How-I-Setup-Gitea/README.md

How I Set Up Gitea on a Google Cloud VM

This repository documents how I deployed a small self-hosted Gitea instance at:

https://git.low-level-guy.com

The setup uses:

• Google Compute Engine
• Ubuntu Server 26.04 LTS
• Docker Compose
• Gitea
• PostgreSQL
• Nginx as a reverse proxy
• Let's Encrypt HTTPS certificates through Certbot
• Gitea SSH on port 2222

This is meant as a practical guide for deploying Gitea the same way I did. It is not a hardened production checklist.

Deployment Overview

The VM runs Nginx directly on the host. Nginx terminates HTTPS and proxies web traffic to the Gitea container on port 3000.

Gitea and PostgreSQL run in Docker. Gitea also exposes SSH on host port 2222, so repositories can be cloned over SSH without conflicting with the VM's normal SSH service on port 22.

Internet
  |
  | HTTPS 443
  v
Nginx on VM
  |
  | HTTP 3000
  v
Gitea container
  |
  | PostgreSQL 5432
  v
Postgres container

1. Create the VM

Create a Google Compute Engine VM.

The instance I used:

• Machine type: e2-small
• Boot disk: 10 GB
• OS: Ubuntu Server 26.04 LTS
• External IP: static or at least stable enough to point DNS at it

A larger disk is a good idea if you expect many repositories, users, packages, or large Git history.

2. Configure the Firewall

Allow these TCP ports to reach the VM:

22    VM administration over SSH
80    HTTP for Let's Encrypt validation and redirect
443   HTTPS for the Gitea web UI
2222  Git over SSH through Gitea

In Google Cloud, this is configured under:

VPC network -> Firewall -> Create firewall rule

3. Point DNS to the VM

Create an A record for the Gitea subdomain:

A   git.low-level-guy.com   <VM_EXTERNAL_IP>

Wait for DNS propagation before requesting the HTTPS certificate.

4. Install Docker

SSH into the VM and install Docker from Docker's Ubuntu repository:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install -y \
    ca-certificates \
    curl \
    gnupg

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg \
| sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/docker.gpg

echo \
"deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/docker.gpg] \
https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu noble stable" \
| sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list

sudo apt update

sudo apt install -y \
    docker-ce \
    docker-ce-cli \
    containerd.io \
    docker-compose-plugin

Verify the install:

sudo docker --version
sudo docker compose version

I did not add my user to the docker group, so the Docker commands in this guide use sudo.

5. Install Nginx

sudo apt install -y nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx

6. Install Certbot

sudo apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx

7. Create the Gitea Directory

Create a working directory for the Compose project:

mkdir -p ~/gitea
cd ~/gitea

8. Add the Compose File

Use the compose.yaml file from this repository.

Copy it to the VM inside ~/gitea:

cd ~/gitea
nano compose.yaml

Paste the contents of this repo's compose.yaml.

The password values in the repo are placeholders. Change them before using this on a real server:

POSTGRES_PASSWORD: gitea
GITEA__database__PASSWD=gitea

Both values must match because Gitea uses that password to connect to PostgreSQL.

9. Start Gitea and PostgreSQL

From ~/gitea, start the containers:

sudo docker compose up -d

Check that both containers are running:

sudo docker ps

You should see containers for:

• gitea
• gitea-postgres

10. Configure Nginx

Create an Nginx site config:

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

Use this config:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name git.low-level-guy.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000;

        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;
    }
}

Enable the site:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/gitea /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/gitea

Remove the default site if it is still enabled:

sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

Test and reload Nginx:

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

11. Enable HTTPS

Request a Let's Encrypt certificate for the real domain:

sudo certbot --nginx -d git.low-level-guy.com

When Certbot asks, choose the option to redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS.

After this, the site should be available at:

https://git.low-level-guy.com

12. Complete the Gitea Setup Wizard

Open the site in a browser:

https://git.low-level-guy.com

Use PostgreSQL as the database:

Database type: PostgreSQL
Host: postgres:5432
Database name: gitea
Username: gitea
Password: <the password from compose.yaml>

Use the public domain for the server settings:

Server domain: git.low-level-guy.com
Gitea base URL: https://git.low-level-guy.com/
SSH server domain: git.low-level-guy.com
SSH port: 2222

During this step, create the initial administrator account.

13. Test Git over SSH

After the setup wizard completes, test the Gitea SSH endpoint:

ssh -p 2222 git@git.low-level-guy.com

Once your SSH key is added to your Gitea account, a successful connection should authenticate against Gitea instead of the VM's normal SSH service.

Repository clone URLs should look like this:

git clone ssh://git@git.low-level-guy.com:2222/username/repository.git

HTTPS clone URLs should look like this:

git clone https://git.low-level-guy.com/username/repository.git