# CI/CD for Python Apps on Gitea

A reusable reference for building CI pipelines, release automation, and installer packaging for Python-based applications hosted on Gitea. Extracted from a production project using Gitea Actions (GitHub Actions-compatible).

## Prerequisites

- Gitea instance with Actions enabled
- Runner(s) tagged `ubuntu-latest` (e.g., TrueNAS-hosted Gitea runners)
- `GITEA_TOKEN` secret configured in the repository (Settings > Secrets)

## Pipeline Architecture

Two workflows, triggered by different events:

```text
push/PR to master  ──►  test.yml   (lint + test)
push tag v*        ──►  release.yml (build + release + Docker)
```

## 1. Lint & Test Workflow

**Trigger:** Push to `master` or pull request.

```yaml
# .gitea/workflows/test.yml
name: Lint & Test

on:
  push:
    branches: [master]
  pull_request:
    branches: [master]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        with:
          python-version: '3.11'

      - name: Install system dependencies
        run: |
          sudo apt-get update
          sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends <your-system-deps>

      - name: Install dependencies
        working-directory: server
        run: |
          pip install --upgrade pip
          pip install -e ".[dev]"

      - name: Lint
        working-directory: server
        run: ruff check src/ tests/

      - name: Test
        working-directory: server
        run: pytest --tb=short -q
```

**Key points:**

- Keep the test job fast — lint first, then test
- Use `ruff` for linting (fast, replaces flake8 + isort + pyupgrade)
- Configure pytest in `pyproject.toml` with coverage:

```toml
[tool.pytest.ini_options]
testpaths = ["tests"]
asyncio_mode = "auto"
addopts = "-v --cov=your_package --cov-report=html --cov-report=term"
```

## 2. Release Workflow

**Trigger:** Push a tag matching `v*` (e.g., `v0.2.0`, `v0.2.0-alpha.1`).

### 2.1. Create Release Job

Creates a Gitea release via REST API with a formatted description.

```yaml
create-release:
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  outputs:
    release_id: ${{ steps.create.outputs.release_id }}
  steps:
    - name: Create Gitea release
      id: create
      env:
        GITEA_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITEA_TOKEN }}
      run: |
        TAG="${{ gitea.ref_name }}"
        BASE_URL="${{ gitea.server_url }}/api/v1/repos/${{ gitea.repository }}"

        # Detect pre-release
        IS_PRE="false"
        if echo "$TAG" | grep -qE '(alpha|beta|rc)'; then
          IS_PRE="true"
        fi

        # Build release body (use Python to avoid YAML escaping issues)
        BODY_JSON=$(python3 -c "
        import json, textwrap
        tag = '$TAG'
        body = f'''## Downloads
        | Platform | File |
        |----------|------|
        | Windows (installer) | \`App-{tag}-setup.exe\` |
        | Windows (portable) | \`App-{tag}-win-x64.zip\` |
        | Linux | \`App-{tag}-linux-x64.tar.gz\` |
        '''
        print(json.dumps(textwrap.dedent(body).strip()))
        ")

        RELEASE=$(curl -s -X POST "\$BASE_URL/releases" \
          -H "Authorization: token \$GITEA_TOKEN" \
          -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
          -d "{
            \"tag_name\": \"\$TAG\",
            \"name\": \"App \$TAG\",
            \"body\": \$BODY_JSON,
            \"draft\": false,
            \"prerelease\": \$IS_PRE
          }")

        # Fallback: if release already exists for this tag, fetch it instead
        RELEASE_ID=$(echo "\$RELEASE" | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['id'])" 2>/dev/null)
        if [ -z "\$RELEASE_ID" ]; then
          echo "::warning::Release already exists for tag \$TAG — reusing existing release"
          RELEASE=$(curl -s "\$BASE_URL/releases/tags/\$TAG" \
            -H "Authorization: token \$GITEA_TOKEN")
          RELEASE_ID=$(echo "\$RELEASE" | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['id'])")
        fi
        echo "release_id=\$RELEASE_ID" >> "\$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
```

**Key points:**

- Gitea uses `${{ gitea.ref_name }}` instead of GitHub's `${{ github.ref_name }}`
- Use `${{ gitea.server_url }}` and `${{ gitea.repository }}` for API URLs
- Output vars use `$GITHUB_OUTPUT` (Gitea Actions is compatible with GitHub Actions syntax)
- Use Python for body templating to avoid shell/YAML escaping hell

