Run [Gitea](https://about.gitea.com/) on an exe.dev VM.

Gitea is a lightweight Git forge that is easy to run and simple to administer. It works well for private repos, small teams, and GitHub mirrors.

## Quick start

Create a new Gitea VM from the [Gitea starter](/new?idea=gitea).

## How it works

exe.dev's [HTTPS proxy](/docs/proxy) handles TLS and forwards requests to port 8000 on your VM.

For authenticated users, exe.dev adds the `X-ExeDev-UserID` and `X-ExeDev-Email` headers. See [Login with exe.dev](/docs/login-with-exe) for details.

Gitea can use reverse proxy authentication with `X-WEBAUTH-USER` and `X-WEBAUTH-EMAIL`. nginx translates the exe.dev headers into the names Gitea expects.

With auto-registration enabled, any exe.dev user you [share](/docs/sharing) the VM with gets a Gitea account the first time they visit.

## Mirroring from GitHub

Gitea can mirror repositories from GitHub.

In the Gitea UI, choose **New Migration**, then **GitHub**. Enter the repository URL and a [personal access token](https://github.com/settings/tokens) with read access. Gitea will clone the repo and keep it in sync.

For private repos, use a fine-grained GitHub PAT with read-only **Contents** permission for the repos you want to mirror.

## Gitea vs Forgejo

Gitea and [Forgejo](/docs/use-case-forgejo) are very similar on exe.dev.

Forgejo is a community fork of Gitea. Both use the same config format, the same reverse proxy auth flow, and the same basic setup. Pick the project you prefer.