# Migrating from GitHub Enterprise to Forgejo

If you are still deciding whether to move, the license, cost and sovereignty
case is on [Forgejo vs GitHub Enterprise](/comparison/). This page is the
operational side: what actually happens to a repository, its history and its
CI/CD when it moves.

Unlike a Gitea-to-Forgejo move, this is not an in-place upgrade. GitHub
Enterprise and Forgejo are separate platforms, so each repository is
imported rather than upgraded in place. Forgejo ships GitHub as a supported
migration source, so the import carries more than just the git history.

## What the importer carries over

Forgejo's migration feature connects to a repository's GitHub remote with an
access token and imports:

- The full git history
- Issues, with their labels and milestones
- Pull requests
- Releases
- Git LFS objects, when LFS is enabled on the import

This runs per repository, pointed at GitHub as the source service, and can
run once as a straight import or continue as a mirror while both platforms
are live.

## What does not carry over automatically

**GitHub Actions workflows need review, not just a copy.** Forgejo Actions
uses the same workflow syntax, so most jobs and steps keep working unchanged.
What does not transfer is the GitHub Actions Marketplace: an action your
workflow pulls from the Marketplace is GitHub-exclusive, so that step needs
rebuilding against an equivalent Forgejo Action or a plain shell step.
Audit each repository's `.github/workflows/` directory for Marketplace
dependencies before cutting the team over to the new CI.

**Organization structure and team permissions are not part of the per-repository
import.** Teams, their membership and their repository permissions are set up
on the destination instance directly; the importer moves a repository's
content, not an organization's access model around it.

**Branch protection rules, webhooks and third-party app integrations** are
GitHub-side configuration and need to be recreated on Forgejo, not migrated
automatically.

## Sequencing an enterprise move

A GitHub Enterprise organization typically holds far more repositories than
a single Gitea instance, and the import runs one repository at a time. Moving
everything in a single cutover is rarely realistic. A workable approach:

1. **Inventory first.** List every repository, which ones are actively
   developed against versus archived, and which workflows reference
   Marketplace actions.
2. **Pick a pilot team.** Migrate a small, low-risk set of repositories first
   and run them in parallel with GitHub for a sprint before trusting the
   process on anything critical.
3. **Move active repositories in batches**, grouped by team or by shared CI
   dependencies, so a team's repositories and the Actions they depend on
   land together rather than mid-migration.
4. **Move or archive the rest** once the active estate is confirmed working:
   history-only repositories need the import but not the CI rebuild.

## Verify after each batch

For each migrated repository: confirm the commit history and tags match the
GitHub source, open a pull request end to end, run the CI pipeline and
confirm it passes, and check that issues and their labels and milestones
carried over. The same discipline the
[Gitea migration guide](/gitea-to-forgejo-migration/) applies to a schema
upgrade applies here to an import: verify before you rely on it, because the
cost of finding a gap after cutover is much higher than finding it during the
pilot batch.

## Where VSHN fits

VSHN operates Forgejo in production for enterprise and regulated customers.
Three ways to work with us on a GitHub Enterprise move:

**Plan and run the migration with you.** We inventory the GitHub organization,
sequence the batches, rebuild the Marketplace-dependent CI steps, and verify
each batch before the next one starts.

**Hand over operations, keep your infrastructure.** We run Forgejo on your
own cloud or on-premises platform after the move: upgrades, backups,
monitoring and incident response.

**Move to infrastructure VSHN operates end to end**, designed to the
requirement for a large estate, with Swiss data residency and no per-seat
license.

Not sure how big the move is? [Book a free migration
assessment](https://vshn.cal.vs.hn/forgejo) and we will map your GitHub
Enterprise organization to a batch plan.