docs/roadmap.org

  1#+title: gitbay roadmap
  2
  3Status and direction as of 2026-08-24. Issue numbers reference this
  4repository's tracker; this file is the narrative, the tracker is the
  5truth.
  6
  7* Where things stand
  8
  9Everything in the original plan is built, tested end-to-end against real
 10git/ssh/sshd/gpg, and running in production at gitbay.org: the SSH
 11control plane (usable from bare OpenSSH, enforced by test), git over
 12SSH/HTTPS/git://, signature verification with six states and epoch
 13caching, protected branches and =require_signed_commits= (push-time and
 14merge-time), issues, merge requests with four merge strategies, orgs
 15with membership-derived access, rename/transfer, repo import, invite and
 16open registration with SMTP verification, ACME TLS, the read-only and
 17accounts web modes, the JSON API fronting the whole command registry,
 18signed webhooks with retries and dead-lettering, restore-tested backups,
 19the =gitbay= CLI, and docs. The instance hosts 65 repositories including
 20this one, and its own development already runs through its issues and
 21merge requests.
 22
 23What it is today: an excellent forge for its author and for CLI-native
 24individuals. What it is not yet: a forge a GitHub-habituated *team*
 25would stay on, or a project outsiders can easily run themselves.
 26
 27* Phase 1 — collaboration credibility
 28
 29Goal: a second contributor works here for a week and misses nothing they
 30would act on. These compound: statuses gate merges, notifications close
 31the feedback loop, inline comments make review real.
 32
 33- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/22][#22]] deploy keys — smallest item, unblocks CI checkout; the scope
 34  already exists in the policy layer
 35- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/1][#1]] commit statuses API and MR check display
 36- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/3][#3]] email notifications for issue/MR activity
 37- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/2][#2]] inline review comments on MR diffs
 38- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/19][#19]] required approvals and CODEOWNERS (builds on #1 and #2)
 39
 40* Phase 2 — a product, not a debug view
 41
 42Goal: the site looks and reads like something you would recommend.
 43Mostly web-layer; descriptions and profiles already landed as the first
 44step.
 45
 46- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/10][#10]] design revamp (umbrella: tokens, typography, identity, mobile)
 47- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/6][#6]] cross-references (#N) and @mentions
 48- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/23][#23]] archived repos and topics
 49- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/24][#24]] blame view
 50- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/7][#7]] search (repo-name filter first; code search later)
 51- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/20][#20]] milestones and issue templates
 52
 53* Phase 3 — other people's forges
 54
 55Goal: someone who is not the author runs an instance and moves their
 56work to it.
 57
 58- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/26][#26]] release engineering: versioned builds, go-install vanity
 59  imports, Homebrew/deb — the adoption gate for everything below
 60- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/27][#27]] repository maintenance (admin gc/stats, scheduled repack)
 61- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/8][#8]] releases (notes + assets; also hosts gitbay's own binaries)
 62- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/17][#17]] issue/PR history import from GitHub
 63- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/18][#18]] push/pull mirroring for gradual migration
 64- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/14][#14]] audit logging and multi-user hardening
 65- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/9][#9]] web signup for open/invite instances
 66
 67* Phase 4 — reach
 68
 69Bigger bets, each valuable independently; order by appetite.
 70
 71- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/13][#13]] CI/CD via external runners (after #1; the forge never executes
 72  repository content)
 73- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/16][#16]] Git LFS
 74- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/15][#15]] static page hosting (needs the separate-origin decision)
 75- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/11][#11]] iOS app (hutch-based) and [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/12][#12]] Android
 76- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/21][#21]] teams within orgs
 77- [[https://gitbay.org/krz/gitbay/issues/25][#25]] wikis
 78
 79* Explicitly not planned
 80
 81Recorded so their absence reads as a decision, not an oversight:
 82
 83- container/package registry — scope creep away from "forge"; external
 84  registries integrate via CI
 85- email patch flow — revisit only if sourcehut-style demand appears
 86- federation (ForgeFed) and Postgres — no current need at this scale
 87
 88* Decisions
 89
 90- **gitbay.org will eventually be open to all.** (Decided 2026-08-24.)
 91  Sequencing consequence: before flipping =registration = "open"=, the
 92  instance needs #14 (audit log, rate limiting, quotas), #9 (web
 93  signup), an SMTP relay configured for verification mail, and enough
 94  of Phase 1 that new users get a credible product. Interim step:
 95  invite mode for early collaborators as soon as [mail] is configured.
 96- **Versioning**: semver, starting at v0.1.0 on the current state.
 97  0.x signals moving surfaces; =protocol_version= increments only on
 98  breaking envelope/command changes and is otherwise decoupled from
 99  release numbers. v1.0.0 when Phase 1 and #26 land. Tags are
100  annotated and signed.
101- **Second contributors**: invite mode is the on-ramp (their keys and
102  verified emails make signed-main enforceable for them too). A
103  CONTRIBUTING file states the workflow: fork on gitbay.org, MR with
104  signed commits, =go test ./...= green, review required once #19
105  exists. No CLA — 0BSD needs none; sign-off optional.