Practical overview
When it fits
Use Hive when project maintenance spans recurring GitHub work and requires coordinated agents with deterministic workflow controls around their decisions.
Who it is for
- Open-source maintainers
- Engineering teams managing GitHub issues and pull requests
- Teams seeking self-hosted AI-assisted code review and CI/CD workflows
Documented uses
- Classify incoming project issues
- Classify and process pull or merge requests
- Coordinate AI-assisted code review
- Connect project maintenance tasks with CI/CD workflows
Requirements & limits
The repository documents self-hosted deployment through Docker Compose or Podman. The primary setup requires a GitHub PAT or App token and a dashboard token.
- Hive is a framework and self-hosted server rather than a single-purpose review tool.
- The documented workflow separates deterministic filtering and enforcement from AI judgment tasks.
- Docker Compose requires Docker Engine 24+ and Compose v2; Podman uses Quadlet, systemd and cgroup v2.
- The project is public and displays an Apache-2.0 license.
- The documented agent integrations include Claude, Copilot, Gemini and Goose.
Check current requirements in the official documentation. Source-based guidance does not mean OpenViST has run or independently tested this project.
Set up Hive with Docker Compose
Configure the documented Docker Compose deployment and expose its dashboard.
Before you start
- Docker Engine 24+ with the Compose v2 plugin
- A Linux, macOS or Windows WSL2 host on amd64 or arm64
- git and openssl
- A GitHub PAT or App token for the organization Hive will work on
Steps
Clone the Hive repository and enter its directory.
Copy src/hive.yaml.example to src/hive.yaml.
Create src/.env with the GitHub token and a generated HIVE_DASHBOARD_TOKEN.
Run docker compose -f src/docker-compose.yaml up -d.
Check the documented health endpoint at http://127.0.0.1:3001/api/health.
Expected outcome
The documented Compose stack starts Hive and its authenticating gateway, with the dashboard available at http://localhost:3001 when the health check responds successfully.
Guide limitations
- The repository’s setup notes require the environment file at src/.env rather than the repository root.
- This recipe documents setup and the supplied health check; it does not establish that a particular project workflow will complete successfully.
Set up Hive with Podman Quadlet
Install the documented Podman deployment using Hive’s setup script.
Before you start
- Podman 5.0.0+
- systemd and cgroup v2
- The Podman Quadlet generator
- netavark with aardvark-dns
- git and openssl
Steps
Clone the Hive repository and enter its directory.
Set HIVE_DEPLOY_RUNTIME=podman.
Run bin/hive-podman-setup.sh --rootless or --rootful.
Add --enable-linger when a rootless deployment needs to survive reboot.
Expected outcome
The setup script performs preflight checks, creates the documented configuration and Quadlet units, wires boot startup and checks that the gateway answers on its published port.
Guide limitations
- The script does not install packages.
- A failing step leaves partial state for inspection rather than rolling it back.
- The documented Podman requirements note says the verified minimum version floor is unknown.
Sources & review
Source record details
- Source availability
- Active
- Sources checked
- 4 October 2026
- Original website title
- hivecommons/hive · Official homepage title · retained in its source language