OpenGist — Self-Hosted Pastebin Powered by Git

Introduction

OpenGist is a self-hosted, open-source pastebin service that uses Git under the hood. Every gist is a full Git repository, so you get version history, diffs, and the ability to clone or push snippets from the command line.

What OpenGist Does

• Hosts code snippets and text pastes with syntax highlighting for 250+ languages
• Stores each gist as a Git repository with full version history
• Supports public, unlisted, and private visibility levels
• Provides a search engine across all gists with full-text indexing
• Enables user accounts with SSH key authentication for Git push/pull

Architecture Overview

OpenGist is a single Go binary that embeds a web server, a Git backend, and a SQLite or PostgreSQL database for metadata. The web frontend is built with server-side rendered templates. Each gist maps to a bare Git repository on disk, and the application exposes both HTTP and SSH endpoints for Git operations.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Deploy via Docker or download the single binary for Linux, macOS, or Windows
• Configure with environment variables or a YAML config file
• Set OG_EXTERNAL_URL to your public domain for correct link generation
• Use SQLite for small deployments or PostgreSQL for larger instances
• Place behind a reverse proxy with TLS for production use

Key Features

• Git-native storage means every paste supports branching, cloning, and history
• Syntax highlighting via Chroma covers 250+ languages and formats
• Embeddable gists with JavaScript or iframe snippets
• OAuth login support for GitHub, Gitea, and OpenID Connect providers
• Lightweight single binary with minimal resource requirements

Comparison with Similar Tools

• GitHub Gist — cloud-hosted, proprietary; OpenGist is fully self-hosted
• PrivateBin — encrypted pastes but no Git versioning; OpenGist tracks history
• Hastebin — simple paste server; lacks user accounts and Git integration
• Gitea Gists — built into Gitea; OpenGist is standalone and lighter
• dpaste — minimal Python pastebin; OpenGist offers richer features

FAQ

Q: Can I migrate existing GitHub Gists to OpenGist? A: Yes. OpenGist can clone gists from GitHub since each gist is a standard Git repo.

Q: Does OpenGist support private pastes? A: Yes. Gists can be set to public, unlisted, or private per user preference.

Q: What database backends are supported? A: SQLite (default, zero-config) and PostgreSQL for larger deployments.

Q: How do I push a gist from the command line? A: Add your SSH key in settings, then use git push to the gist SSH URL shown on each gist page.

Sources

• https://github.com/thomiceli/opengist
• https://opengist.thomice.li