Your Own Git Without the GitLab Bloat: Setting Up Gitea, CI, and Backups

The author shares their experience of deploying a self-hosted Git server using Gitea on a small VPS, offering a lightweight alternative to heavy solutions like GitLab. The focus is on practical implementation: configuring users, SSH access, migrating repositories from GitHub, and integrating CI processes via Gitea Actions. The article provides a detailed setup guide, including command examples and security best practices. A key highlight is the verification of system reliability, where the author demonstrates a full data recovery procedure from an external backup. This guide is aimed at developers managing personal projects or small teams who want full control over their infrastructure without excessive maintenance overhead. It serves as a balanced approach to DevOps tasks, helping to avoid turning Git server management into a time-consuming project while working within limited resource constraints.