### 2.2. Build Jobs (Parallel)

All build jobs run in parallel, gated on `create-release`:

```yaml
build-windows:
  needs: create-release
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  # ...

build-linux:
  needs: create-release
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  # ...

build-docker:
  needs: create-release
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  # ...
```

### 2.3. Upload Assets to Gitea Release

```yaml
- name: Attach assets to release
  env:
    GITEA_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITEA_TOKEN }}
  run: |
    RELEASE_ID="${{ needs.create-release.outputs.release_id }}"
    BASE_URL="${{ gitea.server_url }}/api/v1/repos/${{ gitea.repository }}"

    FILE=$(ls build/App-*.zip | head -1)
    curl -s -X POST \
      "$BASE_URL/releases/$RELEASE_ID/assets?name=$(basename "$FILE")" \
      -H "Authorization: token $GITEA_TOKEN" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
      --data-binary "@$FILE"
```

## 3. Version Detection Pattern

A robust fallback chain for detecting the version in build scripts:

```bash
# 1. CLI argument
VERSION="${1:-}"

# 2. Exact git tag
if [ -z "$VERSION" ]; then
    VERSION=$(git describe --tags --exact-match 2>/dev/null || true)
fi

# 3. CI environment variable (Gitea or GitHub)
if [ -z "$VERSION" ]; then
    VERSION="${GITEA_REF_NAME:-${GITHUB_REF_NAME:-}}"
fi

# 4. Hardcoded in source
if [ -z "$VERSION" ]; then
    VERSION=$(grep -oP '__version__\s*=\s*"\K[^"]+' \
      src/your_package/__init__.py 2>/dev/null || echo "0.0.0")
fi

VERSION_CLEAN="${VERSION#v}"  # Strip leading 'v'
```

## 4. Cross-Building Windows from Linux

No Windows runner needed. Download Windows embedded Python and win_amd64 wheels on Linux.

### 4.1. Embedded Python Setup

```bash
# Download Windows embedded Python
PYTHON_VERSION="3.11.9"
curl -sL "https://www.python.org/ftp/python/${PYTHON_VERSION}/python-${PYTHON_VERSION}-embed-amd64.zip" \
  -o python-embed.zip
unzip -qo python-embed.zip -d dist/python

# Patch ._pth to enable site-packages
PTH_FILE=$(ls dist/python/python*._pth | head -1)
sed -i 's/^#\s*import site/import site/' "$PTH_FILE"
echo 'Lib\site-packages' >> "$PTH_FILE"
echo '../app/src' >> "$PTH_FILE"       # App source on PYTHONPATH
```

**Why embedded Python?** It's a minimal, standalone Python distribution (~15 MB) without an installer. Perfect for bundling into portable apps.

### 4.2. Cross-Platform Wheel Download

```bash
WHEEL_DIR="build/win-wheels"
SITE_PACKAGES="dist/python/Lib/site-packages"
mkdir -p "$WHEEL_DIR" "$SITE_PACKAGES"

# Download win_amd64 wheels (fallback to source for pure Python)
for dep in "fastapi>=0.115.0" "uvicorn>=0.32.0" "numpy>=2.1.3"; do
    pip download --quiet --dest "$WHEEL_DIR" \
        --platform win_amd64 --python-version "3.11" \
        --implementation cp --only-binary :all: \
        "$dep" 2>/dev/null || \
    pip download --quiet --dest "$WHEEL_DIR" "$dep"
done

# Install wheels into site-packages (just unzip — .whl is a zip)
for whl in "$WHEEL_DIR"/*.whl; do
    unzip -qo "$whl" -d "$SITE_PACKAGES"
done
```

### 4.3. Size Optimization

Strip unnecessary files from site-packages to reduce archive size:

```bash
find "$SITE_PACKAGES" -type d -name __pycache__ -exec rm -rf {} +
find "$SITE_PACKAGES" -type d -name tests -exec rm -rf {} +
find "$SITE_PACKAGES" -type d -name "*.dist-info" -exec rm -rf {} +
find "$SITE_PACKAGES" -name "*.pyi" -delete

# Remove build-time-only packages
rm -rf "$SITE_PACKAGES"/{pip,setuptools,pkg_resources}*

# Remove heavy unused parts of specific libraries
rm -f "$SITE_PACKAGES"/cv2/opencv_videoio_ffmpeg*.dll  # -28 MB
rm -rf "$SITE_PACKAGES"/numpy/{tests,f2py,typing}
```

