GitRoot is a small yet powerfull git forge. Download one binary, launch it and you have a forge that can :

• create git repositories
• manage who can access to what repositories

Nothing more, nothing less.

Install plugins and you will be able to:

• create issues, roadmap, sprint, milestone…
• represent them in boards
• review/merge branches (called grafts in gitroot)
• represent them all and many more in a web interface

All of these plugins are completely independant. Yes, you can have boards without the web interface. How ? See raw GitRoot issues board, try it for yourself and you will love it.

Wants more? Build your own plugin!

Why am I doing this?

I’m building GitRoot because I didn’t find any tool that can let me do what I want for my project. But at the same time, you may want to make something different for your own project, something different of my idea of a perfect project.

Every project is unique, so why don’t we have the freedom to modify our forge to suit our own project ?

So I try to follow these rules when developing my forge:

As a developer I want:

• a repository containing all my data: code, issues, (pull|merge)-request, boards
• all I need to promote my project: landing page, translation, ticketing, forum
• the ability to migrate my project into a new server forge: no script migration, no loose data, no loose attribution

As a developer I want to have a forge crafted for my unique project.

As a developer I don’t want:

• to open my browser to manage my data: (pull|merge)-request, issues
• the first representation of my project is a list of files and directories
• my forge chooses my workflow issues: what is a sprint vs a milestone vs an epic vs an user-story?
• to have 100 menus to configure who can do what

As a developer I don’t want a complexe forge to manage my project.

As an administrator I want:

• an easy to deploy forge: no dependency, no database
• to configure what my users can do
• my users can request what they want: no need to send email/chat to create or access to a project or a feature

As an administrator I want a forge that is easy to install and to maintain.

As an administrator I don’t want:

• headaches to upgrade my forge
• to give my data (or user data) to someone else
• to depend on big players who can table-flip their forge at any time

As an administrator I don’t want to depend on anyone else.

If you are like me, you will love GitRoot.

It’s not ready yet, but it will be, especially if you give me a hand.

How it works?

In GitRoot everyting is stored in git, not in a database, not in a hidden blob in your git tree. Everything is stored in plain files aside your code.

How can you be sure no one writes on a file that they must not? Restrict by branch. Every GitRoot repository comes with a .gitroot/users.yml file. This file gives the instructions to GitRoot who can write where.

Initially, you’re the only one to have access to your default branch. If someone else tries to push to this branch, GitRoot will refuse its modifications.

However, everyone can create a branch. When creating and pushing a branch, GitRoot will add right for this user to this branch. This means that no one else will be able to modify it.

If you add a user, by editing .gitroot/users.yml or by merging a branch where a user has added itself, this user will be able to push to the default branch.

All GitRoot features are articulated around this concept. This means that everyone can read files and modify them, locally or into a new branch. But only the owner can merge them in the default branch which represent the current state of your repository.

As your forge is managed by a root repository, this concept permit to manage everything on your own forge: a repository is created when you add (or merge) a change of .gitroot/repositories.yml in your default branch of your root repository.

See more details in the documentation.

When will be it available?

GitRoot is currently in alpha version. Feel free to experiment with it, but don’t use it for production yet.

GitRoot can:

• Create/delete repositories
• Accept git command through ssh
• Manage users (who can write where on repo/branch level)
• Install plugins
• Activate plugins for a repository
• Run plugins on your worktree at install
• Run plugins on diff every commit after install
• Visualize repository with http

What I want to do before version 1.0:

• Update GitRoot and plugins
• Manage users (who can wright where on file level)
• Accept git command through http
• Manage repositories in group and sub-group
• Stabilise the plugin API

Where is the project?

Actually, you are currently on the project. Yes this is GitRoot!

Well you are on the instance of GitRoot which hosts the code of GitRoot. Unfortunatly this instance is reserved for GitRoot itself.

If you want to try GitRoot for your own project, please read the documentation.

How to contribute?

You will find anything you need to know into the documentation. Since GitRoot is itself a GitRoot repository you should be able to contribute to it.

On this instance we use some plugins. For example, the grafter plugin which manages how a portion of code can be incorporated into the default branch. So be sure to read the contributing to understand how it works.

And yes, as GitRoot stores all data in git, you need to know how to use git before contributing to this project (code, issue, translation…). In the future I hope to be able to allow to do git commit and git push commands directly from the browser, so that anybody will be able to participate.