Woodpecker CI: The No-Nonsense CI Tool That Just Builds and Moves On
Let’s face it — most CI tools today feel like they were designed by committee. Too many menus, too much “magic,” and YAML that looks like a PhD thesis. Woodpecker CI is different. It’s self-hosted, dead simple, and doesn’t pretend to be anything more than a solid pipeline runner.
You set it up once, wire it to your Git repo, write a readable YAML file, and that’s it. No agents sprawling across your cluster. No surprise API limits. No account “upgrades” just to run two builds at once.
It was forked from Drone CI, but these days it’s got a life of its own — and a community that actually prefers clean design over endless plugins.
What It Gets Right
Feature | Why It Actually Matters
——–|——————————————————————
Runs in Docker | Every step is a container — clean, predictable, disposable
Git Hooked | Push, pull request, tag — it reacts instantly
Plain YAML Pipelines | Easy to write, easy to read — no “clever” DSLs
Self-Hosted First | No vendor lock-in, no cloud billing headaches
Works With Your Git | GitHub, Gitea, GitLab, Bitbucket — whatever you’re using
Fast Setup | Start running pipelines in 10–15 minutes, not half a day
Secrets Included | Built-in secret manager — no need to duct-tape something else
Real CI/CD | Build, test, deploy, repeat — nothing more, nothing less
Where It Fits
– Small teams tired of fighting bloated cloud CI interfaces
– Self-hosted Git users (especially Gitea/Forgejo) who want proper automation
– Developers who’ve written one too many `.gitlab-ci.yml` nightmares
– Environments where builds need to happen locally, offline, or under strict control
It’s also great if you’re the kind of admin who just wants to `docker-compose up` your CI and get back to real work.
Getting It Running (in Plain Terms)
1. Grab the Docker setup from GitHub:
git clone https://github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker
cd woodpecker/contrib/docker-compose
2. Set up `.env` with your Git provider info (GitHub, Gitea, etc.)
3. Launch it:
docker compose up -d
4. Login via browser, link a repo, push this:
pipeline:
build:
image: alpine
commands:
– echo “hello from CI”
And you’re off.
Requirements
– OS: Linux
– Runtime: Docker or containerd
– Git: Self-hosted or cloud (OAuth required)
– Resources: 512MB RAM works — really
– TLS: Needed for OAuth callback (reverse proxy helps)
Final Thought
Woodpecker isn’t trying to “disrupt” CI. It’s trying to give developers a clean, working system that builds code and gets out of the way. No nonsense. No learning curve disguised as YAML gymnastics. Just builds that don’t suck.
📦 Site: https://woodpecker-ci.org
📘 Code: https://github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker
