GitReef

Welcome to gitreef — a GIT over SSH server implemented using fish.

The goal of this project is to provide a minimal Git server with no unnecessary features or management overhead. It’s designed for everyone who doesn’t need or want a fancy GUI or advanced functionality beyond the essentials. As a result, it’s small, secure, fast, and uses under 10 MB of memory, so it runs easily even on less powerful hardware like a Raspberry Pi.

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Features

• 🐳 Dockerized
• ⚙️ Simple configuration via command line or Docker Compose
• 🚀 Fast & secure, with minimal dependencies: Git, SSH, Fish, Tini, Sudo
• 👥 Built-in user and repository management
• 🔐 Basic ACL system with per-user read/write permissions
• 📜 Logging

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Security

Keeping your repositories safe from unauthorized access is a top priority. This server applies multiple hardening and sandboxing measures, such as:

• Minimal Alpine base image with only essential tools installed
• Only public-key authentication (no passwords)
• No TTY and no interactive shell logins
• All Git commands are sanitized and validated
• Repositories are stored under /srv/repos and cannot access paths outside that directory
• Per-user ACL file checks permissions for each operation
• Root and “git” user logins are disabled

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Examples

Command Line

docker run --rm -p "2222:22" jarlucmat/gitreef -u "user1:ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 AAAAE2VjZHNhLXNoYTItbmlzdHAyNTYAAAAIbm
lzdHAyNTYAAABBBPsl91WPAT8aWwZ6y5WAfXU9PoHzxJ3YG9uFgSmlGQr2HwV+gL/XaTBJ4Brj+pa+R7tfYEBMi+7Navx/ZsEmr9E= mj@xps15" -r "/repo1.git;user1:w"

Docker Compose

Docker Compose:

services:
  gitreef:
    image: jarlucmat/gitreef
    ports:
      - "2222:22"
    environment:
      # Note: Variable names cannot contain dashes, but values can!
      # UID/GID of the user that owns all repositories
      - GIT_UID=1000
      - GIT_GID=1000

      # Users in the form USER_<id>=<username>:<ssh-public-key>
      - USER_user1=user1:ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 AAAAE2VjZHNhLXNoYTItbmlzdHAyNTYAAAAIbmlzdHAyNTYAAABBBPsl91WPAT8aWwZ6y5WAfXU9PoHzxJ3YG9uFgSmlGQr2HwV+gL/XaTBJ4Brj+pa+R7tfYEBMi+7Navx/ZsEmr9E= mj@xps15
      - USER_user2=user2:ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 AAAAE2VjZHNhLXNoYTItbmlzdHAyNTYAAAAIbmlzdHAyNTYAAABBBPsl91WPAT8aWwZ6y5WAfXU9PoHzxJ3YG9uFgSmlGQr2HwV+gL/XaTBJ4Brj+pa+R7tfYEBMi+7Navx/ZsEmr9E= mj@xps15

      # Repositories in the form REPO_<id>=<path>;<user>:<perm>[;<user2>:<perm>;...]
      # Permissions:
      #   r = read
      #   w = write
      # A user without a permission flag has read access by default.
      - REPO_repo1=/repo1.git;user1
      - REPO_repo2=/repo2.git;user2:w
      - REPO_repo3=/repo3.git;user1:r;user2:w

    volumes:
      # Basic volumes that should be mapped
      - ./ssh:/var/ssh
      - ./repos:/srv/repos
      - ./log:/var/log

Notes

You can use any SSH key type supported by Git and your base system. Logs are written to /var/log/git-run by default. ACL files and repository definitions are recreated automatically on container restart.

License

GPLv3 © 2025 Matthias Jaros