Show HN: Repogen – a static site generator for package repositories • Hacker News Board

Show HN: Repogen – a static site generator for package repositories

#1

Post by tlar » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 4:36 PM UTC

Hi HN,

Package repositories don't need to be complicated. They're just static files: metadata indexes and the packages themselves. Yet somehow hosting your own feels like you need dedicated infrastructure and deep knowledge of obscure tooling.

repogen is an SSG for package repos. Point it at your .deb/.rpm/.apk files, it generates the static structure, you upload to S3 or any web host. Done. $0.02/month to host packages for your whole team.

It supports Debian, RPM, Alpine, Pacman, and Homebrew. Has incremental mode for updating repos without redownloading everything. Handles signing. Very alpha, but it works. Would love to get feedback!

Show HN: Repogen – a static site generator for package repositories
github.com

Re: Show HN: Repogen – a static site generator for package repositories

#2

Post by eichin » Fri, Jan 09, 2026, 10:39 PM UTC

How does the debian support compare to just using apt-ftparchive? (The swiss-army-knife aspect is interesting, but while I've needed different kinds of private repo building I've never really needed more than one at a time...)

Re: Show HN: Repogen – a static site generator for package repositories

#3

Post by tekacs » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 12:34 AM UTC

Very cool! I've definitely dreaded trying to make sense of the diverse infra every time we've needed to do this in the past. Several of these are quite simple, but every extra tooling combo in CI can be a real PITA.

Re: Show HN: Repogen – a static site generator for package repositories

#4

Post by bketelsen » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 12:38 AM UTC

nice! I made github.com/frostyard/plow last week with a serverless take on this (just for debian repos though). Being served by gh-pages means no git-lfs support though. repogen might be a better option if any packages get too big.

Re: Show HN: Repogen – a static site generator for package repositories

#5

Post by maxloh » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 7:56 AM UTC

Is there any demo for the project?

Re: Show HN: Repogen – a static site generator for package repositories

#6

Post by pwdisswordfishy » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 9:32 AM UTC

bketelsen wrote: post #4

nice! I made github.com/frostyard/plow last week with a serverless take on this (just for debian repos though). Being served by gh-pages means no git-lfs support though. repogen might be a better option if any packages get too big.

URLs won't be linked here if they're not really URLs.

Re: Show HN: Repogen – a static site generator for package repositories

#7

Post by bketelsen » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 11:13 AM UTC

pwdisswordfishy wrote: post #6

bketelsen wrote: post #4

nice! I made github.com/frostyard/plow last week with a serverless take on this (just for debian repos though). Being served by gh-pages means no git-lfs support though. repogen might be a better option if any packages get too big.

URLs won't be linked here if they're not really URLs.

I didn’t make it a real URL intentionally because i’m not trying to steal attention/clicks from OP’s interesting project.

Re: Show HN: Repogen – a static site generator for package repositories

#8

Post by Jabihjo » Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 11:28 AM UTC

Really cool! Any chance this could support docker images? I'm thinking of this if it could be a sort of artifactory replacement.