---
title: "Deploy Gitingest"
description: "Turns a Git repository into one text file you can paste into an LLM"
category: "AI/ML"
url: https://railway.com/deploy/gitingest-llm
---

# Deploy Gitingest

Turns a Git repository into one text file you can paste into an LLM

**[Deploy Gitingest on Railway](https://railway.com/template/gitingest-llm)**

Machine-readable deploy manifest (JSON, validated by TemplateCI): https://railway.com/deploy/gitingest-llm/manifest.json

- **Creator:** A3A
- **Category:** AI/ML

## Template content

### gitingest https://raw.githubusercontent.com/coderamp-labs/gitingest/v0.3.1/src/static/favicons/favicon.svg

- **Image:** ghcr.io/coderamp-labs/gitingest:v0.3.1
- **Health check:** /health
- **Public domain:** Yes

## Documentation

# Deploy and Host Gitingest on Railway

Gitingest turns any Git repository into a single, prompt-friendly text file. Paste a repository URL and it clones the code, walks the tree, and returns one digest: a directory listing plus the contents of every file that matters, with a token estimate so you know whether it fits your model's context window. Developers use it to hand a codebase to Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini in one paste, to build retrieval corpora, and to read unfamiliar projects without cloning them. Self-host Gitingest when you want that on repositories you would rather not send through someone else's server, or when you want an API endpoint your own tools can call without a shared rate limit.

Deploy Gitingest on Railway and you get the whole product in one service. The template runs the official `ghcr.io/coderamp-labs/gitingest` image as a service named **gitingest**, on a public HTTPS domain, health-checked at `/health`. A request arrives at Railway's edge, the FastAPI app clones the repository into container-local scratch space, builds the digest, deletes the clone, and returns the result — inline in the browser and as a downloadable `.txt`. No database, queue or object storage to configure: every digest is derived from a commit and rebuilt in seconds.

![Diagram of the single Gitingest service on Railway](https://res.cloudinary.com/rroe4rtk/image/upload/v1788821687/gitingest-architecture.png)

## Getting Started with Gitingest on Railway

There is no sign-up, admin account or first-run wizard — open the public URL and the tool is ready. Paste a repository URL such as `https://github.com/pallets/flask` and press **Ingest**; within seconds you get a Summary panel (repository, commit SHA, files analysed, estimated tokens), a Directory Structure panel, and the file contents below them. Use **Copy all** for the clipboard, or **Download** for the full `.txt`, which is not truncated the way the preview is. Narrow a large repository with the dropdown beside the URL field: **Include** with `*.md` for documentation only, or **Exclude** with patterns like `tests/, *.lock`, then use the slider to skip oversized files. Any GitHub URL works by swapping the hostname — `github.com/owner/repo` becomes `your-domain/owner/repo`. For a private repository, tick **Private Repository** and paste a GitHub token with `repo` scope. `GET /health` returns `{"status":"healthy"}` and `/docs` renders the API reference.

![Gitingest digest of the Flask repository with summary and file tree](https://res.cloudinary.com/rroe4rtk/image/upload/v1788821690/gitingest-digest-flask.png)
![Gitingest include filter limiting the Flask digest to Markdown files](https://res.cloudinary.com/rroe4rtk/image/upload/v1788821691/gitingest-include-filter.png)
![Gitingest Swagger UI showing the ingest API endpoint](https://res.cloudinary.com/rroe4rtk/image/upload/v1788821692/gitingest-api-docs.png)

## About Hosting Gitingest

Gitingest is an open-source (MIT) Python project from Coderamp Labs that ships three ways: a web app, a JSON API, and a `gitingest` CLI and library on PyPI. The problem it solves is mundane but constant — models take text, and a repository is a tree whose structure matters. Copying files by hand loses the layout; uploading an archive wastes context on lockfiles and vendored dependencies. Gitingest applies default ignore rules, respects your patterns and per-file size cap, and emits one deterministic document with the tree at the top.

Key features:

- One-paste digests from GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Gitea, Codeberg and self-hosted Git hosts
- Include/exclude glob patterns and a maximum file-size slider
- Token estimate and file count before you spend model context
- URL-hack ingestion: replace `hub` with your host in any GitHub URL
- JSON API with an OpenAPI schema, plus a CLI and Python package
- Private repositories via a personal access token supplied per request

This deployment is one stateless FastAPI service behind Railway's HTTPS edge. Digests are written to container-local storage and served from an unguessable UUID path, so links resolve for the life of the deployment and are regenerated on demand afterwards.

## Why Deploy Gitingest on Railway

Railway removes the setup self-hosting normally implies:

- One service, one click — no database, queue or storage to wire up
- HTTPS domain, TLS and health checks provisioned automatically
- Variables preset for correct client-IP and host handling
- Vertical and horizontal scaling from the dashboard
- Custom domains and private networking without extra config

## Common Use Cases

- **Feeding whole codebases to an LLM** — digest a repository and paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or a local model to ask architecture questions.
- **Internal tooling that needs an API** — call `POST /api/ingest` from a script, CI job or agent to fetch a repository as text without shelling out to `git`.
- **Building RAG corpora** — pull the documentation subset of many repositories on a schedule and index the output.

