Fossil SCM Hub — /var/fossil

Self-hosted multi-repo Fossil SCM server for craftdesign.group.

Architecture

https://fossil.craftdesign.group
    ↓ Cloudflare named tunnel (fossil / 45ea54d2-1b49-496b-bc35-c01c45d95297)
Caddy :8090
    ├── GET /  →  /var/fossil/www/index.html  (dark landing page)
    └── /*     →  proxy to Fossil :8081
Fossil :8081 (localhost only)
    └── serves /var/fossil/repos/*.fossil  (multi-repo directory mode)

Directory Layout

/var/fossil/
├── repos/                   # all .fossil repo files (auto-served by fossil)
│   ├── edgesync.fossil
│   └── go-libfossil.fossil
├── skin/                    # shared skin — push to repos via script below
│   ├── header.txt           # TH1 template
│   ├── footer.txt
│   └── css.txt              # dark theme matching landing page
├── www/
│   └── index.html           # custom landing page (dark theme)
├── Caddyfile                # Caddy reverse proxy config
└── CLAUDE.md                # this file

Systemd Services

All three are enabled and start on boot.

Service	Command
fossil.service	fossil server /var/fossil/repos --port 8081 --localhost --repolist --https --baseurl https://fossil.craftdesign.group --notfound /
caddy-fossil.service	caddy run --config /var/fossil/Caddyfile
cloudflared-fossil.service	cloudflared tunnel --config ~/.cloudflared/config.yml run

sudo systemctl status fossil caddy-fossil cloudflared-fossil
sudo systemctl restart fossil caddy-fossil cloudflared-fossil
sudo journalctl -u fossil -f

Repositories

Name	URL	Admin password
edgesync	https://fossil.craftdesign.group/edgesync/	set via /edgesync/setup_alist
go-libfossil	https://fossil.craftdesign.group/go-libfossil/	set via /go-libfossil/setup_alist

Admin user: dmestas

Adding a Repository

# 1. Init on server
fossil init /var/fossil/repos/<name>.fossil

# 2. Apply the skin
python3 /var/fossil/skin/apply.py

# 3. Add a card to /var/fossil/www/index.html

# From local machine:
fossil clone https://[email protected]/<name>/ <name>.fossil
# or push existing:
fossil remote add hub https://[email protected]/<name>/
fossil push hub

Skin

Dark theme matching the landing page. Design tokens:

• --bg: #0f1117 / --surface: #1a1d27 / --border: #2a2d3e
• --accent: #6c8ebf / --text: #e2e8f0 / --muted: #8892a4
• Fonts: Inter (body), JetBrains Mono (code)

The skin lives in /var/fossil/skin/ and must be written into each repo's SQLite config table (keys: css, header, footer). After editing skin files, push with:

python3 << 'EOF'
import sqlite3, time, os, glob

REPOS = glob.glob("/var/fossil/repos/*.fossil")
SKIN_DIR = "/var/fossil/skin"
parts = {
    "css":    open(f"{SKIN_DIR}/css.txt").read(),
    "header": open(f"{SKIN_DIR}/header.txt").read(),
    "footer": open(f"{SKIN_DIR}/footer.txt").read(),
}
mtime = int(time.time())
for repo in REPOS:
    con = sqlite3.connect(repo)
    for name, value in parts.items():
        con.execute("INSERT OR REPLACE INTO config(name,value,mtime) VALUES(?,?,?)",
                    (name, value, mtime))
    con.commit()
    con.close()
    print(f"skinned {os.path.basename(repo)}")
EOF

Cloudflare Tunnel

• Tunnel name: fossil
• Tunnel ID: 45ea54d2-1b49-496b-bc35-c01c45d95297
• Config: ~/.cloudflared/config.yml (points to Caddy :8090)
• Credentials: ~/.cloudflared/45ea54d2-….json
• DNS CNAME managed automatically by cloudflared

Installed Versions

• Fossil 2.28 — /usr/local/bin/fossil (built from source tarball)
• Caddy 2.9.1 — /usr/local/bin/caddy
• cloudflared 2026.3.0 — /usr/local/bin/cloudflared

Known Gotchas

• Fossil skin keys are css/header/footer (no skin: prefix) — written directly to each repo's SQLite config table
• --https flag is required on fossil server when behind a reverse proxy — without it Fossil generates http:// redirect loops
• Skins are per-repo; adding a new repo requires running the apply script
• Port 8080 is taken by Coolify's Traefik proxy — Fossil runs on 8081
• The repo listing page (/) has no skin — it's replaced entirely by Caddy serving the static index.html