What is Kod?

Kod is a minimalist, self-hosted Git repository management system with built-in workflow automation. It provides the essential Git hosting primitives you need, packaged into a single portable binary with zero external dependencies.

The Core Concept

Kod gives you a private Git server with CI-like workflows, token-based access control, collaborator management, and encrypted secrets — all in a single ~100KB file. No database servers, no container runtimes, no external services required.

What’s Included

• Git Hosting: HTTP-based Git access (clone, push, pull) with token authentication
• Workflow Automation: TOML-based workflows that run on push, with branch conditions and environment variable support
• Access Control: Fine-grained token permissions and per-repository collaborators
• Secrets Management: Encrypted per-repository secrets injected into workflow environments
• Persistent Storage: Built-in key-value database (PikoDB) with atomic writes

Key Characteristics

Single Binary

Kod is distributed as a single JavaScript file. No build step, no Docker, no infrastructure — just run it.

Dual Mode

The same binary works as both the server (kod serve) and the CLI client (kod repo list, kod workflow, etc.).

Minimal Dependencies

Kod has one runtime dependency (PikoDB for storage). No Redis, no PostgreSQL, no message queues. Data is stored in simple binary files on disk.

Self-Hosted

Run Kod on your own hardware — a VPS, a Raspberry Pi, or your laptop. No external services are contacted. Your code stays where you put it.

Who Is Kod For?

• Solo developers who want a private Git server without the overhead of GitLab or Gitea
• Small teams who need basic CI/CD without configuring Jenkins or GitHub Actions
• Edge and constrained environments where a full Git platform is too heavy
• Privacy-conscious projects that need to keep source code off third-party platforms

Getting Started

Install Kod and have a working Git server in under a minute:

# Install
curl -sSL https://releases.itskod.com/install.sh | bash

# Start the server
KOD_ADMIN_TOKEN=kod_my_secret_token kod serve

# Configure the CLI (enter the same token when prompted)
kod init

# Create and clone a repository
kod repo create my-project
kod clone my-project

See the Installation & Quickstart guide for the full walkthrough.