### 4.4. Bundling tkinter (Optional)

Embedded Python doesn't include tkinter. Extract it from the official MSI packages:

```bash
# Requires: apt install msitools
MSI_BASE="https://www.python.org/ftp/python/${PYTHON_VERSION}/amd64"
curl -sL "$MSI_BASE/tcltk.msi" -o tcltk.msi
curl -sL "$MSI_BASE/lib.msi" -o lib.msi

msiextract tcltk.msi   # → _tkinter.pyd, tcl86t.dll, tk86t.dll, tcl8.6/, tk8.6/
msiextract lib.msi      # → tkinter/ Python package

# Copy to embedded Python directory
cp _tkinter.pyd tcl86t.dll tk86t.dll dist/python/
cp -r tkinter dist/python/Lib/
cp -r tcl8.6 tk8.6 dist/python/
```

## 5. Linux Build (venv-based)

```bash
# Create self-contained virtualenv
python3 -m venv dist/venv
source dist/venv/bin/activate
pip install ".[camera,notifications]"

# Remove the installed package (PYTHONPATH handles app code at runtime)
rm -rf dist/venv/lib/python*/site-packages/your_package*

# Launcher script
cat > dist/run.sh << 'EOF'
#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail
SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
export PYTHONPATH="$SCRIPT_DIR/app/src"
source "$SCRIPT_DIR/venv/bin/activate"
exec python -m your_package.main
EOF
chmod +x dist/run.sh

# Package
tar -czf "App-v${VERSION}-linux-x64.tar.gz" dist/
```

### 5.1. Systemd Service Script

Include install/uninstall scripts for running as a service:

```bash
# install-service.sh creates:
# /etc/systemd/system/your-app.service
#   Type=simple, Restart=on-failure, RestartSec=5
#   ExecStart=/path/to/run.sh
# Then: systemctl daemon-reload && systemctl enable && systemctl start
```

## 6. NSIS Installer (Windows)

Cross-compilable on Linux: `apt install nsis && makensis installer.nsi`

Key design decisions:

```nsi
; User-scoped install (no admin required)
InstallDir "$LOCALAPPDATA\${APPNAME}"
RequestExecutionLevel user

; Optional: launch app after install (checkbox on finish page)
; IMPORTANT: Do NOT use MUI_FINISHPAGE_RUN with MUI_FINISHPAGE_RUN_PARAMETERS —
; NSIS Exec command chokes on the quoting. Use MUI_FINISHPAGE_RUN_FUNCTION instead:
!define MUI_FINISHPAGE_RUN ""
!define MUI_FINISHPAGE_RUN_TEXT "Launch ${APPNAME}"
!define MUI_FINISHPAGE_RUN_FUNCTION LaunchApp

Function LaunchApp
    ExecShell "open" "wscript.exe" '"$INSTDIR\scripts\start-hidden.vbs"'
    Sleep 2000
    ExecShell "open" "http://localhost:8765/"  ; Open Web UI after server starts
FunctionEnd

; Detect running instance before install (file lock check)
Function .onInit
    IfFileExists "$INSTDIR\python\python.exe" 0 done
    ClearErrors
    FileOpen $0 "$INSTDIR\python\python.exe" a
    IfErrors locked
    FileClose $0
    Goto done
    locked:
        MessageBox MB_YESNOCANCEL|MB_ICONEXCLAMATION \
            "${APPNAME} is currently running.$\n$\nYes = Stop and continue$\nNo = Continue anyway (may cause errors)$\nCancel = Abort" \
            IDYES kill IDNO done
        Abort
        kill:
            nsExec::ExecToLog 'wmic process where "ExecutablePath like $\'%AppName%python%$\'" call terminate'
            Sleep 2000
    done:
FunctionEnd

; Sections
Section "!Core (required)" SecCore        ; App files + uninstaller
Section "Desktop shortcut" SecDesktop     ; Optional
Section "Start with Windows" SecAutostart ; Optional — Startup folder shortcut

; Uninstall preserves user data
; RMDir /r $INSTDIR\python, $INSTDIR\app, $INSTDIR\logs
; But NOT $INSTDIR\data (user config)
```

