Self-hosted Git (Forgejo) with State-Level Geo-Blocking

A single-VPS Docker Compose stack providing:

• Forgejo — lightweight, Gitea-compatible Git hosting
• nginx — reverse proxy with TLS termination and GeoIP2 blocking
• MaxMind GeoLite2 — IP → country + state/province database (auto-updated)
• geoblock_watcher — watches config/geo_rules.yml and hot-reloads nginx when rules change
• Certbot — automatic Let's Encrypt certificate renewal

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Directory Layout

.
├── docker-compose.yml
├── .env.example                 ← copy to .env and fill in
├── bootstrap_certs.sh           ← run once before first `docker compose up`
├── config/
│   └── geo_rules.yml.example    ← copy to geo_rules.yml and edit to configure geo-blocking
├── nginx/
│   ├── Dockerfile               ← builds nginx + GeoIP2 dynamic module
│   ├── nginx.conf               ← main nginx config (loads GeoIP2 module)
│   ├── conf.d/
│   │   └── git.conf             ← virtual host (HTTP→HTTPS redirect + proxy)
│   └── geoblock/                ← rendered by geoblock_watcher at runtime
│       ├── repo_maps.conf
│       ├── repo_vars.conf
│       └── repo_locations.conf
└── geoblock_watcher/
    ├── Dockerfile
    └── watcher.py

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Prerequisites

Requirement	Notes
Docker Engine ≥ 26 + Compose v2	docker compose version
A public domain name	DNS A record → your VPS IP
Ports 80 and 443 open	Firewall / security group
MaxMind account	Free — sign up here
openssl on the host	Used by bootstrap_certs.sh for the dummy cert

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Quick Start

1. Configure environment

cp config/geo_rules.yml.example config/geo_rules.yml
cp .env.example .env
$EDITOR .env          # fill in DOMAIN, MAXMIND_*, LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL

.env variables:

Variable	Description
DOMAIN	Your public domain, e.g. git.example.com
LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL	Email for Let's Encrypt expiry notices
MAXMIND_ACCOUNT_ID	From your MaxMind account portal
MAXMIND_LICENSE_KEY	From your MaxMind account portal
DISABLE_REGISTRATION	Set true after creating your admin account

2. Bootstrap TLS certificates (first run only)

chmod +x bootstrap_certs.sh
./bootstrap_certs.sh

This will:

1. Create a temporary self-signed cert so nginx can start
2. Bring up the stack
3. Obtain a real Let's Encrypt cert via the ACME webroot challenge
4. Reload nginx with the real cert
5. Print next steps

3. Complete Forgejo setup

Visit https://your-domain/ and complete the web installer. Create your admin account. Then set DISABLE_REGISTRATION=true in .env and run:

docker compose up -d forgejo

4. Configure geo-blocking

Edit config/geo_rules.yml — the watcher will detect the change within seconds and hot-reload nginx automatically. No restart needed.

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Geo-Blocking Configuration

config/geo_rules.yml is the single source of truth. Example:

repos:

  - path: /alice/secret-project
    rules:
      # Block California and Texas with HTTP 451
      - locales: ["US-CA", "US-TX"]
        status: 451
        body: "This repository is unavailable in your jurisdiction."

      # Block all of Germany and France with HTTP 403
      - locales: ["DE", "FR"]
        status: 403
        body: "Access to this repository is restricted in your country."

  - path: /alice/another-repo
    rules:
      - locales: ["CN", "RU"]
        status: 403
        body: "Access denied."

Locale format

Format	Example	Matches
Country (ISO 3166-1 α-2)	"US"	All IPs in the United States
Country + State (ISO 3166-2)	"US-CA"	IPs in California

State-level rules take precedence over country-level rules for the same repo.

Common US state codes: US-AL US-AK US-AZ US-AR US-CA US-CO US-CT US-DE US-FL US-GA US-HI US-ID US-IL US-IN US-IA US-KS US-KY US-LA US-ME US-MD US-MA US-MI US-MN US-MS US-MO US-MT US-NE US-NV US-NH US-NJ US-NM US-NY US-NC US-ND US-OH US-OK US-OR US-PA US-RI US-SC US-SD US-TN US-TX US-UT US-VT US-VA US-WA US-WV US-WI US-WY

For other countries, find subdivision codes at: https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#search (search for the country, then see "Subdivision")

HTTP status codes

Code	Meaning	When to use
403	Forbidden	General access restriction
451	Unavailable For Legal Reasons	Legal / jurisdictional block (RFC 7725)

Hot reload

The watcher polls every 60 seconds and also reacts to inotify events immediately. After saving config/geo_rules.yml, nginx will reload within seconds. No traffic is dropped — nginx does a graceful configuration reload (SIGHUP).

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GeoIP Database Updates

The geoipupdate container fetches a fresh GeoLite2-City database every 72 hours (MaxMind publishes updates twice a week). The database is stored in the geoip_db Docker volume and mounted read-only into nginx.

nginx reads the database file at request time (not cached in memory), so a fresh database takes effect for the next request after the file is replaced — no nginx reload required.

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Certificate Renewal

The certbot container runs certbot renew every 12 hours. When a certificate is renewed, run:

docker compose exec nginx nginx -s reload

Or add this as a cron job on the host:

0 */12 * * * docker compose -f /path/to/docker-compose.yml exec nginx nginx -s reload

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Operations

View logs

docker compose logs -f nginx          # access + error logs
docker compose logs -f geoblock_watcher
docker compose logs -f forgejo
docker compose logs -f geoipupdate

Test geo-blocking (from a blocked region)

Use a proxy or VPN to simulate a request from a blocked locale, or test directly with curl overriding your IP (only works if you control nginx):

# Verify nginx config is valid after a rules change
docker compose exec nginx nginx -t

# Force a manual nginx reload
docker compose exec nginx nginx -s reload

Verify the GeoIP database is loaded

docker compose exec nginx nginx -T | grep geoip2

Check which database version is in use

docker compose exec geoipupdate cat /usr/share/GeoIP/GeoLite2-City_*/COPYRIGHT_AND_LICENSE

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Security Notes

• SSH is disabled in Forgejo; all Git operations use HTTPS.
• Registration is disabled by default after initial setup — only the admin can create accounts.
• nginx does not forward X-Forwarded-For from downstream; it sets it from $remote_addr (the actual connected IP). This is intentional — we explicitly trust the direct connection IP as stated in the requirements.
• The docker.sock mount on geoblock_watcher is the minimum necessary to send SIGHUP to the nginx container. If this is a concern, you can replace it with a small privileged sidecar that only accepts a reload signal.

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Troubleshooting

Symptom	Check
nginx won't start	docker compose logs nginx — likely a config syntax error
GeoIP variables always empty	Is the geoip_db volume populated? Check docker compose logs geoipupdate
Rules not applied	Check docker compose logs geoblock_watcher — look for YAML parse errors
Certificate errors	Ensure port 80 is open and DNS resolves before running bootstrap_certs.sh
502 Bad Gateway	Forgejo not healthy yet — check docker compose logs forgejo