# Hosted vs self-hosted

Hosted and self-hosted repowise ship the same intelligence layers, MCP tools and dashboard. They differ in ops, billing and team features, not agent power.

The intelligence engine is one codebase. Self-hosted and hosted run
the same Python: same parsers, same git analysis, same wiki
generation, same MCP tools. Pick whichever fits your team.

## Side-by-side

| | Self-hosted | Hosted ([repowise.dev](https://repowise.dev)) |
|---|---|---|
| **Install** | `pip install repowise` | None: sign in and index a GitHub or GitLab.com repository |
| **Storage** | Local SQLite + LanceDB under `.repowise/` | Managed by Repowise |
| **MCP server** | Local stdio process | Hosted HTTP endpoint per repo, callable from any editor |
| **Auto-sync** | Hooks, watch, your own webhook server (GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, Forgejo) | GitHub App push-sync, or a GitLab.com project hook with polling as the fallback |
| **Multi-repo workspaces** | Yes | Yes |
| **Cross-repo intelligence** | Yes (per workspace, over MCP and the dashboard) | Yes (per workspace, in the dashboard's federated workspace chat) |
| **Dashboard** | `repowise serve` on `localhost:3000` | [repowise.dev/dashboard](https://repowise.dev/dashboard) |
| **Auth** | None (local) | Sign in with GitHub or an email link |
| **Team features** | Not available | Seats & roles, pooled repos/credits, shared workspaces, portfolio health & ownership, [engineering-leader dashboard](https://docs.repowise.dev/hosted/teams) |
| **Billing** | Free, AGPL | [Free / Pro / Teams / Enterprise](https://repowise.dev/pricing) |
| **Private repos** | Any checkout on your machine | One-click GitHub App install, or a connected GitLab.com account |
| **Security suite** | Local pattern scan | [Full suite](https://docs.repowise.dev/hosted/security): CVE scanning + reachability triage, secrets across git history, SBOM/VEX, nightly refresh, compliance reports, audit trail |
| **Alerting** | Not available | [Bell + email + signed Slack-compatible webhooks](https://docs.repowise.dev/hosted/alerts) for security events and engineering signals |
| **PR bot** | Not available. CI gates run through the GitHub Action or GitLab template, and `repowise check` runs any change policy ([Gates in CI](https://docs.repowise.dev/ci)) | The [GitHub App](https://docs.repowise.dev/hosted/bot): blast radius and reviewer suggestions on pull requests |
| **Privacy** | Code never leaves your machine; LLM calls use your own key | Code is cloned into a short-lived container and deleted after each index; only derived data is stored ([how Hosted handles data](https://docs.repowise.dev/hosted/data-handling)); LLM calls run on the platform's key, paid from credits |
| **Hosted-only analysis** | Not available | Semantic search and docs explorer (free on every plan), coverage page, federated workspace chat |

## Same agent experience

Whichever you pick, your AI agent gets:

- The same [MCP tools](https://docs.repowise.dev/mcp/overview).
- The same proactive `PreToolUse` / `PostToolUse` hooks (if you're
  using Claude Code).
- The same auto-generated `CLAUDE.md` (with [`generate-claude-md`](https://docs.repowise.dev/cli/other)
  on self-hosted, automatic on hosted).

Both can answer across a workspace over MCP. A self-hosted server
started over a workspace takes a `repo` argument, and a few tools
accept `repo="all"` to merge across the workspace; see
[Workspace MCP mode](https://docs.repowise.dev/multi-repo/workspace-mcp). Hosted has a
read-only workspace URL on Pro and Teams; see
[Connecting your IDE](https://docs.repowise.dev/hosted/connecting-ide#across-a-whole-workspace).

## Pick self-hosted if

- Your code can't leave your network. Self-hosted and
  [Enterprise](https://docs.repowise.dev/enterprise) run entirely inside your perimeter, so
  Repowise never handles your code or data and your own certifications
  cover the deployment.
- You're an individual or small team and don't want a billing
  relationship.
- You want full control over the LLM provider, model, and embedding
  pipeline.
- You're comfortable with a Python install and one of the auto-sync
  options.

## Pick hosted if

- You want zero ops: managed indexing, managed webhooks, push-sync for
  GitHub and GitLab.com repositories.
- You want [Foresight](https://docs.repowise.dev/hosted/foresight) as it opens, through the
  waitlist.
- You want managed multi-repo workspaces and federated workspace chat
  without running the indexing yourself.
- You want the [security suite](https://docs.repowise.dev/hosted/security): CVE scanning
  with reachability triage, secret detection across git history,
  SBOM/VEX, nightly refresh, compliance reports, audit trail.
- You're running a team: seats and roles, pooled repos and credits,
  portfolio health and ownership rollups, and the
  [engineering-leader dashboard](https://docs.repowise.dev/hosted/teams) with
  [drift alerting](https://docs.repowise.dev/hosted/alerts) into Slack.
- You want the hosted analysis pages (semantic search and the docs
  explorer are free on every plan; coverage and federated chat come with
  a paid plan) and the PR bot.

> **Note**
>
> **Hybrid is fine.** Run self-hosted on a laptop for one private repo
> and hosted for everything else. Same MCP protocol, same tool names.
> Your agent doesn't care which server answers.

## One engine, no fork

The hosted dashboard is built from the same UI and type packages the OSS
web UI uses, and it runs the same engine. There's no fork: both modes
share it.