It's Kod.

The minimalist, developer-focused, self-hosted alternative to the SaaS tool you use today.

You don't need a platform,
you need to ship.

You need Git repositories and automation that runs fast, locally and on your own servers, without dashboards or bloat.

Kod helps you work like the pros, optimizing for speed and simplicity—two key factors behind high-performing teams' tools.

Get what you need

Remote Git repositories.
Create, push, delete, and clone over HTTP without any UI or magic layers needed.

Simple, sequential workflows.
Readable TOML-style files that execute steps in order. If you can read it, you understand it.

Lean collaboration.
Add and remove collaborators with granular token permissions—scoped to repos, workflows, and secrets, with built-in expiration.

Encrypted secrets.
AES-256-GCM encryption at rest. Secrets are injected into workflows at runtime—never exposed via API or logs.

Zero platform tax.
No dashboards, no databases, no background services pretending to help. One ~60KB binary that works as both server and CLI.

Workflows

Workflows are plain files. They run when you push. The same files run locally.

# Run it with: kod workflow demo.toml

timeout: 120

[step:test]
run: npm test
continue_on_error: true

[step:build]
run:
  echo "Start the build..."
  npm run build

[step:deploy]
if: "branch == 'main'"
  run: ./deploy.sh

Sequential workflows are also supported.

Download

Install Kod with a single command. Runs wherever you want it to.

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

Requires macOS or Linux and Node.js 24 or later.

Get started

# Start server
kod serve --admin-token kod_my_secret

# Configure CLI
kod init

# Create repo, clone, push
kod repo create my-app
git clone http://localhost:3000/repos/my-app.git
cd my-app && git push origin main

Like it? Donate!

Kod is free for any use case, private or commercial.

It's suggested that commercial and/or organizational users donate a sum equivalent to the use they have of Kod.

Pay what you like

FAQ

Is this competing with GitHub or GitLab?

No, not really. Kod does Git repositories and workflows. Nothing else.

Can I use branches?

Yes. Kod supports branches, though the workflow is optimized for trunk-based development.

How about pull requests or code review?

Not built in. Use other tools if you need them.

Can workflows run locally?

Yes. The same workflow files run on your machine.

What are the system requirements?

Node.js 24+ on Linux or macOS. No databases, containers, or external services needed.

How are secrets handled?

Encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM. Injected into the workflow process environment at runtime. Never exposed through the API or written to logs.

Can I have multiple users?

Yes. Create tokens with fine-grained permissions and add per-repository collaborators.

Can I trigger workflows manually?

Yes, via the API. You don't have to push to run a workflow.

How do I run Kod in production?

Use systemd, Docker, or put it behind a reverse proxy like Caddy or nginx for HTTPS.

Why is this free?

All in all, Kod is a pretty small project and it's also critical enough to warrant making as easy as possible to use (legally). With the amount of sovereignty discussions ongoing, offering a neat, minimalist way (as opposed to fatter options) to securely work with your Git repositories seems like The Right Thing To Do™. Also, it's always nice building software one thinks is better than the options! :)

Why is this closed-source?

There are other models than open-source. I've worked a long time with open-source and it always comes with certain commitments—commitments I want to avoid here and now. With that said, I am hiding nothing, nor discouraging discussions on how to make Kod more useful for you and others.