Webhook Setup

Set up automatic code reviews and scans by connecting your Git platform webhooks to a self-hosted drep server.

Overview

Webhooks enable automatic code review and scanning when events occur in your Git repository. drep supports:

• Push events - Trigger full repository scans to detect documentation issues
• Pull request events - Generate inline code review comments automatically

Step 1: Start drep Server

The drep server receives webhooks and triggers scans/reviews in the background.

Start the Server

drep serve --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

This starts a FastAPI server on port 8000 that listens for webhook events.

Run as Systemd Service (Recommended)

For production, run drep as a systemd service that starts automatically.

Create /etc/systemd/system/drep.service:

[Unit]
Description=drep webhook server
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=drep
WorkingDirectory=/home/drep
Environment="GITEA_TOKEN=your-token-here"
Environment="DREP_CONFIG=/home/drep/config.yaml"
ExecStart=/home/drep/.local/bin/drep serve --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl enable drep
sudo systemctl start drep
sudo systemctl status drep

Run with Docker Compose

For containerized deployment with an LLM backend:

version: '3.8'
services:
  drep:
    image: ghcr.io/slb350/drep:latest
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
    volumes:
      - ./config.yaml:/app/config.yaml
      - ./data:/app/data
    environment:
      - GITEA_TOKEN=${GITEA_TOKEN}
      - DREP_LLM_ENDPOINT=http://ollama:11434
    command: serve --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000
    depends_on:
      - ollama

  ollama:
    image: ollama/ollama:latest
    ports:
      - "11434:11434"
    volumes:
      - ollama_data:/root/.ollama

volumes:
  ollama_data:

Start the stack:

docker compose up -d

Step 2: Configure Git Platform Webhooks

Gitea Webhook Setup

Configure Gitea to send webhook events to your drep server.

1. Navigate to your repository settings in Gitea
2. Go to Settings → Webhooks → Add Webhook → Gitea
3. Configure the webhook:
   • Target URL: http://your-drep-server:8000/webhooks/gitea
   • HTTP Method: POST
   • POST Content Type: application/json
   • Trigger On: Select Push events and Pull request events
4. Click Add Webhook

GitHub Webhook Setup

Configure GitHub to send webhook events to your drep server.

1. Navigate to your repository on GitHub
2. Go to Settings → Webhooks → Add webhook
3. Configure the webhook:
   • Payload URL: http://your-drep-server:8000/webhooks/github
   • Content type: application/json
   • Which events: Select Just the push event and Pull requests
4. Click Add webhook

Step 3: Verify Webhook Delivery

Health Check

Test that your drep server is running and accessible:

curl http://your-drep-server:8000/api/health

Expected response:

{"status": "ok"}

Test Webhook Delivery

Trigger a webhook by making a commit to your repository:

git commit --allow-empty -m "Test drep webhook"
git push

Check your drep server logs to confirm it received the webhook:

# Systemd
sudo journalctl -u drep -f

# Docker
docker compose logs -f drep

You should see log entries indicating a scan was triggered:

INFO:     Received webhook: push event for owner/repo
INFO:     Scheduled background scan for owner/repo

Webhook Payload Reference

drep extracts the following information from webhook payloads:

Gitea Webhook Payload

Gitea sends the event type in the X-Gitea-Event header.

{
  "repository": {
    "full_name": "owner/repo",
    "name": "repo",
    "owner": {
      "login": "owner"
    }
  },
  "pull_request": {
    "number": 42
  }
}

Troubleshooting

Webhook Not Received

If webhooks aren't triggering scans:

1. Check server accessibility:
   bash

   curl http://your-drep-server:8000/api/health

2. Verify firewall rules: Ensure port 8000 is open and accessible from your Git server
3. Check webhook delivery logs: In Gitea/GitHub settings, view webhook delivery history for error messages
4. Inspect drep logs: Check server logs for incoming requests and error messages

Authentication Errors

If scans fail with authentication errors:

1. Verify GITEA_TOKEN or GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable is set correctly
2. Ensure the token has sufficient permissions (repo read/write, issue creation)
3. Check that config.yaml uses ${GITEA_TOKEN} or ${GITHUB_TOKEN} placeholders

Scan Not Running

If webhook is received but scan doesn't run:

1. Check config.yaml path: Set DREP_CONFIG environment variable if config is not in current directory
2. Verify LLM endpoint: Ensure your LLM backend (LM Studio, Ollama, AWS Bedrock) is accessible
3. Review repository patterns: Ensure repositories in config.yaml includes the webhook repository

Security Considerations

Reverse Proxy with HTTPS

Example nginx configuration with HTTPS:

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name drep.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/drep.example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/drep.example.com/privkey.pem;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8000;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

Next Steps

Now that webhooks are configured:

• Monitor drep activity: Use drep metrics to track LLM usage and costs
• Fine-tune configuration: Adjust rate limits, cache settings, and LLM parameters in config.yaml
• Review findings: Check your Git platform for issues and PR comments created by drep