How to Self-Host Gitness: Modern Open Source CI/CD 2026

TL;DR

Gitness (Apache 2.0, ~32K GitHub stars, Go) is Harness's open source unified Git + CI/CD platform. It combines Git repository hosting, pipeline execution, a container registry, secret management, and a modern web UI into a single lightweight binary. Compare it to: Drone CI (simpler, older), Woodpecker CI (community Drone fork), or Forgejo + forgejo-runner (more feature-rich Git hosting but separate CI). Gitness excels at clean YAML pipeline definitions and low resource usage.

Key Takeaways

• Gitness: Apache 2.0, ~32K stars, Go — unified Git + CI/CD in one binary
• Pipeline YAML: GitHub Actions-compatible syntax (stages, steps, services)
• Container registry: Built-in, no separate Harbor/registry needed
• Secrets: Built-in secret management per pipeline
• Resource use: ~100MB RAM — significantly lighter than GitLab (~4GB)
• vs Woodpecker CI: Gitness is newer with a better UI; Woodpecker has a larger ecosystem

---

Gitness vs Drone vs Woodpecker vs Forgejo+Runner

Feature	Gitness	Drone CE	Woodpecker	Forgejo + Runner
License	Apache 2.0	Apache 2.0	Apache 2.0	GPL 3.0
GitHub Stars	~32K	~11K	~4K	~10K
Git hosting	Yes	No (separate)	No (separate)	Yes
Container Registry	Yes	No	No	Yes
Secret management	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
UI quality	Excellent	Basic	Good	Good
RAM	~100MB	~50MB	~50MB	~150MB

---

Part 1: Docker Setup

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  gitness:
    image: harness/gitness:latest
    container_name: gitness
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - gitness_data:/data
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock    # For running pipelines
    environment:
      GITNESS_URL_BASE: "https://git.yourdomain.com"
      GITNESS_TOKEN_EXPIRE_DURATION: "720h"

volumes:
  gitness_data:

docker compose up -d

Visit http://your-server:3000 → register admin account.

---

Part 2: HTTPS with Caddy

git.yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:3000
}

Update GITNESS_URL_BASE to https://git.yourdomain.com after configuring HTTPS.

---

Part 3: Create a Repository

1. + New Repository
2. Name: my-app
3. Initialize with README
4. Clone:

git clone https://git.yourdomain.com/admin/my-app.git

---

Part 4: CI/CD Pipelines

Create a pipeline with .gitness/pipeline.yaml:

Basic Pipeline (Node.js app)

# .gitness/pipeline.yaml
kind: pipeline
type: docker
name: ci

steps:
  - name: test
    image: node:20-alpine
    commands:
      - npm ci
      - npm test

  - name: build
    image: node:20-alpine
    commands:
      - npm ci
      - npm run build
    when:
      branch:
        - main

  - name: docker-build
    image: docker:dind
    privileged: true
    environment:
      REGISTRY_USERNAME:
        from_secret: registry_username
      REGISTRY_PASSWORD:
        from_secret: registry_password
    commands:
      - docker login git.yourdomain.com -u $REGISTRY_USERNAME -p $REGISTRY_PASSWORD
      - docker build -t git.yourdomain.com/admin/my-app:${DRONE_COMMIT_SHA} .
      - docker push git.yourdomain.com/admin/my-app:${DRONE_COMMIT_SHA}
    when:
      branch:
        - main

Pipeline with Services (PostgreSQL for tests)

kind: pipeline
type: docker
name: ci-with-db

services:
  - name: db
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: testdb
      POSTGRES_USER: test
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: testpass

steps:
  - name: test
    image: golang:1.22-alpine
    environment:
      DATABASE_URL: "postgres://test:testpass@db:5432/testdb?sslmode=disable"
    commands:
      - go test ./...

Multi-Stage Deploy Pipeline

kind: pipeline
type: docker
name: deploy

steps:
  - name: test
    image: python:3.12-alpine
    commands:
      - pip install -r requirements.txt
      - pytest

  - name: build
    image: docker:dind
    commands:
      - docker build -t git.yourdomain.com/admin/api:${DRONE_COMMIT_SHA} .
      - docker push git.yourdomain.com/admin/api:${DRONE_COMMIT_SHA}

  - name: deploy-staging
    image: alpine:3.19
    environment:
      SSH_KEY:
        from_secret: deploy_ssh_key
    commands:
      - apk add openssh-client
      - echo "$SSH_KEY" > /tmp/key && chmod 600 /tmp/key
      - ssh -i /tmp/key deploy@staging.yourdomain.com "docker pull git.yourdomain.com/admin/api:${DRONE_COMMIT_SHA} && docker compose up -d api"
    when:
      branch:
        - main

  - name: deploy-production
    image: alpine:3.19
    commands:
      - echo "Deploy to production"
    when:
      branch:
        - main
      event:
        - tag

---

Part 5: Secrets Management

Add secrets per repository:

1. Repository → Settings → Secrets → + New Secret
2. Name: registry_password, deploy_ssh_key, stripe_key
3. Value: (encrypted at rest)

Reference in pipeline:

environment:
  MY_SECRET:
    from_secret: my_secret_name

---

Part 6: Container Registry

Use the built-in container registry:

# Login:
docker login git.yourdomain.com
# Username: your-gitness-username
# Password: your-gitness-password (or API token)

# Push image:
docker tag myapp git.yourdomain.com/username/repo:tag
docker push git.yourdomain.com/username/repo:tag

# Pull:
docker pull git.yourdomain.com/username/repo:tag

---

Part 7: Webhooks

Trigger external services on push/PR:

1. Repository → Settings → Webhooks → + New Webhook
2. URL: https://n8n.yourdomain.com/webhook/gitness
3. Events: push, pull_request, tag

Payload includes branch, commit SHA, repository info — use with n8n to trigger deploys, notify Slack, etc.

---

Part 8: Runner Setup (External)

For CI jobs that need more resources or a different host:

# On a runner machine:
services:
  gitness-runner:
    image: harness/gitness-runner:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
    environment:
      GITNESS_URL: "https://git.yourdomain.com"
      GITNESS_TOKEN: "${RUNNER_TOKEN}"    # From Gitness → Admin → Runners → New Runner
      GITNESS_RUNNER_MAX_PROCS: "4"

---

Maintenance

# Update Gitness:
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

# Backup:
tar -czf gitness-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz \
  $(docker volume inspect gitness_gitness_data --format '{{.Mountpoint}}')

# Logs:
docker compose logs -f gitness

---

See all open source CI/CD and developer tools at OSSAlt.com/categories/devops.