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Welcome to CodeFloe!

A code hosting platform for the modern age
"for the modern age" - what do we mean by that?

Let's define the current/old age as the era of GitHub, GitLab and friends (= well-established code hosting platforms that have been around since ~ the early 2000s).

They were built using the technologies of that time, such as Ruby on Rails and MySQL1. They evolved into large platforms, eventually being sold to large corporations, which then often focus on monetization rather than innovation or community-needs. Today, these platforms are run by specialized teams, comprised of dozens of people, that work on it full-time, backed up by dedicated support teams. This comes both with the high need for monetization and rigidity when implementing new features.

CodeFloe, precisely its underlying software Forgejo, was heavily inspired by these established platforms. Besides using a modern toolstack as the base, it aims to rethink many aspects of it and refactor specific areas, to allow for a modern and flexible platform architecture fitting the needs of both individuals hosting their own instance at home and (large) public instances.

It is built using Go and aims to be used in a federated way2, i.e., assets being easily transferable between instances and, at some point, even streaming/share the same underlying (meta)data. Another (successful) implementation of this idea is the Fediverse.

So, in summary, the goal of CodeFloe (and possibly other upcoming federated code hosting platforms) is to provide a "solution"/alternative to the following:

  • monolithic and proprietary ownership
  • use of outdated technology
  • need to maximize profit

Because we ultimately believe that the "modern age" does not need to follow these principles 🤝️

Target Audience

CodeFloe is a good match for you if you can agree to the following points:

  • You like speed
  • You like transparent and automated deployment workflows
  • You are open to trying out new approaches for essential components of your (developer) life
  • You believe in the power of hybrid, community-driven projects and development
  • You like your data to be yours and not being used by other (services) to make profit
  • You acknowledge that using a platform which stores your data and provides hardware to execute workflows cannot be completely free of cost (and hence requires a (small) contribution to the platform)
  • You understand growth pains and acknowledge (potential) downtimes while working to robustify the platform

Similarly, CodeFloe is likely not bringing you joy if:

  • You do not care about website/service speed
  • You do not mind proprietary and centrally controlled services
  • You are not at all interested in the technical aspects of a platform
  • You are not interested in any kind of community-involvement
  • You are ok with selling your data to use a service "for free"

Important

CodeFloe is not in any way political or ideological (even if the above might sound a bit like that to you). Yes, CodeFloe has a philosophy of data storage and public collaboration but this is something entirely different.

We are not "against the system" or anything else. The existing code hosting platforms do a good job in being what they want to be and are "enough" or even a perfect fit for many people out there.

CodeFloe does not want to copy anything: it wants to be "itself": a fast, federated code hosting platform, open to everyone and putting weight on a transparent open-source approach, both for the underlying software and the technical deployment process.

Tip

Besides CodeFloe, there are also other Forgejo-based instances, for example Codeberg.

In fact, CodeFloe has been heavily inspired by Codeberg, both from a technical point of view as well as in relation to governance and community-relations. CodeFloe and Codeberg are not competitors; they stand side-by-side while striving towards a federated future for code hosting platforms.

Data Privacy

CodeFloe is hosted in Europe (specifically on Hetzner in Germany) and is hence following the GDPR and other data protection regulations. This is on purpose and not because we are forced to do so. The data you put on the platform belongs to you - and only to you.

CodeFloe will never sell your data or do anything else with it. No strings attached. In the same way, CodeFloe will not block your content from being found by others or indexed by search engines. Yet also: CodeFloe will never train AI models on your data and also not share your data with third parties that might do so.

Relations

CodeFloe is a platform using many open-source technologies and services. There are no active relations or partnerships with other platforms or services at the moment. All services recommended throughout the docs are not affiliated in any way. If this changes, we will make sure to inform you about it.

CodeFloe has legitimate interest in the progress of all underlying technologies it uses and members will likely contribute actively to the development of such, both technically and financially (if appropriate).

The founders of CodeFloe have been or are active contributors to Gitea, Forgejo and Codeberg and maintain an active and positive relationship to these.

CodeFloe and its copyright belong to devXY, a small company based in Switzerland which is devoted to an open-source minded approach to IT projects. Having this (legal) company structure in place, makes a lot of the legal work around the platform easier. However, CodeFloe itself is its own project, community, and "idea". It is driven by the people who care for it, be it individuals or other organizations and companies trusting in it. Its primary aim is to sustain itself through donations and sponsorships, potential compensation of people in charge is optional.

  1. Both tools remain popular and valid options today, with the best choice depending on the specific use case and objectives. However, when re-evaluating or redesigning IT services, it’s important to consider adopting contemporary technologies, as they typically address current needs and challenges effectively. ↩

  2. Federation is still in an early state and progress is rather slow. It is hard and also super important to get it right on the first take, as there is no "way back" once a protocol is in place/in use. ↩