Hello Gitea Community,
I am currently facing one specific installation problem while setting up Gitea on the server that hosts my website. The installation process appears to complete successfully, and the required files are placed in the expected directory, but when I try to access the Gitea web interface through the configured domain, the page does not load as expected. Instead of seeing the normal Gitea interface, the browser either waits for the response for a long time or returns an error from the web server. The underlying server remains reachable and my existing website continues to work normally, so the problem is specifically with getting the newly installed Gitea instance to respond correctly through its intended web address. I am trying to troubleshoot this as one specific Gitea installation and web-access problem rather than several unrelated server configuration issues.
I have followed the normal installation process and verified that the Gitea executable and configuration files are present on the server. The service has also been configured to run under its intended user account, and I have checked that the process starts without immediately terminating. From the server side, the installation appears much more successful than the browser behaviour suggests. The difficulty begins when I try to access Gitea through the domain I configured for it. My existing website is already running on the same server, so I am using the web server as the entry point for the Gitea installation rather than exposing the application directly to visitors through an arbitrary port. I have configured the relevant reverse-proxy settings according to the general deployment approach, but something in the connection between the web server and the Gitea process does not appear to be working correctly.
I have been checking the Gitea logs and web-server logs around the exact time that I make a request to the Gitea URL. The Gitea process itself does not appear to be completely unavailable, but the browser request does not consistently reach the expected application interface. I have also checked the configured HTTP listening address and port and compared those values with the upstream destination specified in the web-server configuration. My goal is to confirm that the request is travelling through the expected path from the browser to the web server and then from the web server to Gitea. I have not found an obvious application-level error that would explain why the interface cannot be displayed, which makes me suspect that I may have missed an important installation or deployment setting rather than the Gitea installation itself being corrupted.
The problem is particularly confusing because accessing my existing website through its normal domain continues to work, while the newly installed Gitea endpoint does not behave correctly. This suggests that the server and web server are generally functioning, but I may not have configured the Gitea instance correctly within the existing environment. I have reviewed the domain and reverse-proxy configuration and am checking whether the hostname, upstream address, and Gitea configuration agree with each other. I am also checking whether Gitea is listening only on a local interface and whether the reverse proxy is attempting to connect using the correct address. I would prefer not to make broad changes to the web server configuration because the existing website is already serving visitors correctly, and I want to isolate the specific configuration required for the Gitea installation.
I have started testing the installation locally on the server as well as through the public domain so I can determine whether the failure occurs before or after the reverse proxy. When I test the Gitea service directly from the server, I can verify whether the application is listening and responding independently of the public web request. I am comparing those results with requests made through the domain and reviewing the corresponding timestamps in both Gitea and web-server logs. I am also checking file ownership and permissions for the Gitea installation and configuration files, although I have not yet found evidence that permissions are preventing the service from starting. If there are specific installation checks or commands recommended by the Gitea project for confirming that a newly installed instance is correctly initialized before placing it behind a reverse proxy, I would appreciate knowing which checks are most useful.
I would appreciate guidance from the Gitea community on how to systematically troubleshoot this specific situation where the Gitea installation appears to complete and the service can start, but the Gitea web interface does not load correctly through the domain configured on my website server. In particular, I would like to know which Gitea configuration values, service logs, listening-address checks, reverse-proxy settings, or installation diagnostics I should inspect first. I would also appreciate advice on how to verify that the web server is forwarding requests to the correct Gitea listener without disturbing the existing website hosted on the same server. My goal is to identify the exact installation or deployment setting responsible for the failed web access and get the Gitea interface working reliably through its intended domain rather than repeatedly changing configuration settings without knowing which component is causing the problem. Sorry for long post!