### Hidden Launcher (VBS)

Bat files briefly flash a console window even with `@echo off`. To avoid this,
use a VBS wrapper that all shortcuts and the finish page point to:

```vbs
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
scriptDir = fso.GetParentFolderName(WScript.ScriptFullName)
appRoot = fso.GetParentFolderName(scriptDir)
WshShell.CurrentDirectory = appRoot
' Use embedded Python if present (installed dist), otherwise system Python
embeddedPython = appRoot & "\python\python.exe"
If fso.FileExists(embeddedPython) Then
    WshShell.Run """" & embeddedPython & """ -m your_package.main", 0, False
Else
    WshShell.Run "python -m your_package.main", 0, False
End If
```

Place in `scripts/start-hidden.vbs` and bundle it in the build script.
All NSIS shortcuts use: `"wscript.exe" '"$INSTDIR\scripts\start-hidden.vbs"'`

**Important:** The embedded Python fallback is critical — the installed distribution
doesn't have Python on PATH, so `python` alone won't work. The dev environment uses
system Python, so the fallback handles both cases.

**CI dependencies:** `sudo apt-get install -y nsis msitools zip`

Build: `makensis -DVERSION="${VERSION}" installer.nsi`

## 7. Docker Build

### Multi-stage Dockerfile

```dockerfile
# Stage 1: Build frontend
FROM node:20-slim AS frontend
WORKDIR /app
COPY package.json package-lock.json ./
RUN npm ci
COPY . .
RUN npm run build

# Stage 2: Runtime
FROM python:3.11-slim
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends <system-deps> \
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

WORKDIR /app
COPY pyproject.toml .
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir ".[notifications]"
COPY src/ src/
COPY --from=frontend /app/src/your_package/static/ src/your_package/static/

RUN useradd -r -u 1000 appuser
USER appuser

HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=5s CMD curl -f http://localhost:8080/health || exit 1
EXPOSE 8080
CMD ["uvicorn", "your_package.main:app", "--host", "0.0.0.0", "--port", "8080"]
```

### Docker in CI (Gitea Registry)

```yaml
- name: Login to Gitea Container Registry
  id: docker-login
  continue-on-error: true  # Graceful degradation if registry unavailable
  run: |
    echo "${{ secrets.GITEA_TOKEN }}" | docker login \
      "$SERVER_HOST" -u "${{ gitea.actor }}" --password-stdin

- name: Build and tag
  if: steps.docker-login.outcome == 'success'
  run: |
    docker build -t "$REGISTRY:$TAG" -t "$REGISTRY:$VERSION" ./server
    # Tag as 'latest' only for stable releases
    if ! echo "$TAG" | grep -qE '(alpha|beta|rc)'; then
      docker tag "$REGISTRY:$TAG" "$REGISTRY:latest"
    fi

- name: Push
  if: steps.docker-login.outcome == 'success'
  run: docker push "$REGISTRY" --all-tags
```

**Registry URL pattern:** `{gitea-host}/{owner}/{repo}:{tag}`

## 8. Release Versioning

| Tag format | Example | Pre-release? | Docker `:latest`? |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `v{major}.{minor}.{patch}` | `v0.2.0` | No | Yes |
| `v{major}.{minor}.{patch}-alpha.{n}` | `v0.2.0-alpha.1` | Yes | No |
| `v{major}.{minor}.{patch}-beta.{n}` | `v0.2.0-beta.2` | Yes | No |
| `v{major}.{minor}.{patch}-rc.{n}` | `v0.2.0-rc.1` | Yes | No |

**Release process:**

```bash
# Stable release
git tag v0.2.0
git push origin v0.2.0

# Pre-release
git tag v0.2.0-alpha.1
git push origin v0.2.0-alpha.1
```

## 9. Gitea vs GitHub Actions Differences

| Feature | GitHub Actions | Gitea Actions |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Context prefix | `github.*` | `gitea.*` |
| Ref name | `${{ github.ref_name }}` | `${{ gitea.ref_name }}` |
| Server URL | `${{ github.server_url }}` | `${{ gitea.server_url }}` |
| Repository | `${{ github.repository }}` | `${{ gitea.repository }}` |
| Actor | `${{ github.actor }}` | `${{ gitea.actor }}` |
| SHA | `${{ github.sha }}` | `${{ gitea.sha }}` |
| Output vars | `$GITHUB_OUTPUT` | `$GITHUB_OUTPUT` (same) |
| Secrets | `${{ secrets.NAME }}` | `${{ secrets.NAME }}` (same) |
| Docker Buildx | Available | May not work (runner networking) |

