Server

The wit serve command starts a Git HTTP server for hosting repositories. For a complete platform setup including database and web UI, use wit up instead.

Overview

wit serve [options]

Options

Option	Description
`--port <number>`	Port to listen on (default: 3000)
`--repos <path>`	Directory to store repositories (default: ./repos)
`--host <hostname>`	Hostname to bind to (default: 0.0.0.0)
`--verbose`	Enable verbose logging
`-h, --help`	Show help message

Examples

# Start server with defaults
wit serve

# Start on custom port
wit serve --port 8080

# Start with custom repos directory
wit serve --repos /var/git/repos

# Bind to localhost only
wit serve --host 127.0.0.1

# Verbose mode for debugging
wit serve --verbose

Example Output

Starting wit server...

  Port:     3000
  Repos:    /path/to/repos
  Host:     0.0.0.0

Server is running at http://localhost:3000

Clone repositories:
  wit clone http://localhost:3000/owner/repo.git

API endpoints:
  Health: http://localhost:3000/health
  tRPC:   http://localhost:3000/trpc

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
`PORT`	Server port	3000
`REPOS_DIR`	Repository storage directory	./repos
`HOST`	Hostname to bind	0.0.0.0
`DATABASE_URL`	PostgreSQL connection string	Required
`BETTER_AUTH_SECRET`	Auth secret (production)	Required in prod

What wit serve Provides

The server exposes:

Git HTTP Protocol

Clone: wit clone http://localhost:3000/owner/repo.git
Push: wit push origin main
Fetch: wit fetch origin

REST API

Repository management
User authentication
Pull request operations

tRPC API

Full platform functionality
Real-time updates
Type-safe client access

Use Cases

Development Server

Run a local server for development:

# Start server
wit serve --port 3000 --repos ./dev-repos

# In another terminal, clone a repo
wit clone http://localhost:3000/myuser/myrepo.git

CI/CD Integration

Use as a Git server in CI pipelines:

# Start server in background
wit serve --port 3000 &

# Run tests that need Git access
npm test

# Cleanup
kill %1

Self-Hosted Git Server

Run a persistent Git server:

# Production-like setup
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://... \
REPOS_DIR=/var/git/repos \
  wit serve --port 3000 --host 0.0.0.0

wit serve vs wit up

Feature	wit serve	wit up
API Server	Yes	Yes
Database	External only	Auto-starts PostgreSQL
Web UI	No	Yes
Migrations	Manual	Automatic
Background	Foreground	Daemonized
Use case	Production, custom setup	Development, quick start

Use wit serve when:

You have an external database
You only need the API server
You’re deploying to production with custom orchestration

Use wit up when:

You want everything started automatically
You’re developing locally
You need the web UI

Graceful Shutdown

The server handles shutdown signals properly:

# Stop with Ctrl+C or SIGTERM
^C
Shutting down server...

This ensures:

In-flight requests complete
Database connections close cleanly
Resources are released

Troubleshooting

Port already in use

Error: listen EADDRINUSE: address already in use :::3000

Either stop the other process or use a different port:

wit serve --port 3001

Find what’s using the port:

lsof -i :3000

Database connection failed

Error: Failed to connect to database

Ensure DATABASE_URL is set and the database is running:

export DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/wit
wit serve

Permission denied on repos directory

Error: EACCES: permission denied

Ensure the repos directory exists and is writable:

mkdir -p ./repos
chmod 755 ./repos
wit serve --repos ./repos

wit up - Start full platform (recommended for local development)
wit down - Stop the platform
wit clone - Clone from the server
wit push - Push to the server

Get Started

Commands

Visual Interfaces

AI & Intelligence

Workflows

GitHub & Team

Advanced

Configuration

Platform

Architecture

Database

Overview

Options

Examples

Example Output

Environment Variables

What wit serve Provides

Git HTTP Protocol

REST API

tRPC API

Use Cases

Development Server

CI/CD Integration

Self-Hosted Git Server

wit serve vs wit up

Graceful Shutdown

Troubleshooting

​Overview

​Options

​Examples

​Example Output

​Environment Variables

​What wit serve Provides

​Git HTTP Protocol

​REST API

​tRPC API

​Use Cases

​Development Server

​CI/CD Integration

​Self-Hosted Git Server

​wit serve vs wit up

​Graceful Shutdown

​Troubleshooting

​Related Commands

Overview

Options

Examples

Example Output

Environment Variables

What wit serve Provides

Git HTTP Protocol

REST API

tRPC API

Use Cases

Development Server

CI/CD Integration

Self-Hosted Git Server

wit serve vs wit up

Graceful Shutdown

Troubleshooting

Related Commands