Why self-host Git

Git is distributed, but teams still need a central place to push to, open pull requests, and trigger automation. You could use a SaaS forge — or you could run your own. This lab runs Gitea (GIT-Server, 10.100.100.2), a lightweight open-source Git forge.

The reasons fit the lab's goals:

• It's the hub of the platform. Code, CI workflows, and (with Gitea Actions) the build pipeline all live here. Owning it keeps the whole software-delivery loop inside one network.
• It's light. Gitea is a single Go binary with a small database — it runs comfortably in a tiny VM, unlike heavier forges.
• It teaches the whole shape of a forge — repos, users, tokens, webhooks, CI — without a SaaS hiding the moving parts.

Why we use this: self-hosting the forge is what makes the rest of the platform a closed loop you can explain end to end: push here, build on your runner, store in your registry, deploy to your cluster. No step leaves the building.