How to Set Up a Private Git Server on a VPS with Gitea

GitHub and GitLab are excellent services — until you hit their pricing tiers, need air-gapped infrastructure, want to keep proprietary code off third-party servers, or simply prefer to own your development infrastructure. Gitea is the lightweight, open-source Git service that delivers the GitHub experience on a VPS you control: repositories, pull requests, code review, CI/CD hooks, and team management — all self-hosted.

This guide installs Gitea on Ubuntu VPS behind Nginx with SSL, configures SSH-based Git operations, and sets up team access management.

Why Gitea Over GitLab?

For individuals, small teams, and any VPS under 4 GB RAM, Gitea is the right choice.

💡 VPS.DO Tip: Gitea runs comfortably on VPS.DO’s entry-level plans. A 2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM VPS hosts Gitea alongside other applications easily. View Plans →

Step 1: Update System and Install Dependencies

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install git nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx sqlite3 -y

Step 2: Create a Dedicated Git User

sudo adduser --system --shell /bin/bash --gecos 'Git Version Control' \
  --group --disabled-password --home /home/git git

Step 3: Download and Install Gitea

# Get latest version number from https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/releases
GITEA_VERSION="1.22.3"

# Download Gitea binary
sudo wget -O /usr/local/bin/gitea \
  "https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/releases/download/v${GITEA_VERSION}/gitea-${GITEA_VERSION}-linux-amd64"

# Make executable
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/gitea

# Verify
gitea --version

Step 4: Create Required Directories

sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/gitea/{custom,data,log}
sudo mkdir -p /etc/gitea
sudo chown -R git:git /var/lib/gitea /etc/gitea
sudo chmod -R 750 /var/lib/gitea
sudo chmod 770 /etc/gitea

Step 5: Create Systemd Service

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/gitea.service

[Unit]
Description=Gitea (Git with a cup of tea)
After=syslog.target network.target
Wants=mariadb.service mysqld.service postgresql.service memcached.service redis.service

[Service]
RestartSec=2s
Type=simple
User=git
Group=git
WorkingDirectory=/var/lib/gitea/
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/gitea web --config /etc/gitea/app.ini
Restart=always
Environment=USER=git HOME=/home/git GITEA_WORK_DIR=/var/lib/gitea

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable gitea
sudo systemctl start gitea
sudo systemctl status gitea

Step 6: Configure Nginx Reverse Proxy

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/gitea

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name git.yourdomain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;

        # Required for Git operations over HTTP
        proxy_read_timeout 300s;
        client_max_body_size 512M;  # Allow large repository pushes
    }
}

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/gitea /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx

# Add SSL
sudo certbot --nginx -d git.yourdomain.com

Step 7: Complete Gitea Web Installation

Open https://git.yourdomain.com in your browser. You’ll see the Gitea installation wizard.

Database settings

• Database Type: SQLite3 (simplest for small teams) or PostgreSQL for larger installs
• Path: /var/lib/gitea/data/gitea.db

General settings

• Site Title: Your organization name
• Repository Root Path: /home/git/repositories
• Git LFS Root Path: /var/lib/gitea/data/lfs
• Run As Username: git
• SSH Server Domain: git.yourdomain.com
• Gitea HTTP Listen Port: 3000
• Gitea Base URL: https://git.yourdomain.com

Administrator account

Create your admin username and password. Click Install Gitea.

✅ Gitea is now running at https://git.yourdomain.com

Step 8: Configure SSH for Git Operations

SSH-based Git (faster and more reliable than HTTPS for large repos):

On your local machine, generate and add an SSH key

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your-email@example.com" -f ~/.ssh/gitea_key

# Copy the public key
cat ~/.ssh/gitea_key.pub

Add key to Gitea

1. Log in to Gitea
2. Go to User Settings → SSH / GPG Keys → Add Key
3. Paste your public key and save

Configure SSH client

nano ~/.ssh/config

Host git.yourdomain.com
    HostName git.yourdomain.com
    User git
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/gitea_key
    Port 22

Test SSH connection

ssh -T git@git.yourdomain.com
# Should return: Hi username! You've successfully authenticated...

Step 9: Create Your First Repository

# Create a new repo via Gitea web UI, then:
git clone git@git.yourdomain.com:username/myproject.git
cd myproject
echo "# My Project" > README.md
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git push origin main

Or mirror an existing GitHub repository:

1. Gitea → + New Repository → Migration
2. Select GitHub as source
3. Enter the GitHub repo URL
4. Enable Mirror for automatic sync

Step 10: Set Up Teams and Organizations

Create an organization

Gitea → + → New Organization → Set name and visibility

Create teams with different permissions

Step 11: Set Up Gitea Actions (CI/CD)

Gitea 1.19+ includes Gitea Actions — GitHub Actions-compatible syntax, running on your VPS:

Install an Actions runner

# Download the runner
wget https://github.com/nektos/act/releases/latest/download/act_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz
tar xzf act_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz
sudo mv act /usr/local/bin/

# Register the runner in Gitea
# Gitea → Site Administration → Runners → Create Runner
# Copy the registration token, then:
sudo -u git /usr/local/bin/act_runner register \
  --instance https://git.yourdomain.com \
  --token REGISTRATION_TOKEN \
  --name my-runner \
  --no-interactive

Create a workflow file

mkdir -p .gitea/workflows
nano .gitea/workflows/test.yml

name: Run Tests
on: [push]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Run tests
        run: npm test

This is identical GitHub Actions syntax — migrate workflows by changing .github/workflows/ to .gitea/workflows/.

Step 12: Automated Gitea Backups

nano ~/backup-gitea.sh

#!/bin/bash
DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
BACKUP_DIR="/var/backups/gitea"
mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

# Stop Gitea briefly for consistent backup
sudo systemctl stop gitea

# Backup data directory and database
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR/gitea-data-$DATE.tar.gz /var/lib/gitea/
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR/gitea-repos-$DATE.tar.gz /home/git/repositories/

sudo systemctl start gitea

# Remove backups older than 30 days
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "*.tar.gz" -mtime +30 -delete

echo "Gitea backup complete: $DATE"

chmod +x ~/backup-gitea.sh
crontab -e
# 0 3 * * * /bin/bash /root/backup-gitea.sh

Final Thoughts

Gitea on a VPS gives you a complete GitHub-equivalent experience for your team — private repositories, pull requests, code review, and CI/CD — with no per-user fees, no data on third-party servers, and complete control over access and retention policies. The entire stack runs on as little as 1 GB RAM, making it one of the most cost-efficient developer tools you can self-host.