Easy Simple Forgejo Setup with Runner ala Github Action

Create a forgejo-runner folder inside your Forgejo install and write the docker-compose.yml file for your Forgejo runner service:

services:
  docker-in-docker:
    image: docker:dind
    container_name: 'docker_dind'
    privileged: 'true'
    command: ['dockerd', '-H', 'tcp://0.0.0.0:2375', '--tls=false']
    restart: 'unless-stopped'

  gitea:
    image: 'code.forgejo.org/forgejo/runner:4.0.0'
    links:
      - docker-in-docker
    depends_on:
      docker-in-docker:
        condition: service_started
    container_name: 'runner'
    environment:
      DOCKER_HOST: tcp://docker-in-docker:2375
    # User without root privileges, but with access to `./data`.
    user: 1001:1001
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data
    restart: 'unless-stopped'

    command: '/bin/sh -c "sleep 5; forgejo-runner daemon"'

Create a setup executable file: nano setup.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash

set -e

mkdir -p data
touch data/.runner
mkdir -p data/.cache

chown -R 1001:1001 data/.runner
chown -R 1001:1001 data/.cache
chmod 775 data/.runner
chmod 775 data/.cache
chmod g+s data/.runner
chmod g+s data/.cache

Become root:

su

And run the bash script:

bash setup.sh

docker exec -it runner /bin/sh

forgejo-runner register

For the instance URL and because our two Forgejo containers are on the same machine locally, input (otherwise put your domain name):

http://your.local.ip.here:3000/

As for the token, it is available when creating a new running on your Forgejo server under Site administration -> Actions -> Runners -> Create new runner.

Modify docker-compose.yml to change the commad:

command: '/bin/sh -c "while : ; do sleep 1 ; done ;"'

command: '/bin/sh -c "sleep 5; forgejo-runner daemon"'

Final thoughts Link to heading

Adapting workflows from GitHub to Forgejo is a simple matter of adding https://github.com/ in front of uses except for major actions such as action/checkout@v4.