---
title: Your own Git forge
description: An open-source, self-hosted home for repositories and coding-agent workflows.
---

exist.io is an open-source, self-hosted Git forge built for software engineering teams and autonomous AI coding agents. It provides a reliable home to host code, collaborate through pull requests and reviews, enforce enterprise security rulesets, and connect coding agents through dedicated, permission-aware interfaces.

The goal is simple: keep your repositories, collaboration history, and agent integrations on infrastructure you control.

:::note[Self-hosted & agent-native]
exist.io is wire-compatible with Origin forge interfaces while running 100% self-hosted on your own hardware or cloud instances with zero proprietary cloud dependencies.
:::

## Core capabilities

- **Your repositories:** Own your data, Git packfiles, and SQLite database with zero external vendor lock-in.
- **Dual Git transports:** Pure-Go Smart-HTTP and native SSH server on port `2222` with zero host daemon requirements.
- **Git LFS & CAS storage:** RFC-compliant Git Large File Storage v1 Batch API and file locking.
- **Cryptographic verification:** Real-time OpenSSH SIGSPEC and GPG commit signature audits in the Web UI.
- **Enterprise Federation:** OIDC & SAML 2.0 Single Sign-On and RFC 7644 SCIM 2.0 user sync.
- **Agent integrations (MCP):** Embedded Model Context Protocol server exposing 34 specialized tools at `/mcp`.
- **Infrastructure as Code:** Official Terraform / OpenTofu provider and Kubernetes Helm chart.
- **Policy & compliance:** Branch and tag rulesets, bypass actor hierarchies, status check enforcement, SSH CAs, and CIDR allowlists.

## Find your way around

**[Getting started](/exist.io/getting-started)**

Step-by-step tutorial to build, bootstrap, and run your self-hosted forge.

**[Pure-Go SSH & Git LFS](/exist.io/how-to/ssh-git-lfs)**

Connect over port 2222 SSH, track large assets, and verify signed commits.

**[Enterprise SSO & SCIM](/exist.io/how-to/enterprise-sso-scim)**

Integrate corporate IdPs via OIDC/SAML and automate user lifecycle provisioning.

**[Terraform & Helm](/exist.io/how-to/terraform-helm)**

Automate repository policies and deploy high-availability Kubernetes clusters.

## Documentation topics

- **Tutorials:** [Getting started guide](/exist.io/getting-started) • [Your first agent PR](/exist.io/tutorials/first-agent)
- **How-To Guides:** [SSH, Git LFS & Signatures](/exist.io/how-to/ssh-git-lfs) • [Enterprise SSO & SCIM](/exist.io/how-to/enterprise-sso-scim) • [Terraform & Helm](/exist.io/how-to/terraform-helm) • [Connect agents via MCP](/exist.io/how-to/mcp-setup) • [Configure rulesets & protections](/exist.io/how-to/rulesets) • [Push with Git Smart-HTTP](/exist.io/how-to/git-transport)
- **Reference:** [MCP tool catalog](/exist.io/reference/mcp-tools) • [CLI reference](/exist.io/reference/cli) • [Configuration reference](/exist.io/reference/configuration)
- **Explanation:** [Architecture](/exist.io/architecture) • [Merge & policy engine](/exist.io/explanation/merge-engine) • [Development status](/exist.io/development/status) • [Roadmap](/exist.io/roadmap)

## Getting started quickly

exist.io compiles to a single self-contained binary without cgo. You can initialize a new forge, create an administrative workspace, and start serving Git repositories and agent workflows in minutes:

```bash
# Build the server daemon
go build -o bin/existd ./cmd/existd

# Initialize storage and primary administrator
./bin/existd bootstrap --email admin@example.com --namespace acme --data-dir ./data

# Start the forge daemon
./bin/existd
```

Follow the full [Getting Started guide](/exist.io/getting-started) to configure remotes, connect coding agents, and use the companion CLI.