cgit is a lightweight web frontend for git repositories. As opposed to modern git forges such as GitLab, Gitea and Forgejo, cgit provides view-only access, and does not have attached bells and whistles such as issue tracking or pull requests. This allows cgit to be lightweight and simple; it is a single self-contained binary (plus one JS and one CSS file). In 2019, I adopted cgit as the frontend for my own git repositories.

However, cgit's user interface is very plain, and its user experience predates the design conventions of current git forges. For example, cgit's default repository page (below) opens with a list of branches, tags and commits, rather than a file listing and readme, which is now standard across git forges.

cgit user interface

Utilising htmlcc, it has been possible to design a modern theme for cgit, using Tailwind CSS and a contemporary style. For example, below is the themed version of the htmlcc repository page:

Themed version of htmlcc repository

Source code for this themed fork of cgit is available at https://yingtongli.me/git/cgit-yli-theme.