Minimal Git CI using hooks

# Minimal Git CI using hooks Source: [https://mccd.space/posts/26-06-29/simple-git-ci](https://mccd.space/posts/26-06-29/simple-git-ci) I have a personal server where I am hosting my git repos\. Setting up a new git repo is easy: I ssh into my server, cd to a new directory and run`git init \-\-bare`\. That's it\. Cloning my newly created repo is simple as`git clone server:/home/me/repo`\. For some projects I've needed a CI, and I looked around for some existing solutions\. The CI systems I found are convoluted, yaml\-ridden, slow, messy or hard to self\-host\. Luckily, I do not need many "modern" CI features like complete isolation for my builds or secret management\. I just need something that runs some tests, builds a project or moves some files\. What I have settled on is a simple CI using[git hooks](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Customizing-Git-Git-Hooks)\. Specifically, I added a remote`post\-receive`hook, which is a hook that runs whenever I push to a project\. It is just a shell\-script that I add to the`hooks`directory in a bare git repository\. The thing to watch out for with`post\-receive`hooks is if the script fails, the code you push will be rejected\. Also, if the script is slow, pushing will take a while\. You generally don't want either\. I solved this by using[`nq`](https://git.vuxu.org/nq/about/), a minimal job queue, to queue up my jobs in the background instead\. The result is quite sleek: my post\-receive hook just executes`nq`, and I can access the logs by running`ssh server nqtail \-a`\. The CI runs instantly, and is very easy to set up, so I am happy with the result\. If you'd like to set it up for yourself, I created a short[tutorial](https://mccd.space/wiki/tutorial-git-repo.shtml)\. There are many ways you could expand the base I provide in the tutorial: you could sandbox the builds \(for example with[landdown](https://mccd.space/git/landdown/file/README.md.html)\), use podman to isolate builds from the environment, or use[sops](https://github.com/getsops/sops)to manage secrets\. For bazaar\-style development, receiving git patches via email should be enough\. You can also set up cathedral\-style development using git\-shell or git http\-backend\. [Reply](mailto:[email protected]?subject=Re%3A%20Minimal%20Git%20CI%20using%20hooks)