About GitQi — Built across a kitchen table.

The origin story

Built for a real person, in real time.

GitQi was built for an osteopath and educational consultant who wanted to leave Wix. She didn't want a CMS. She didn't want a developer on retainer. She wanted to own her website the same way she owns her clinic notes — completely, permanently, and without asking anyone's permission.

So it was built specifically for her, while she used it. Each feature was shaped across a kitchen table, iterated in the minutes after she hit a snag, and validated by whether she'd reach for it unprompted the next day. That process — one real user, in real life, with real opinions — is the reason GitQi feels the way it does.

She has been almost entirely self-sufficient since day one. She updates her site whenever she wants. She doesn't ask for help. She doesn't pay a subscription. The only real barrier, looking back, was the initial setup — which is exactly what the Get Key guide is designed to solve.

GitQi is released as free, MIT-licensed open source because the whole premise of the tool is that you own the page. It would be hypocritical to charge rent on the thing that lets you stop paying rent.

A kitchen table with a laptop, coffee, and a notepad — the GitQi workbench

The name

Why GitQi, and how to say it.

GitQi is a small pun with a real meaning. It rewards saying aloud. It also has two pronunciations, and we're not going to pick one for you.

Git

The publishing backbone of the tool — literally true. And for non-technical readers, it reads as get.

Qi · 气

Life force, flow, ownership. The philosophy that your site, your content, and your credentials belong to you.

get-key

You're getting the key to your own website. No landlord, no platform, no lock-in, no loading screen standing between you and your page.

git-chee

Equally valid. Maps to empowerment and self-mastery — the Qi reading. Whichever you prefer is correct.

🍾 A live pronunciation poll has been described as a "champagne problem". Both readings are part of the brand. Use whichever feels natural in your mouth.

Philosophy

A counter-narrative to platform rental.

GitQi is not positioned as "easier Wix". It's positioned as leaving Wix behind — permanently, cleanly, and without missing anything that mattered. These are the principles it's built on.

📄

Your HTML is the database

There is no backing store, no CMS schema, no headless API. The file you see in the browser is the file on disk is the file on GitHub. That's the whole data model — and it means you can read it, grep it, diff it, or walk away with it at any time.

🏠

Local-first, by design

Your credentials live in one file on your machine and never leave it. GitQi has no servers to compromise, no account system to leak, no "forgot your password" flow because there is no password. Local is not a fallback. It is the default.

🔓

MIT and free, forever

The code is yours to read, fork, audit, and run. No closed core. No paid tier. No "we'll open-source it if we fail". The whole premise of the tool is ownership — charging rent on it would undo the point.

🔧

Right to Repair your website

You should be able to open your site, understand it, change it, and publish it without needing a specialist's help. GitQi is built to make that feel obvious instead of heroic.

Who it's for

Two paths, one tool.

GitQi serves two audiences who are really a progression. Most people start on the Get Key path. Some arrive at Git Qi later — or not all. That's fine. Both are welcome.

🔑

Get Key

Clinic owners, consultants, studio owners, practitioners. People currently paying a platform, or paying someone to update their site, who want to own the content themselves.

Open the Get Key guide →

气

Git Qi

Small developers, technical freelancers, indie makers who want to read the source, contribute, or self-host gitqi.js. Get involved and celebrate the OSS ethos.

Enter the Git Qi path →