---
stage: Create
group: Source Code
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
---

# Create: Source Code Backend

The Create:Source Code BE team focuses on the GitLab suite of Source Code Management
(SCM) tools. It is responsible for all backend aspects of the product categories
that fall under the [Source Code group](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/categories/#source-code-group)
of the [Create stage](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/categories/#create-stage)
of the [DevOps lifecycle](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/categories/#devops-stages).

We interface with the Gitaly and Code Review teams, and work closely with the
[Create:Source Code Frontend team](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/development/dev/create/create-source-code-fe/). The features
we work with are listed on the
[Features by Group Page](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/categories/features/#createsource-code-group).

The team works across three codebases: Workhorse, GitLab Shell and GitLab Rails.

## Workhorse

[GitLab Workhorse](../../workhorse/index.md) is a smart reverse proxy for GitLab. It handles "large" HTTP
requests such as file downloads, file uploads, `git push`, `git pull` and `git` archive downloads.

Workhorse itself is not a feature, but there are several features in GitLab
that would not work efficiently without Workhorse.

## GitLab Shell

GitLab Shell handles Git SSH sessions for GitLab and modifies the list of authorized keys.
For more information, [refer to the README](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-shell/-/blob/main/README.md).
for GitLab Shell.

To learn about the reasoning behind our creation of `gitlab-sshd`, read the blog post
[Why we implemented our own SSHD solution](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2022/08/17/why-we-have-implemented-our-own-sshd-solution-on-gitlab-sass/).

## GitLab Rails

### Gitaly touch points

Gitaly is a Golang RPC service which handles all the `git` calls made by GitLab.
GitLab is not exposed directly, and all traffic comes through Create: Source Code.
For more information, read [Gitaly touch points](gitaly_touch_points.md).

### Source Code REST API Endpoints

Create: Source Code has over 100 REST endpoints, being a mixture of Grape API endpoints and Rails controller endpoints.
For a detailed list, refer to [Source Code REST Endpoints](rest_endpoints.md).