Private Git on a VPS (2025): Fast Gitea Deployment Guide

As a developer, code is your core asset. GitHub is great, but free private repositories come with many limits, large file transfers are slow, and your data depends entirely on a third party.

In 2025, setting up a private Git service on your own VPS has become a mainstream choice. This article recommends Gitea — a lightweight, ultra-fast, feature-rich open-source Git service. It not only uses fewer resources than GitLab (it runs on just 256MB of memory), but is also more actively updated and more feature-complete than Gogs.

This article will teach you how to quickly deploy Gitea with Docker Compose, configure HTTPS access and SSH port forwarding, and build a "private GitHub" that is entirely yours.

1. Why Choose Gitea?

In 2025, Gitea remains the top choice for self-hosted Git services, for simple reasons:

Extremely lightweight: Written in Go, compiled into a single file, with very low resource usage (it even runs on a Raspberry Pi).
Feature-complete: Pull Requests, Issues, Wiki, Kanban, LFS, and Packages are all included.
Built-in CI/CD: Supports Gitea Actions, with syntax compatible with GitHub Actions, which is crucial for automated builds.
Active community: Compared with the "stagnant" Gogs, Gitea iterates quickly and offers better security guarantees (Gogs recently had a high-severity vulnerability disclosed).

2. Environment Preparation

1. Basic Requirements

VPS configuration: 1 core and 1GB of memory is enough (2 cores and 2GB is recommended for a better experience).
System: Ubuntu 20.04+ / Debian 11+.
Software: Docker and Docker Compose already installed.

2. DNS Resolution

Go to your domain provider (such as Cloudflare) and add an A record:

git.yourdomain.com -> 你的 VPS IP
Proxy status: Off (DNS only), so Caddy can automatically obtain SSL.

3. Docker Compose Deployment

We will use Docker Compose to bring up Gitea and Caddy (as a reverse proxy) with a single command.

1. Create the directory

mkdir -p ~/gitea/{data,config,caddy/data,caddy/config}
cd ~/gitea

2. Write docker-compose.yml

Create a docker-compose.yml file:

version: "3"

networks:
  gitea:
    external: false

services:
  server:
    image: gitea/gitea:latest
    container_name: gitea
    environment:
      - USER_UID=1000
      - USER_GID=1000
      - GITEA__database__DB_TYPE=sqlite3  # 个人使用 SQLite 足够，无需独立数据库容器
    restart: always
    networks:
      - gitea
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data  # 持久化数据
      - /etc/timezone:/etc/timezone:ro
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
    ports:
      # - "3000:3000" # Web端口，通过 Caddy 代理，无需对外暴露
      - "2222:22"     # SSH端口，映射到主机的 2222，避免冲突

  caddy:
    image: caddy:latest
    container_name: caddy
    restart: always
    networks:
      - gitea
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - ./caddy/Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile
      - ./caddy/data:/data
      - ./caddy/config:/config

3. Configure the Caddyfile

Create ./caddy/Caddyfile and write your domain configuration:

git.yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy server:3000
}

Note: Replace git.yourdomain.com with your actual domain.

4. Start the services

docker compose up -d

4. Initial Configuration

Visit https://git.yourdomain.com and you will see the installation wizard. Just change the following key items and keep the rest at their defaults:

Database settings: Keep SQLite3.
General settings:
- Site name: Give your repository a name, such as "My Private Git".
- SSH service port: Change to 2222 (very important! Because in Docker we mapped the internal 22 to the external 2222).
- SSH service domain: Enter your domain git.yourdomain.com.
- Base URL: https://git.yourdomain.com/.
Administrator account settings: Be sure to create an administrator account; do not leave it blank.

Click "Install Now", and a few seconds later your private Git service is online!

5. SSH Configuration (Key Point)

Many people get stuck on SSH cloning when self-hosting Git, because port 22 on the VPS is usually occupied by SSH login. In docker-compose.yml we mapped Gitea's SSH port to 2222.

How do clients clone?

Your clone address will look like this: ssh://[email protected]:2222/username/repo.git

Note the extra :2222 in the URL.

