the Directory Structure

1. Create the project directory structure:

$ mkdir -p ~/forgejo/{data,db,letsencrypt}
$ cd ~/forgejo

2. Create the environment file:

$ nano .env

FORGEJO_DB_USER=forgejo
FORGEJO_DB_PASS=STRONG_APP_PASSWORD
MYSQL_ROOT_PASS=STRONG_MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD
FORGEJO_DB_NAME=forgejodb
FORGEJO_DOMAIN=forgejo.example.com
LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL=admin@example.com

Deploy with Docker Compose

1. Add your user to the Docker group:

$ sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
$ newgrp docker

2. Create the Docker Compose manifest:

$ nano docker-compose.yml

services:
  traefik:
    image: traefik:latest
    container_name: traefik
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      DOCKER_API_VERSION: "1.44"
    command:
      - "--providers.docker=true"
      - "--providers.docker.exposedbydefault=false"
      - "--entrypoints.web.address=:80"
      - "--entrypoints.websecure.address=:443"
      - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.to=websecure"
      - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.scheme=https"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.httpchallenge=true"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.httpchallenge.entrypoint=web"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.email=${LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL}"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.le.acme.storage=/letsencrypt/acme.json"
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
      - ./letsencrypt:/letsencrypt

  db:
    image: mariadb:latest
    container_name: forgejo-db
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=${MYSQL_ROOT_PASS}
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=${FORGEJO_DB_NAME}
      - MYSQL_USER=${FORGEJO_DB_USER}
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=${FORGEJO_DB_PASS}
    volumes:
      - ./db:/var/lib/mysql

  forgejo:
    image: codeberg.org/forgejo/forgejo:latest
    container_name: forgejo
    restart: unless-stopped
    depends_on:
      - db
    environment:
      - USER_UID=1000
      - USER_GID=1000
      - FORGEJO__database__DB_TYPE=mysql
      - FORGEJO__database__HOST=db:3306
      - FORGEJO__database__NAME=${FORGEJO_DB_NAME}
      - FORGEJO__database__USER=${FORGEJO_DB_USER}
      - FORGEJO__database__PASSWD=${FORGEJO_DB_PASS}
      - FORGEJO__server__ROOT_URL=https://${FORGEJO_DOMAIN}
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=true"
      - "traefik.http.routers.forgejo.rule=Host(`${FORGEJO_DOMAIN}`)"
      - "traefik.http.routers.forgejo.entrypoints=websecure"
      - "traefik.http.routers.forgejo.tls=true"
      - "traefik.http.routers.forgejo.tls.certresolver=le"
      - "traefik.http.services.forgejo.loadbalancer.server.port=3000"

3. Start the services:

$ docker compose up -d

4. Verify the services are running:

$ docker compose ps

Complete the Installation

Open https://forgejo.example.com in a browser to load the installation page.
Leave the database settings at their defaults — they match the Compose environment.
Configure the administrator account with your username, password, and email.
Click Install Forgejo to finalize the setup.