Home Tutorials Set Up Virtual Host and Integrate Git with Auto Pull
Tutorials

Set Up Virtual Host and Integrate Git with Auto Pull

4 min read

Git with Auto Pull Deployment (Zero-Touch Server Updates)

Managing deployments can be repetitive, especially when you’re constantly pushing changes to a server. To simplify this, I created a shell script that automates:

  • Git repository creation
  • Auto-deployment via post-receive hook
  • Apache virtual host setup

The result is a lightweight “git push to deploy” workflow where every push is instantly reflected on the server.

How It Works

This script:

  1. Creates a bare Git repository on the server
  2. Configures it with a working directory
  3. Adds a post-receive hook to auto-checkout code
  4. Clones the repo into the web directory
  5. Sets up an Apache virtual host
  6. Enables the site and reloads the server

Once set up, any git push will automatically deploy changes to production.

Prerequisites

  • A server with Git installed
  • Apache configured
  • A git user (home directory: /home/git)
  • Sudo privileges
  • Web root at /var/www/

Usage

Run the script with your site name:

sudo sh script_name.sh site_name

Example:

sudo sh deploy.sh myproject

The Script

#!/bin/bash

# Check if parameter is provided
if [ "$#" -eq 1 ]; then

  echo "Creating git repo $1.git"

  cd /home/git
  sudo mkdir $1.git
  cd $1.git

  # Initialize bare repo
  sudo git init --bare
  sudo git --bare update-server-info

  # Configure repo
  sudo git config core.bare false
  sudo git config receive.denyCurrentBranch ignore
  sudo git config core.worktree /var/www/$1

  cd ..
  sudo chown git:www-data $1.git -R

  # Create post-receive hook
  cd $1.git/hooks

  echo "#!/bin/sh" | sudo tee post-receive
  echo "git checkout -f" | sudo tee -a post-receive

  sudo chmod +x post-receive

else
  echo "Please provide a site name"
  exit
fi

# Clone repo into web directory
cd /var/www/
git clone git@yoursite.com:$1.git $1
cd $1
sudo chown git:www-data -R .

# Create Apache virtual host
cd /etc/apache2/sites-available/

sudo tee $1.yoursite.com > /dev/null <<EOF
<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin user@yoursite.com
    ServerName $1.yoursite.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/$1

    <Directory /var/www/$1>
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.$1.log
    CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.$1.log combined
</VirtualHost>
EOF

# Enable site and reload Apache
sudo a2ensite $1.yoursite.com
sudo service apache2 reload

# Output info
echo "Repo created: git@yoursite.com:$1.git"
echo "Clone using: git clone git@yoursite.com:$1.git"
echo "Or add remote: git remote add origin git@yoursite.com:$1.git"

# Log creation
echo "git@yoursite.com:$1.git created on $(date)" >> ~/gitLog

Deployment Workflow

Once the setup is complete:

git add -A
git commit -m "Update feature"
git push origin main

Your changes are automatically deployed to:

/var/www/site_name

No manual SSH, no pull commands, no extra steps.

Why This Approach

This setup is simple but effective for small to medium projects:

  • Eliminates manual deployment steps
  • Keeps deployment consistent
  • Uses native Git hooks
  • Requires minimal tooling

Limitations

  • No versioned releases or rollback system
  • Direct deployment to production
  • Not ideal for large teams or CI/CD pipelines
  • Requires careful permission management

Possible Improvements

You can extend this setup with:

  • Branch-based deployments (staging vs production)
  • Pre-deploy testing hooks
  • Backup or rollback mechanisms
  • Integration with CI/CD tools
  • Logging and deployment notifications

Final Thoughts

This script is a lightweight alternative to full CI/CD pipelines. It’s especially useful for personal projects, prototypes, or small teams where speed and simplicity matter.

With just a single command, you can go from code to live deployment instantly, which makes iteration fast and frictionless.