## 10. Checklist for New Projects

- [ ] Create `.gitea/workflows/test.yml` — lint + test on push/PR
- [ ] Create `.gitea/workflows/release.yml` — build + release on `v*` tag
- [ ] Add `GITEA_TOKEN` secret to repository
- [ ] Set up version detection in build scripts (tag → env → source)
- [ ] Create `build-dist.sh` for Linux (venv + tarball)
- [ ] Create `build-dist-windows.sh` for Windows (embedded Python + ZIP)
- [ ] Create `installer.nsi` for Windows installer (optional)
- [ ] Create `Dockerfile` for Docker builds (optional)
- [ ] Configure `pyproject.toml` with `[tool.ruff]` and `[tool.pytest]`
- [ ] Set up `.pre-commit-config.yaml` with ruff + black

## 11. Local Build Testing (Windows)

The CI builds on Linux, but you can build locally on Windows for faster iteration.

### 11.1. Prerequisites

Install NSIS (for installer builds):

```powershell
# If winget is not on PATH, use the full path:
& "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\WindowsApps\winget.exe" install NSIS.NSIS
# Installs to: C:\Program Files (x86)\NSIS\makensis.exe
```

### 11.2. Build Steps

```bash
# 1. Build frontend
npm ci && npm run build

# 2. Build Windows distribution (from Git Bash)
bash build-dist-windows.sh v1.0.0

# 3. Build NSIS installer
"/c/Program Files (x86)/NSIS/makensis.exe" -DVERSION="1.0.0" installer.nsi
# Output: build/MediaServer-v1.0.0-setup.exe
```

### 11.3. Common Issues

| Issue | Cause | Fix |
|-------|-------|-----|
| `zip: command not found` | Git Bash doesn't include `zip` | Harmless — only affects the portable ZIP, not the installer. Install `zip` via MSYS2 if needed |
| `Exec expects 1 parameters, got 2` | `MUI_FINISHPAGE_RUN_PARAMETERS` quoting breaks NSIS `Exec` | Use `MUI_FINISHPAGE_RUN_FUNCTION` instead (see section 6) |
| `Error opening file for writing: ...python\\_asyncio.pyd` | Server is running and has DLLs locked | Stop the server before installing. Add `.onInit` file-lock check (see section 6) |
| App doesn't start after install (Launch checkbox) | VBS uses `python` but embedded Python isn't on PATH | Use embedded Python fallback in VBS (see Hidden Launcher section) |
| `winget` not recognized | `winget.exe` exists but isn't on shell PATH | Use full path: `$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\WindowsApps\winget.exe` |
| NSIS warning: `install function not referenced` | `MUI_FINISHPAGE_RUN` define is missing | `MUI_FINISHPAGE_RUN_FUNCTION` still requires `MUI_FINISHPAGE_RUN` to be defined (controls checkbox visibility). Set it to `""` |
| `dist/` has stale files after code changes | `build-dist-windows.sh` copies from source at build time | Re-run the full build script, or manually copy changed files into `dist/` |

### 11.4. Iterating on Installer Only

If you only changed `installer.nsi` (not app code), skip the full rebuild:

```bash
# Just rebuild the installer using existing dist/
"/c/Program Files (x86)/NSIS/makensis.exe" -DVERSION="1.0.0" installer.nsi
```

If you changed app code or dependencies, you must re-run `build-dist-windows.sh` first —
the `dist/` directory is a snapshot and won't pick up source changes automatically.

## 12. Troubleshooting

### Running server blocks installation

See section 11.3. The `.onInit` function in section 6 shows how to detect a locked
`python.exe` and prompt the user before proceeding.

### Release already exists for tag

If the `create-release` job fails with `KeyError: 'id'`, the Gitea API returned an error
because a release already exists for that tag (e.g., from a previous failed run).

**Prevention:** The fallback logic in section 2.1 handles this automatically — if creation
fails, it fetches the existing release by tag and reuses its ID. A `::warning::` annotation
is emitted in the workflow log.

**Re-triggering a failed release workflow:**

```bash
# Option A: Delete and re-push the same tag
git push origin :refs/tags/v0.1.0-alpha.2   # delete remote tag
# Delete the release in Gitea UI or via API
git tag -f v0.1.0-alpha.2                    # recreate local tag
git push origin v0.1.0-alpha.2               # push again

# Option B: Just bump the version (simpler)
git tag v0.1.0-alpha.3
git push origin v0.1.0-alpha.3
```