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Running Gogs as a system service ensures it starts automatically on boot and restarts if it crashes. Choose the init system or service manager that matches your operating system.

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Linux

Systemd is the default init system on most modern Linux distributions (Ubuntu 16.04+, Debian 8+, CentOS 7+, Fedora, Arch Linux, etc.).Gogs ships with a systemd service template at scripts/systemd/gogs.service in the installation directory.

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1. Customize the service file

Copy the template and edit it to match your installation:
sudo cp /home/git/gogs/scripts/systemd/gogs.service /etc/systemd/system/gogs.service
sudo vim /etc/systemd/system/gogs.service
Here is the default service file for reference:
[Unit]
Description=Gogs
After=network.target
After=mariadb.service mysql.service mysqld.service postgresql.service memcached.service redis.service

[Service]
# Uncomment the following if you have repos with lots of files
# and get an HTTP 500 error because of that
#LimitMEMLOCK=infinity
#LimitNOFILE=65535
Type=simple
User=git
Group=git
WorkingDirectory=/home/git/gogs
ExecStart=/home/git/gogs/gogs web
Restart=always
RestartSec=2s
Environment=USER=git HOME=/home/git

# Hardening directives (comment out if not supported by your systemd version)
ProtectSystem=full
PrivateDevices=yes
PrivateTmp=yes
NoNewPrivileges=true

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Update the following values to match your environment:
  • User and Group — the system user running Gogs
  • WorkingDirectory — the Gogs installation directory
  • ExecStart — the full path to the Gogs binary
  • Environment — ensure USER and HOME match the Gogs user
If you use MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Redis, or Memcached, the After= lines ensure Gogs starts after those services. Uncomment or add lines as needed for your database.

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2. Enable and start the service

sudo systemctl enable gogs
sudo systemctl start gogs

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3. Verify the service

# Check status
sudo systemctl status gogs -l

# View logs
sudo journalctl -b -u gogs
If you have repositories with a large number of files and encounter HTTP 500 errors, uncomment the LimitMEMLOCK=infinity and LimitNOFILE=65535 directives in the service file.

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Windows

On Windows, Gogs can run as a native Windows service using either the builtin minwinsvc support or the third-party NSSM tool.
Gogs binaries built with the minwinsvc tag (release archive name that contains mws) support running as a native Windows service.

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1. Configure Gogs for Windows

Edit C:\gogs\custom\conf\app.ini:
RUN_USER = COMPUTERNAME$
Replace COMPUTERNAME with the output of echo %COMPUTERNAME% in a command prompt. For example, if the computer name is USER-PC, set RUN_USER = USER-PC$.Configure the server section:
[server]
DOMAIN           = gogs
PROTOCOL         = http
HTTP_ADDR        = 127.0.1.1
HTTP_PORT        = 80
OFFLINE_MODE     = true
EXTERNAL_URL     = http://gogs/
Using an address in the 127.x.x.x range (other than 127.0.0.1) prevents port conflicts with other local services while keeping traffic local. Any address from 127.0.0.2 to 127.254.254.254 works.

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2. Add a hosts entry

Open Notepad as Administrator and edit C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts:
# Gogs local HTTPd
127.0.1.1        gogs

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3. Create and start the service

Open a command prompt as Administrator:
sc create gogs start= auto binPath= "\"C:\gogs\gogs.exe\" web --config \"C:\gogs\custom\conf\app.ini\""
There must be a space after each = in the sc create command. This is a Windows sc.exe syntax requirement.
Start the service:
net start gogs
You should see:
The gogs service is starting.
The gogs service was started successfully.
Windows services run from %WINDIR%\System32 by default. Always use absolute paths in app.ini for data directories and database files:
[server]
APP_DATA_PATH = c:/gogs/data

[database]
PATH = c:/gogs/data/gogs.db
Use forward slashes (/) in paths to avoid escape character issues.