Simplify SSH access (optional)

If you don't want to type the port number every time, you can configure it in the ~/.ssh/config file on your local computer:

Host git.yourdomain.com
    HostName git.yourdomain.com
    User git
    Port 2222
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa

After configuring this, you can clone just like with GitHub (no need to manually add the port): git clone [email protected]:username/repo.git

6. Advanced: Enable Gitea Actions (CI/CD)

Gitea 1.19+ introduced Actions, with syntax compatible with GitHub Actions. To enable it, we need to add a Runner.

1. Modify docker-compose.yml

Add the runner service under services:

  runner:
    image: gitea/act_runner:latest
    container_name: act_runner
    restart: always
    depends_on:
      - server
    volumes:
      - ./runner-data:/data
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
    environment:
      - GITEA_INSTANCE_URL=http://server:3000
      - GITEA_RUNNER_REGISTRATION_TOKEN=<你的Token>
      - GITEA_RUNNER_NAME=vps-runner

2. Get the Token and start

Go to the Gitea admin panel -> Actions -> Runners -> Create new Runner, and copy the Token.
Replace <你的Token> above.
Restart the container: docker compose up -d.

Now you can create .gitea/workflows/demo.yaml in your repository and start experiencing automated builds!

7. Backup and Maintenance

The data is all in the ~/gitea/data directory, including the database file (sqlite.db) and the Git repository files.

Backup command:

# 打包整个 data 目录
tar -czvf gitea-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz ~/gitea/data

It is recommended to pair this with Rclone to automatically upload to cloud object storage, ensuring your data is completely safe.

Conclusion

With Docker + Gitea, using less than 500MB of memory, we have a full-featured private code hosting platform comparable to GitHub.

Secure: The code is in your hands, so you don't have to worry about third-party service terms changing.
Fast: With a LAN or a high-quality VPS, pushing and pulling large files is lightning fast.
Worry-free: SQLite + Docker means maintenance costs are almost zero.

This is the best starting point for every developer to build a personal knowledge base and code repository.

version: "3" networks: gitea: external: false services: server: image: gitea/gitea:latest container_name: gitea environment: - USER_UID=1000 - USER_GID=1000 - GITEA__database__DB_TYPE=sqlite3 # 个人使用 SQLite 足够，无需独立数据库容器 restart: always networks: - gitea volumes: - ./data:/data # 持久化数据 - /etc/timezone:/etc/timezone:ro - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro ports: # - "3000:3000" # Web端口，通过 Caddy 代理，无需对外暴露 - "2222:22" # SSH端口，映射到主机的 2222，避免冲突 caddy: image: caddy:latest container_name: caddy restart: always networks: - gitea ports: - "80:80" - "443:443" volumes: - ./caddy/Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile - ./caddy/data:/data - ./caddy/config:/config

runner: image: gitea/act_runner:latest container_name: act_runner restart: always depends_on: - server volumes: - ./runner-data:/data - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock environment: - GITEA_INSTANCE_URL=http://server:3000 - GITEA_RUNNER_REGISTRATION_TOKEN=<你的Token> - GITEA_RUNNER_NAME=vps-runner

Set Up a Private Git Repository on a VPS (2025) - Gitea Fast Deployment Guide

1. Why Choose Gitea?

2. Environment Preparation

1. Basic Requirements

2. DNS Resolution

3. Docker Compose Deployment

1. Create the directory

2. Write docker-compose.yml

3. Configure the Caddyfile

4. Start the services

4. Initial Configuration

5. SSH Configuration (Key Point)

How do clients clone?

Simplify SSH access (optional)

6. Advanced: Enable Gitea Actions (CI/CD)

1. Modify docker-compose.yml

2. Get the Token and start

7. Backup and Maintenance

Conclusion

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Set Up a Private Git Repository on a VPS (2025) - Gitea Fast Deployment Guide

1. Why Choose Gitea?

2. Environment Preparation

1. Basic Requirements

2. DNS Resolution

3. Docker Compose Deployment

1. Create the directory

2. Write docker-compose.yml

3. Configure the Caddyfile

4. Start the services

4. Initial Configuration

5. SSH Configuration (Key Point)

How do clients clone?

Simplify SSH access (optional)

6. Advanced: Enable Gitea Actions (CI/CD)

1. Modify docker-compose.yml

2. Get the Token and start

7. Backup and Maintenance

Conclusion