Applikant

Self-hosted git repository management — built with Erlang/OTP and Elm.

Work in Progress

Applikant is under active development and not yet ready for production use. What you are reading here is the concept and architecture of the project. The design may change with every development step as things evolve. Contributions, feedback and ideas are very welcome!

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Applikant is a self-hosted git repository management platform — similar to Gitea or Gogs, but built entirely in Erlang/OTP and Elm. Thanks to Erlang's built-in distribution capabilities, Applikant can be spread across multiple machines with minimal effort. The web frontend is written in Elm, a functional language that compiles to JavaScript and guarantees zero runtime exceptions, resulting in a fast and reliable user interface.

Applikant gives you full control over your source code without relying on third-party services.

Architecture at a Glance

graph LR
    User([User]) -->|SSH| as[as – SSH]
    as --> af[af – Frontend]
    ah[ah – git Hooks] --> af
    af --> am[am – Manager]
    aw[aw – Web Frontend] --> am
    am --> ab[ab – Builder]

    style am fill:#7c3aed,color:#fff,stroke:#5b21b6
    style as fill:#e2e8f0,stroke:#64748b
    style af fill:#e2e8f0,stroke:#64748b
    style ah fill:#e2e8f0,stroke:#64748b
    style aw fill:#dbeafe,stroke:#3b82f6
    style ab fill:#fef3c7,stroke:#d97706

Components

Component	Type	Description
am – Manager	OTP Application	Central instance — repos, users, permissions, hook processing
af – Frontend Connector	OTP Application	Permanent local proxy between escripts and the Manager
as – SSH Handler	Escript	SSH forced command — authorizes users, allows only git commands
ah – Git Hooks	Escript	Universal git hook handler — forwards hook data via af to the Manager
aw – Web Frontend	OTP Application	Cowboy HTTP server with Elm UI and read-only git HTTP
ab – Builder	OTP Application	Docker-in-Docker build service

Vision

Applikant aims to be a lightweight, robust and easily deployable git platform. Leveraging the fault-tolerance of Erlang/OTP, all components form a cluster where failures are isolated and services restart automatically. Simply start the components on different hosts and they will connect and collaborate.

The long-term goal is a batteries-included solution for small teams and personal projects — repository hosting, access control, webhooks and continuous integration, all in one package.

Technology Stack

Technology	Usage
Erlang/OTP 27	All backend components
Elm 0.19	Web frontend
Cowboy	HTTP server
Rebar3	Erlang build tool
Docker	Containerization
Erlang Distribution	Inter-node communication

License

Source code is released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3 (AGPL-3.0). Documentation is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.