## Dependencies for Gitingest

- **gitingest** — the only service. Image `ghcr.io/coderamp-labs/gitingest:v0.3.1`: Python 3.13, FastAPI on uvicorn, with `git` installed for cloning.
- **Outbound HTTPS** — the container clones from public Git hosts. Nothing else is required.

### Environment Variables Reference

| Variable | Default in this template | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| `PORT` | `8000` | Port the app listens on and Railway health-checks |
| `ALLOWED_HOSTS` | `*` | Host allow-list. The image's own default accepts only `gitingest.com`, which would reject your domain |
| `FORWARDED_ALLOW_IPS` | `*` | Trusts Railway's proxy headers so the built-in 10 requests/minute limit applies per real visitor |
| `S3_ENABLED` | unset | Cache digests in S3-compatible storage. Needs a publicly readable bucket plus `S3_ENDPOINT`, `S3_ACCESS_KEY`, `S3_SECRET_KEY`, `S3_BUCKET_NAME` |
| `GITINGEST_SENTRY_DSN` | unset | Send errors to Sentry. Set `GITINGEST_SENTRY_ENABLED` alongside it |

`GITINGEST_METRICS_ENABLED` and `GITINGEST_SENTRY_ENABLED` are switched on by the variable *existing*, not by its value — `false` still enables them. Leave them unset if unwanted.

### Deployment Dependencies

- Source repository: https://github.com/coderamp-labs/gitingest
- Python package: https://pypi.org/project/gitingest
- Hosted instance: https://gitingest.com

## Hardware Requirements for Self-Hosting Gitingest

| Resource | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 0.5 vCPU | 2 vCPU |
| RAM | 512 MB | 2 GB |
| Storage | 1 GB ephemeral | 5 GB ephemeral |
| Runtime | Python 3.8+ with `git` | Official Docker image |

Memory is what matters: a digest is assembled in memory before it is written, so a monorepo with a high size cap needs more headroom. Start at 512 MB and raise it if large ingests fail.

## Self-Hosting Gitingest

The image needs no configuration beyond the port and host settings. To run it locally with Docker:

```
docker run -d --name gitingest -p 8000:8000 \
  -e PORT=8000 \
  -e ALLOWED_HOSTS='*' \
  ghcr.io/coderamp-labs/gitingest:v0.3.1
```

Note that the registry publishes no `latest` tag, so always pin a release tag as shown above.

It is also a CLI and Python library — the fastest way to try it without a server. The following installs it and writes a digest to a file:

```
pip install gitingest
gitingest https://github.com/coderamp-labs/gitingest -o digest.txt
gitingest /path/to/local/checkout --include-pattern "*.py" -o py-only.txt
```

The deployed API is the same engine, returning summary, tree and content as JSON:

```
curl -X POST https://your-domain.up.railway.app/api/ingest \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"input_text":"https://github.com/pallets/flask","max_file_size":50,"pattern_type":"exclude","pattern":""}'
```

## How Much Does Gitingest Cost to Self-Host?

Gitingest is free and open source under the MIT licence — no paid tier, licence key or usage cap — and gitingest.com is free too. Self-hosting costs only infrastructure: on Railway, one small service billed on the CPU and memory it uses, a few dollars a month for intermittent use. Bandwidth and CPU during large clones are what scale, so watch usage if the instance is public.

## FAQ

**What is Gitingest?**
An open-source tool that converts a Git repository into a single prompt-friendly text digest — directory tree plus file contents, with a token estimate — so you can paste a codebase into an LLM.

**What does this Railway template deploy?**
One service named `gitingest`, running `ghcr.io/coderamp-labs/gitingest:v0.3.1` on a public HTTPS domain with a `/health` check. No database, cache or storage service is required.

**Why is there no database or object storage in this template?**
Nothing it produces is long-lived state: digests are derived from a commit and regenerated in seconds, so they are written to container-local storage. Optional S3 support caches them in a bucket, but that bucket must be publicly readable to serve download links.

**How do I ingest a private repository on my self-hosted Gitingest?**
Tick **Private Repository** and paste a GitHub token with `repo` scope, or send `"token"` in the `POST /api/ingest` body. It is used only for that request.

**Does self-hosted Gitingest rate-limit requests?**
Yes — 10 requests per minute per client IP, and this template sets `FORWARDED_ALLOW_IPS` so the limit keys on the real visitor rather than Railway's proxy. There is no built-in authentication, so put access control in front if the instance should be private.

**Can I call Gitingest from a script or an agent?**
Yes — `POST /api/ingest` and `GET /api/{user}/{repository}` return JSON; the OpenAPI schema is at `/api` and an interactive reference at `/docs`.



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