Why government open source platforms are finally ditching GitHub

The Dutch government just soft-launched code.overheid.nl, a self-hosted platform built on Forgejo. If you’ve been tracking the slow, painful shift toward digital sovereignty, this isn't just another minor IT project. It’s a direct challenge to the industry-standard reliance on proprietary, US-based hosting giants. Most government agencies treat code as a commodity, but this move signals a shift toward treating software as critical infrastructure that requires total control.

The case for digital sovereignty in government

Why would a government build its own Git platform when GitHub and GitLab already exist? The answer lies in the risk of vendor lock-in and the lack of control over the underlying infrastructure. When you host your code on a third-party platform, you are essentially renting your digital future. If that provider changes their terms, hikes their pricing, or faces geopolitical pressure, your entire development pipeline is at risk.

By choosing Forgejo, the Dutch Ministry of the Interior is opting for a European, open-source alternative that they can actually manage. This is the part nobody talks about: the overhead of self-hosting is high, but the cost of losing access to your own source code is significantly higher. You have to ask yourself, is your agency’s code truly yours if you can’t run it without a third-party license?

How to build a sustainable code platform

The success of this pilot depends on more than just the software stack. It requires a cultural shift within the public sector. Here is what actually works when transitioning to a shared government platform:

1. Start with a pilot, not a mandate: By limiting the initial scope, the team can iron out the CI/CD integration issues before scaling to every department.
2. Prioritize interoperability: A platform is useless if it doesn't talk to existing government identity providers like DigiD or eHerkenning.
3. Foster a community of contributors: The goal isn't just to host code; it's to create a shared Git platform for government where developers can collaborate across agency silos.
4. Automate the security baseline: Since you own the server, you can bake in compliance and security scanning at the repository level, rather than bolting it on later.

Here’s where most people get tripped up: they assume that "open source" means "free to run." It isn't. It requires dedicated engineering resources to maintain the Forgejo instance, manage updates, and handle user permissions. If you don't have a dedicated team to support the infrastructure, you’re just trading one type of technical debt for another.

The future of public sector development

This initiative is a litmus test for whether European governments can actually walk the walk on digital independence. If they can prove that a self-hosted, sovereign platform can handle the scale of national government operations, we will likely see a wave of similar projects across the EU.

Are you ready to move your agency's workflows to a sovereign environment? If you are currently navigating the complexities of open source software in government, start by auditing your current dependencies. You might find that you are more reliant on proprietary platforms than you think. Try this today and share what you find in the comments.