Deploying GitBlixt

Architecture

GitBlixt runs as Docker containers managed by Docker Compose and Docker Swarm:

• PostgreSQL 16 — stores all application data (users, repositories, issues, etc.)
• GitBlixt (Elixir/Phoenix) — the application itself. Handles HTTP, HTTPS, SSH, and git operations.
• Caddy (optional) — reverse proxy for deployed apps. Only needed if you use the App Deployment feature to deploy repositories as running services.

On first boot, the GitBlixt container automatically:

1. Waits for PostgreSQL to be healthy
2. Runs all database migrations
3. Generates SSH host keys
4. Requests an SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt (if SSL_MODE=auto)

Standard Deployment

Create a .env file and a docker-compose.yml, then run docker compose up -d. See Getting Started for the full walkthrough.

Using an External Database

To use your own Postgres instance instead of the bundled one, set DATABASE_URL in the gitblixt service and remove the postgres service from your compose file:

    services:
  gitblixt:
    image: gitblixt/gitblixt:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
      - "22:22"
    environment:
      DATABASE_URL: ecto://user:pass@your-db-host:5432/gitblixt
      GITBLIXT_HOST: git.yourdomain.com
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data

Minimum Postgres version: 14.

Data Storage

Persistent data is stored across two locations:

Firewall Requirements

If port 22 is already in use by your server's own SSH daemon, you can run GitBlixt's SSH on a different port with -e GITBLIXT_SSH_PORT=2222 and expose it with -p 2222:2222. Users will then clone with git clone ssh://git@#gitblixt.com:2222/user/repo.git.