Frequently Asked Questions

GitRiver is a self-hosted git platform built with Rust. A single binary (67 MB) gives you everything at once: Git hosting, CI/CD, Container Registry, Package Registry (7 formats), Issues with Kanban, Pull Requests, GitOps Deploy (RiverCD), Security, 8 notification channels, and more - all at 46 MB RAM when idle.

Yes, the Community edition is completely free with no limits on users, repositories, CI pipelines, Package Registry, or Container Registry. Community also includes GitOps Deploy (RiverCD), Merge Queue, backups, 8 notification channels, branch protection, the GitHub and GitLab compatibility layers, proxied delivery of external dependencies, knowledge records next to the code, and registry image vulnerability scanning. Pro adds code and dependency vulnerability scanning, licence compliance (SPDX, SBOM), DORA metrics, the code index, team knowledge, the LLM assistant, and Custom Roles. Max is everything in Pro plus what works across the whole installation at once: SAML SSO, SCIM, LDAP / Active Directory, the audit log, quotas, and IP restrictions.

GitRiver itself: 1 vCPU, 256 MB RAM (46 MB idle), PostgreSQL 15+. With CI runner on the same host: 2+ CPUs, 4+ GB RAM, Docker 20.10+. For production with active CI: 8+ CPUs, 16+ GB RAM, 100+ GB SSD.

The quickest way is Docker Compose: clone the repository and run docker compose up -d. On first launch, a Setup Wizard opens (http://localhost:3000) where you create the administrator account. Database migrations are applied automatically.

GitRiver uses its own YAML format for CI/CD pipelines. Configuration is placed in .gitriver/workflows/ and supports jobs, needs (DAG), rules, artifacts, cache, service containers, matrix builds, retry, and scheduled pipelines.

Yes, GitRiver supports importing repositories from external services and arbitrary URLs. Issues, Pull Requests, Releases, labels, and milestones are imported. Pull and Push mirroring with configurable intervals is also supported.

No. GitRiver is fully self-hosted and works autonomously: git, builds, registries and issues need no connection to us. A paid edition is enabled by a one-time challenge-response activation (Ed25519) and then works without a permanent connection - for the length of the confirmation period stated in the licence itself. The daily check-in extends that period by itself; with no connectivity the confirmation is obtained from us and pasted as a file by hand, the same way as the first activation. Air-gapped installations are given a longer confirmation period, up to a year. If the period does run out, nothing paid for is lost: the paid capabilities return as soon as a new signature arrives, with no repeat payment.

You pay for seats, not for the installation: the price is the number of seats times the edition rate times the term. An administrator assigns a seat to whoever needs the tooling, and everyone else works as in Community and never reaches the invoice. In Max a seat is also needed by everyone who signs in only through SAML or LDAP: corporate sign-in is the paid part of Max, and such an account without a seat signs in but cannot work. Whoever signs in with a password or through OAuth works as in Community without a seat, in Max too. Licences of one edition stack: two 25-seat licences make 50, while Pro and Max do not mix. When the subscription and its grace period end, the paid capabilities switch off and sign-in through SAML and LDAP closes, while the installation keeps running as Community with all its data.

RiverCD is a built-in GitOps controller for Kubernetes deployment. It supports Deployment, StatefulSet, DaemonSet, Job, CronJob, and CRDs. Features include Sync Waves, Drift Detection, Canary and Blue-Green deployments, Health Checks, Pod Logs from UI, and Multi-cluster. No external tools required.

Community: documentation and FAQ. Pro and Max: priority email support and a ticket system in your dashboard with guaranteed response time - Max includes all of Pro, support included.