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# GitLab Workhorse

GitLab Workhorse is a smart reverse proxy for GitLab. It handles
"large" HTTP requests such as file downloads, file uploads, Git
push/pull and Git archive downloads.

Workhorse itself is not a feature, but there are [several features in
GitLab](doc/architecture/gitlab_features.md) that would not work efficiently without Workhorse.

## Canonical source

The canonical source for Workhorse is
[`gitlab-org/gitlab/workhorse`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/tree/master/workhorse).
Prior to [epic #4826](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/4826), it was
[`gitlab-org/gitlab-workhorse`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-workhorse/tree/master),
but that repository is no longer used for development.

## Documentation

Workhorse documentation is available in the [`doc` folder of this repository](doc/).

- Architectural overview
  - [GitLab features that rely on Workhorse](doc/architecture/gitlab_features.md)
  - [Websocket channel support](doc/architecture/channel.md)
- Operating Workhorse
  - [Source installation](doc/operations/install.md)
  - [Workhorse configuration](doc/operations/configuration.md)
- [Contributing](CONTRIBUTING.md)
  - [Adding new features](doc/development/new_features.md)
  - [Testing your code](doc/development/tests.md)

## License

This code is distributed under the MIT license, see the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file.