Self-host Gitea on a VPS: your own private Git server

Hosting your code on someone else's platform means their rules, their outages, their AI training on your repositories, and their decision if an account gets flagged. Gitea is a lightweight, self-hosted Git forge — repos, issues, pull requests, wiki, webhooks — that runs on a server you control. It's small enough to run anywhere, quick to set up with Docker, and you can pay for the server in crypto without KYC.

What Gitea needs

• A dedicated IPv4, a domain and HTTPS. You clone over https://git.yourdomain.com or git SSH, so you need a domain, valid TLS and inbound ports — a dedicated-IP plan. NAT plans don't take inbound. Nano-IP or Small-IP is plenty.
• Modest disk sized to your repos. Gitea itself is tiny; the disk holds your Git history and artifacts.
• Very light RAM/CPU. Gitea is written in Go and runs comfortably on a small instance.

Set it up (Ubuntu 24.04, Docker)

# docker-compose.yml — Gitea + PostgreSQL (SSH git on host 2222, web behind TLS proxy)
services:
  server:
    image: gitea/gitea:latest
    restart: always
    environment:
      GITEA__database__DB_TYPE: postgres
      GITEA__database__HOST: db:5432
      GITEA__database__NAME: gitea
      GITEA__database__USER: gitea
      GITEA__database__PASSWD: change-me-strong
    volumes: ["/srv/gitea:/data"]
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:3000:3000"   # web (proxied by Caddy)
      - "2222:22"               # git over SSH
    depends_on: [db]
  db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    restart: always
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: gitea
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: change-me-strong
      POSTGRES_DB: gitea
    volumes: ["/srv/gitea-db:/var/lib/postgresql/data"]

Put a TLS reverse proxy in front of the web UI:

# TLS + reverse proxy (dedicated IPv4 + domain + inbound 443); git SSH stays on 2222
apt install -y caddy
echo 'git.yourdomain.com { reverse_proxy 127.0.0.1:3000 }' > /etc/caddy/Caddyfile
systemctl restart caddy && ufw allow 80,443,2222/tcp

Open https://git.yourdomain.com, finish the first-run setup, add your SSH key, and push your first repo — hosting you own.

Make it yours

• Issues, pull requests, wiki, releases — the workflow you expect, self-hosted.
• Webhooks + Actions: fire a self-hosted CI runner on push (see the runner guide below).
• Organizations and fine-grained access — no seat fees, unlimited private repos.
• Keep Postgres on localhost; expose only 443 (web) and your git-SSH port.

Why EQVPS for Gitea

• Dedicated IPv4 from $8/mo, domain + HTTPS friendly, all ports, self-service rDNS.
• EU locations (Germany, Finland) — clean routes, real data-protection law.
• No KYC, crypto payment. Email to register, USDC/USDT to pay — fitting for code that stays yours.
• Root in ~60 seconds, NVMe. Bring up the stack, add Caddy, and your private Git server is live.

Add a self-hosted CI runner → · Anonymous VPS hosting explained →

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